Provost Communications - Fall 2022

Provost's Communications - Fall 2022

A Message to Faculty: Fall '22 Return to Campus

Fall 2022 Welcome Back

Faculty Tenure and Promotion Announcement

In Gratitude

Kat Weaver Promoted to Vice Provost

Roberta Espinoza Reappointed as Vice Provost for Global-Local Affairs

Celebrating the HHMI Driving Change Award

A Message to Faculty: Fall '22 Return to Campus

August 18, 2022

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

Welcome to a new academic year! I hope your summer was relaxing and filled with purpose. I am looking forward to seeing many of you at the new student convocation on Aug. 26, but I also hope our paths will cross in person before then as you return to your offices and classrooms. I extend an especially warm welcome to our new faculty.

I am writing to you today to address a few key items before students return to campus. Special thanks to Leon Wiebers, Chair of Theatre Arts and Faculty Senate president, with whom I have been in touch throughout the summer.

VACCINES

Those of you who were teaching on campus last fall will recall that we required all students, faculty, and staff to remain up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccines. In Jan. 2022 we required eligible community members to provide proof that they have received a COVID-19 booster within one month of eligibility, unless they have a medical or religious exemption. While we await further instruction regarding boosters from public health authorities, we will adhere to these measures to keep the campus community safe.

TESTING

The LMU COVID-19 Testing Center has been doing an incredible job of providing timely test results to LMU students, faculty, staff, and contractors. Some changes to the center’s hours, registration process, and test turnaround times have been posted to their website, and I encourage you to familiarize yourself with the policies ahead of the start of the academic year.

We ask that you please receive a negative COVID-19 test before you return to campus or if you have been working on campus, before the start of classes on Aug. 29. We are asking all students to arrive to campus with a negative COVID-19 test as we are doing everything possible to reduce the risk of transmission on campus.

MASKS

As you may have seen in a recent Community Advisory, LMU has recently lifted the mask requirement on campus. We continue to recommend masks in indoor settings, and we welcome community members who choose to mask. Please refrain from implementing your own masking policies in the classroom. If you wish to encourage masking in your classroom, you may add a section in your syllabus and/or make an announcement in your first class, but we ask that you ultimately respect each student, faculty, and staff member’s masking choice.

IN-PERSON TEACHING and COVID-19

We are looking forward to having our students back on campus this fall, but the reality is that a number of students, faculty, and staff will more than likely contract COVID-19 at some point during the semester. I remind you that attendance policies, policies regarding make-up work, and generally how you choose to accommodate sick students are up to the faculty member teaching the course. I encourage you to utilize the resources available to you from the Center for Teaching Excellence when you are putting together your syllabi. Please be as communicative with your students as possible early on in the semester to avoid misunderstandings.

We want to establish structure, encourage in-person programming, and keep our classrooms safe and COVID-19 free, and for this reason I encourage you to be flexible when working with students who have tested positive. Each school and college has a COVID-19 safety liaison you can reach out to with questions or concerns.

COVID-19 EXPOSURE NOTIFICATION

Starting this fall, the L.A. County Public Health policy for close contact notifications will now include all individuals in a classroom, up to 30 people, regardless of physical proximity to the exposed case. In classrooms of 30+, anyone seated within six feet of the infected individual will receive an exposure notice.

You may have received few, if any, COVID-19 exposure notifications last year if a student in your class tested positive. You will likely receive many more notices about COVID-19 exposure based on this new policy. There is no cause for alarm, but it is something to be aware of when preparing for your return to campus this fall. While the CDC has recently provided updated information about testing and exposure notice, LMU bases our policies on local and state public health authorities so we will likely differ from the CDC at times. This COVID-19 dashboard helps me put things in perspective when considering our student body of over 10,000 and over 2,000 faculty and staff.

MONKEYPOX

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has declared monkeypox a Public Health Emergency. LMU’s campus safety teams are following the advice of the L.A. County Department of Public Health and closely monitoring the situation. At the moment, the risk of monkeypox remains very low based on the information available. We will be providing information to students and their families ahead of the start of the academic year and we will do what we can to educate our campus community about this virus as we receive further guidance.

As always, things will change as the semester goes on and I encourage you to check LMU This Week, LMU Together, and LMU Community Advisories for the most up-to-date information. I appreciate your support of our campus community and look forward to a successful start of the school year.

Regards,

Thomas Poon, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President and Provost
Professor of Chemistry

Solidarity and Support for Our Faculty

January 12, 2022

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

As we begin the spring semester, I share a message of solidarity and support. You may be aware that in recent weeks, a few of our faculty were targeted by social media campaigns that seized on incidents in their classrooms and twisted them into polarizing headlines designed to sensationalize, stoke anger, and drive website traffic. As a result, our colleagues have been on the receiving end of vitriolic posts/emails, harassment, and even threats of physical violence. This is disheartening to say the least, and I write today to assure you of my and the university’s unwavering support for those faculty who have been attacked in this way.

Increasingly, higher education has become a battleground for those who see our academic freedom and unfettered pursuit of scholarship and inquiry as a threat to their identity. These disturbing developments must never be permitted to distract nor prevent you from providing a world-class education to our students. I strongly affirm the university’s support for our faculty and your right to develop your own classroom curricula and pedagogical approaches, to conduct your research, and to pursue your creative endeavors.

The university is working diligently to intercept inappropriate emails and monitor threatening social posts, and track and respond to media coverage. LMU Campus Safety Services conducts extensive investigations and engages law enforcement agencies when appropriate. Our social media and PR teams in MarComm will continue to provide support and guidance to faculty who face challenges on social platforms, in the news media, and in the public sphere. I thank these colleagues and our community members who have offered these supports, as well as those among the faculty, our department chairs, our deans and dean’s offices, and within other areas who tirelessly provide assistance to our affected faculty.

In the coming weeks, I will be convening a working group to discuss these issues and collaborate to develop policy, provide guidance, and ensure proactive support for our faculty. I will continue to share more information about these efforts.

Sincerely,

Thomas Poon, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President and Provost
Professor of Chemistry

Fall 2022 Welcome Back

September 1, 2022

Dear LMU Community,

I am filled with gratitude and inspiration as we begin another semester on our beloved campus. This summer I had the privilege of attending the International Association of Jesuit Universities (IAJU) conference in Boston, joined by hundreds of colleagues from Jesuit institutions around the world. The IAJU connects approximately 170 Jesuit colleges and universities, providing an opportunity for us to learn from and with each other, and attending the conference helped me reflect on the rich diversity of our own campus and what we have to look forward to this academic year.

This fall we enrolled one of our most diverse undergraduate classes in university history with 1,700 incoming first-year students and 450 transfer students. Our students came from 45 U.S. states and 46 countries, including many from Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Kuwait.

We also welcome 29 tenure-line and many new term and part-time faculty members to campus this fall who bring a wealth of experience and expertise that will surely complement and enhance the Lion community’s global imagination. They are one of the most diverse groups of incoming faculty in our institution’s history, and I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the work our campus has done to create an inclusive, supportive, and anti-racist learning and working environment. I applaud our deans and the hiring committees for bringing us the best and brightest teacher-scholars to grow our already outstanding faculty community.

There are many recent and upcoming institutional accomplishments to celebrate and look forward to, including:

This fall we will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the LMU Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering, a landmark anniversary for the university;
The LMU School of Film and Television welcomed a new dean this summer and was ranked eighth in the nation by the Hollywood Reporter;
The LMU College of Business Administration’s Hilton Distinguished Entrepreneur lecture series kicks off next week with red helicopter’s founder James Rhee, an acclaimed impact leader, entrepreneur, educator, investor, and goodwill strategist;
The LMU College of Communication and Fine Arts is launching a new degree program this fall—a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art and Design which will provide concentrations in 3D studies, art education, drawing, painting, photography, visual communication design, and multimedia arts;
The LMU School of Education’s highly impactful Center for Equity for English Learners (CEEL) recently celebrated its 15th anniversary, and remains one of the pioneering leaders on the study of educating second language learners;
The Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy & Innovation hosted new students and alumni of its Law Fellowship to the LMU Loyola Law School for its first in-person event in three years this summer to present research on legal issues faced by people with disabilities;
The LMU Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts will host its annual Bellarmine Forum with the theme, “Looking Back to Move Forward,” featuring engaging lectures, conversations, and opportunities for critical reflection;
143 students will embark on a semester abroad this fall, and we enjoyed a successful summer of LMU faculty-led programs in Greece, England, Italy, France, Germany, Hungary, and Croatia.

And in case you have yet to RSVP, the Mass of the Holy Spirit will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 6, at 4 p.m. This mass ushers in the academic year for LMU and for Jesuit institutions around the world. I hope you will join us, regardless of your religious affiliation or belief, to take part in this time-honored tradition.

We have much to be excited about this year, and I hope you will take advantage of the many opportunities to learn, explore, create, and celebrate at LMU. I look forward to learning and growing with you this academic year.

With gratitude,

Thomas Poon, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President and Provost

Faculty Tenure and Promotion Announcement

September 27, 2023

Dear Colleagues,

In consultation with Faculty Senate and the Deans Council, we are providing all assistant professors an opportunity to delay their tenure clock based on continued complications due to the pandemic during the 2021-22 year. If you would like to take this opportunity, you should consult with your dean, who can provide guidance on whether or not such a delay would be prudent. Ultimately, however, the decision rests with you. Those scheduled to go up for tenure this year, must submit their intention to delay in writing by May 15, 2022. All other eligible faculty must submit their intention to delay in writing by October 1, 2022. Written requests should be submitted via email to the Office of Faculty Affairs at ofd@lmu.edu with a cc to the department chair and dean. You can take this delay whether or not you took the delay offered in 2020-2021. Please note that faculty eligible for multiple delays in the same year may only receive a total of one delay. For example, a faculty member on a delay-qualified parental leave this year may not get two total years of delay.

In addition, faculty may include the Rank & Tenure Riders on applications for tenure and/or promotion submitted through fall 2027.

Thank you for your continued excellence throughout the pandemic. Your quick pivots to and from remote instruction have served our students and our university admirably, and I am truly inspired.

Sincerely,

Thomas Poon, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President and Provost

In Gratitude

September 30, 2022

Dear Colleagues,

In 2017 the LMU community welcomed me with open arms and invited me to witness and join in on the passion, creativity, dedication, and drive that I still see exemplified in the students, faculty, and staff of our prestigious institution. Five years later, I am honored to have been reappointed to serve as Loyola Marymount University’s provost for another term.

I am indebted to my colleagues on the President’s Cabinet, and to their teams, for their collaborative spirit and commitment to the mission. I especially thank LMU’s outstanding team of deans and leaders in Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and Enrollment Management. We have accomplished much over the past five years, and there are still many goals we will attain together. Not only are we uniquely positioned to achieve the objectives we have set forth in the Strategic Plan, but also the institutional momentum we have built in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis will allow us to resume our advances in multiple areas.

LMU has elevated our profile by achieving the R2 designation, but we did not need a reclassification to know that we take great measures to support faculty and student research and creative work. As LMU continues to invest in faculty scholarship and expand opportunities for students, we will elevate the incredible research that is being done and share our achievements with our peers and the public.

Pre-pandemic, approximately 40 percent of LMU seniors reported having a study abroad experience, and LMU students have consistently won prestigious fellowships and awards including Fulbrights, Goldwaters, Gilmans, the Gates Cambridge award, and most recently the Obama-Chesky Voyager Scholarship. The office of Global-Local Affairs has made great strides to provide international experiences in the face of adversity and maintain a database of global partnerships among the Lion community. With the ACE Lab Internationalization Strategic Plan in place, I am eager to see the renewed momentum of our internationalization efforts.

Lastly, I am committed to supporting the engagement and retention of our students as we return to full-fledged, on-campus programming. I am grateful to the entire university community for weathering the uncertain times that we faced in the wake of a globally historic event, and I am excited to move into the next phase of institutional history. LMU is renowned for our engaged students, staff, and faculty. I am certain, through God’s Grace, we will come together to espouse cura personalis, and re-engage our bright, caring student body.

I humbly thank President Snyder for his words of praise in my reappointment announcement, and thank all of you for your support, collegiality, and inspiration over the past five years.

In gratitude,

Thomas Poon
Executive Vice President and Provost
Professor of Chemistry

Kat Weaver Promoted to Vice Provost

October 6, 2022

Dear LMU Community:  

I am pleased to announce that Kat Weaver, Ph.D., has been promoted to vice provost for Research, Professional Development, and Online Learning. Kat has served as associate provost for research and professional development since 2018; online learning initiatives were added to her responsibilities in early 2020. Her thoughtful leadership and advocacy for students and faculty have greatly benefited the university, and I highlight some of her many accomplishments below.

Kat and her team in the Office for Research and Sponsored Projects (ORSP) have elevated LMU’s success in garnering external funding by establishing an infrastructure for statistical analysis, grant writing, and proposal submission. Faculty who participated in the annual Proposal Writing Academy have won a combined total of $7.3 million in funding for their research. Just last year, the ORSP recorded a 39 percent increase in extramural dollars awarded, from $8.7 million in FY21 to $12.1 million in FY22, as well as a 31 percent increase in the number of grant proposals submitted and a 69 percent increase in total dollars requested to $39.9 million, an all-time high for LMU. Ever collaborative, Kat has partnered with the University Research Committee, Post Award Administration and Accounting, and University Finance to increase LMU’s research and development resources, as measured by the National Science Foundation’s annual HERD rankings of institutional expenditures. Since her arrival, LMU has seen a 62 percent increase in research and development expenditures from $7.9 million in 2018 to $12.8 million in 2021.
Through the Office of Research and Creative Arts, Kat has overseen increased support for student research including the creation of a new Research Learning Community in 2019, which provides students with crucial training for independent and faculty-mentored research in their disciplines. Under her leadership, LMU received a $1.3 million McNair Scholars grant in 2022 to facilitate faculty-student research, ushering in our next five years of helping underrepresented students gain acceptances to top-tier Ph.D. programs.
Kat oversaw the expansion of programming in the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE), including workshops, faculty learning communities, and LMU faculty fellows focused on anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion; universal design for learning; global-local opportunities; the Salon Series; and active learning pedagogy. Many of these collaborations with ITS, DEI, Mission and Ministry, Global Local Affairs, Faculty Senate, and others were crucial following the murder of George Floyd and the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. The Office of Online Learning’s eFaculty Certification program trained 700 faculty and staff in remote instructional pedagogies and strategies and provided hundreds of workshops and consultations that supported faculty in reimagining course delivery during the pandemic. The Office of Online Learning also successfully developed and launched the new hybrid J.D. program at LMU Loyola Law School in fall 2022, welcoming a cohort of more than 40 law students into a fully redesigned, student-centered legal degree approved by the American Bar Association.
Kat has also facilitated the promotions of 97 tenure-line faculty since 2018 through her care and support of each constituency involved in the annual year-long process.

Please join me in congratulating Vice Provost Weaver on her many successes and in thanking her for the leadership she has already provided. I am grateful Kat will continue serving in this essential role at Loyola Marymount University.

Sincerely,

Thomas Poon, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President and Provost

Roberta Espinoza Reappointed as Vice Provost for Global-Local Affairs

October 13, 2022

Dear LMU Community:

I am pleased to announce that Roberta Espinoza, Ph.D., has been reappointed as vice provost for Global-Local Affairs. When Vice Provost Espinoza joined Loyola Marymount University in 2018, she quickly set to work developing a framework for the office of Global-Local Initiatives and establishing herself as LMU’s inaugural senior international officer (SIO). Vice Provost Espinoza put us on a path toward comprehensive internationalization by facilitating collaborations and building meaningful professional relationships among LMU faculty, staff, alumni, and contacts at other institutions.

Under her leadership, LMU completed the American Council on Education Internationalization Laboratory (ACE Lab) in fall 2021, an undertaking that involved campus-wide consultation, a steering committee, and nearly forty staff and faculty serving on five working groups in areas such as education abroad, faculty/staff development, and collaborations and partnerships, to name a few. This two-year engagement led to a self-study report and an external review team report that effectively serve as LMU’s first strategic plan for institutional internationalization. Vice Provost Espinoza and her team are well on their way to implementing many of the recommendations from the ACE Lab, which include staff changes to build business operations and selecting faculty leaders to impact curricula and research.

Also in fall 2021, Vice Provost Espinoza led the creation and launch of LMU’s inaugural Global Engagement Directory which will allow us to visualize and identify official partnerships and collaborations with institutions of higher education, organizations, and governments. This database will serve as an invaluable tool for the LMU community to connect globally and locally with our partners and the Lion network.

Vice Provost Espinoza has built a stellar team of study abroad and postgraduate success professionals. Through their efforts and her leadership, LMU has secured many new memoranda of understanding with international partners, hosted dozens of international delegations, and gained official non-governmental observer (NGO) status from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). As the largest university in Los Angeles County with UNFCCC NGO status, LMU will be able to send delegations of students and faculty to meetings of the U.N. Conference of the Parties.

Vice Provost Espinoza and her team have positioned LMU as an institution with an incredible community presence and a truly global reach. This was especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic through the “Bringing the World to LMU” initiative that provided online and remote global learning options for students, faculty, and staff, including a virtual summer Global Internship Program for students and website resources for remote teaching and learning. LMU resumed in-person study abroad programs in spring 2022 with 102 participants and continues to provide a diverse portfolio of programs based on new COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

As Vice Provost Espinoza announced in the fall newsletter, the office of Global-Local Initiatives has been renamed “the office of Global-Local Affairs” to reflect a more permanent and sustainable office structure that oversees various facets of the university’s local and global learning and engagement. I couldn’t agree more. Please join me in congratulating Vice Provost Espinoza on her successes and for her contributions to LMU and our global community.

Sincerely,

Thomas Poon, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President and Provost

Celebrating the HHMI Driving Change Award

November 1, 2022

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

I am delighted to re-share the news of LMU Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering’s prestigious accomplishment of making LMU one of only six institutions in the U.S. to receive the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Driving Change award. This $2.5 million grant will allow Seaver College to “effect genuine and lasting culture change” by supporting their already thriving DEI efforts. As your Provost, and as a scientist, I could not be prouder.

To contextualize the competition LMU faced; of the 255 research universities that were eligible to submit pre-proposals, 38 were selected as finalists, and just six were selected to receive funds to bring their proposals to fruition.

I want to take a moment to thank those involved in this three-year, collaborative process. No project of this scale can be done by one person alone, and I am grateful for the teamwork and resourcefulness of those involved in bringing LMU this incredible honor:

Thank you to Dean Tina Choe for her leadership and willingness to allocate Seaver faculty and staff’s time and energy to make our already stellar college stand out even more.
Thank you to the initial grant brainstorming group members including Suzanne Larson, associate dean and professor of mathematics; Barbara Marino, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering; Jeremy McCallum, professor of chemistry and biochemistry; and Kat Weaver, vice provost and professor of biology.
Thank you to the current core team who will bring the grant to fruition: Heather Tarleton, associate dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and professor of health and human sciences; Vice Provost Kat Weaver; Christina Eubanks Turner, graduate program director and professor of mathematics; Katie Mouzakis, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry; and Christina Vasquez, assistant professor of biology.
Thank you to many others who had a hand in preparing, reviewing, and shepherding the application through the process including Matthew Nelson, senior research associate and grant writer; Emma Saturday, research associate; Kristin Love, vice president of Development; Michelle Plasse, executive director of Corporate and Foundation Relations; Alice Martini Doyle, associate director of pre-award services; and Angie Rochat, executive director of research for the Office for Research & Sponsored Projects.

While this project will take years to complete, its impact will last for decades and cement our legacy as a leader of DEI in STEM. Please join me in congratulating our colleagues in Seaver College, and thank you to all who make LMU the best place to study, work, teach, and build community.

Sincerely,

Thomas Poon
Executive Vice President and Provost
Professor of Chemistry