September 16, 2022
Faculty are the lifeblood of our learning community. We are fortunate to have such a highly talented and accomplished faculty at IU, leading discovery, inquiry, and teaching in diverse specialties. Many of our faculty are among the top researchers and scholars in their fields, leading areas of longtime success for IU.
With the Faculty 100, we have a historic opportunity to bring in additional dynamic talent to our faculty and bolster our already vibrant community.
As I have heard from so many over the past months, including recently from leaders of the Bloomington Faculty Council, there is great excitement for the possibilities of growth among our faculty. Nearly every faculty member I talk with has ideas for what additional colleagues and collaborations might bring.
As we consider possibilities ahead, please know I am fully committed to hear ideas from faculty, departments, centers, academic leaders, and all others on how best to grow and fully utilize an opportunity like this. I am ever mindful that in adding new faculty we be intentional to do so in ways that continue to improve the broader ecosystem of departments and faculty efforts across IU. I anticipate bringing these new colleagues to IU over the next two to three years, through a few different waves of recruiting. Through this process, we will continue to learn how best to augment and extend our strengths, and fashion ongoing and future faculty recruitment efforts, to benefit us all.
It is my hope that we will be directed by our three key priorities for IUB – creating a distinctive undergraduate experience, growing graduate education, and elevating research and innovation – and that we will effectively utilize our upcoming strategic planning process to further identify key opportunities together.
We intend this initiative and funding will be open to all schools, colleges, and centers, and all disciplines. We are open not only to established faculty and strengths within individual departments but to imaginative and interdisciplinary collaborations among units, including innovative clusters.
While there is some urgency this fall to get this effort started and meet the traditional faculty recruitment cycle in many disciplines, I want to be sure we are being deliberative and inclusive as well. To ensure all have an opportunity to voice priorities, we have created an online form for you to share your perspectives on Faculty 100.
I would also emphasize that these efforts will proceed alongside, and in addition to, the ongoing, seven-year, university-wide Presidential Faculty Diversity Hiring Initiative, which is already having great success.
I am grateful to our faculty for your continued excellence and leadership, and I am confident our new faculty colleagues will open even more fantastic opportunities ahead for our Bloomington campus. I look forward to joining you in this endeavor.
