Dear Colleagues,

I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

It was great to see so many of you in person at our recent School Assembly. I will not recap my entire presentation here, as the slides are available for anyone who was not able to attend. However, I would like to highlight some key points:

Faculty recruitment. We are delighted to be welcoming 16 new faculty hires to SPH over the next few months (with the possibility of still adding a few more). Broadly, we had over 430 applicants, conducted Zoom interviews with the top 20%, invited the top 10% for day-long interviews, and made offers to the top 5%. Thanks to the members of the three search committees, all members of our community who participated, the department staff members who helped with the planning process, and in particular to Vanessa Edouard and Maya Dottin in the Faculty Resources Office.

It has now been a few years since we overhauled our faculty search process at SPH. Since implementing those improvements, we have recruited a total of 40 faculty. Overall, 53% of recruited faculty were women and 47% were men, 45% were faculty of color, 28% were from groups historically underrepresented in academia, and at least 3 new faculty members were recruited to every academic department. Moving forward, we are committed to a process of continuous improvement to ensure that we continue to adhere to best practices.

Promotion information session. The spring Promotion Information Session is scheduled for Tuesday, May 17 from 1-2 PM via Zoom. The panel will include myself, as well as three of our colleagues who were recently promoted (Professors Jacqui Milton Hicks, Kim Sullivan, and Gina Peloso). The goal of these sessions, offered each semester, is to clarify the process and provide guidance on the development of a strong promotion packet.

Mid-Rank Review Program. We have launched the new Mid-Rank Review Program to provide faculty with an additional mechanism for feedback on their progress toward promotion. Details can be found here in the Faculty Handbook. Briefly, through this program faculty may submit materials to the SPH Appointments and Promotions Committee for feedback. Importantly, this program is offered solely for the purpose of faculty development – it is optional and non-evaluative. The main objectives are to ensure each faculty member understands the expectations for promotion on their particular track, receives feedback on their progress toward that goal, and is positioned to adjust course (if necessary) while still remaining on track for promotion within a reasonable timeframe.

Updated SPH Faculty Handbook. The annual refresh of the SPH Faculty Handbook has been approved by Governing Council and is now available. The majority of the updates are editorial and/or reflect changes to policies that were previously communicated by the School or the University. A summary of the major changes is provided in the slides from my presentation.

Faculty Development Seminar Series. A reminder that the Faculty Development Seminar Series includes content from SPH education, SPH research, SPH practice, campus-level programming, university-level programming, and opportunities external to BU, such as the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity. The calendar of events are updated each semester. While sessions are also publicized via the normal channels, we provide this single source of such offerings to make it easier for faculty to find and attend sessions on topics of interest.

New Center for Climate and Health. We were so pleased to announce on Earth Day that we have launched a new Center for Climate and Health at SPH. The School has a growing portfolio of activities in this space, including work on the development of climate action plans for cities, air pollution, greenspace, extreme heat, and inequities of climate change burden. The new Center will be directed by Professor Greg Wellenius and will focus on catalyzing new collaborative opportunities, enhancing research translation activities, and increasing the visibility of our efforts both internally and externally.

idea hub Pilot Awards. idea hub offers a vibrant pilot award program that includes multiple funding opportunities to support excellence and innovation in education, research, and practice. Congratulations to the faculty who were granted pilot awards this spring:

  • Pandemic Recovery Research Awards:
    • Jacob Bor (GH), Diana Ceballos (EH), Trish Elliott (CHS), Allegra Gordon (CHS), Marcia Jimenez (EPI), Collette Ncube (EPI), Julia Raifman (HLPM)
  • Early Career Catalyst Awards:
    • Shariq Mohammed (BIO): Statistical Modeling for Topographic Analysis of Spatially Resolved Transcriptomics Data
    • Amelia Wesselink (EPI), Allegra Gordon (CHS), Sarah Gordon (HLPM), Sam Parker Kelleher (EPI): Identifying transgender and gender diverse patients in Medicaid pregnancy claims data
  • Established Investigator Innovation Award:
    • Patricia Fabian (EH): Indoor air quality, thermal comfort, energy use, and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 engineering controls in Boston Public Schools

The next deadline for pilot awards is September 1, and an updated RFA will be circulated over the summer. Each cycle includes new funding opportunities, so we encourage faculty to carefully review each RFA.

As always, feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions. I hope you have a great week.

Best,

Michael McClean, ScD
Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Advancement
mmcclean@bu.edu

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