Office of the Dean
June 2021
Dear Colleagues,
The Board of Trustees adopted a budget for the university at their June meeting. As these decisions are made, the College’s budget situation has been clarified and a mid-summer update seems in order. I am pleased that our resources will support restarting many of the activities we associate with our residential higher education experience.
Within the bounds of our budget, funds have been added to School and Department S&E accounts to support our return to more typical operations.
Also, in support of our teaching and research missions, we will relaunch our graduate student and faculty support programs this summer with funds from the Provost and the College. These programs will begin accepting proposals July 19. Through our combined resources, we are pleased to be able to invest at the following levels:
To further support our faculty, for 2021-22 the College will fund the programs previously underwritten by Office of the Executive Vice President for Research and Partnerships. Those are:
More details on those programs will be distributed closer to the beginning of the academic year.
A return to more normalized hiring began in the waning months of the 2021 fiscal year with a number of open staff roles posted for searches. All staff job postings require approval from the Vice President for Human Resources, and there is an emphasis on maintaining lean staffing across Purdue. The Dean’s Office is working closely with the Heads to advance those requests.
Faculty hiring will resume this fall as well with approximately 10 searches across the College. We are working with the Heads to determine the best distribution of those hires to meet teaching and research needs and to respond to areas of emerging interest.
I am pleased that alongside these investments in our teaching and research, we also are investing in our people. Purdue announced a 3% merit pool, half of which was funded by the College. I was able to distribute 2.75% to our academic and administrative units to provide merit raises for our faculty and staff. I held .25% of the merit pool and directed that to equity cases across the College.
I am pleased as well to announce two promotions within the Dean’s Office. Professor Joel Ebarb has been promoted to Executive Associate Dean and Professor Wei Hong has been promoted to Senior Associate Dean. These promotions are effective July 1, 2021.
Joel’s promotion recognizes his superb performance in the Dean’s Office over the past six years. As Executive Associate Dean, he will continue to be responsible for his existing portfolio but will have budget authority across the College and will be involved in all faculty and staff human resource decisions.
Wei’s promotion recognizes her outstanding performance in the Dean’s Office. As the college’s first Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs (from the faculty ranks), Wei has overseen the successful administration of several innovative faculty support programs. In addition, she has worked closely with the CLA Faculty Senate and provided important leadership resulting in the development of College-level promotion and tenure guidance. Lastly, her leadership of the College’s faculty mentoring activities have helped ensure our new colleagues have the support they need as they start their professional lives in the College of Liberal Arts.
More announcements about initiatives across the College will come at the beginning of the academic year, but news of our improved financial position seemed to me, important to share now. It promises that the coming year will be one of growth for the College as we continue to work together to advance our common goals. For now, please continue to enjoy your summer. We look forward to welcoming you back to campus in August.
Sincerely,
David A. Reingold
Justin S. Morrill Dean of Liberal Arts