Dear Colleagues,

I hope you had a happy and restful Thanksgiving break.

I completed my 100th day as Executive Vice President & Provost on Nov. 9, which gave me the opportunity to reflect on my accomplishments and my future priorities. In my initial note to you in the August newsletter, I referenced two initial priorities: growth in scholarship and strengthening our foundation.

I immediately launched the Provost’s Fund for Innovation in Research, with opportunities for faculty to receive seed funding for innovative and interdisciplinary research. I am pleased to announce that 136 proposals have been submitted to seven programs with 60 awards made, totaling approximately $120,000. Currently, 68 proposals are under panel review with $1 million expected to be awarded by January 2023. Not only will this seed funding advance our scholarship, but because much of it requires collaboration across campus, it will strengthen interdisciplinary work, which is something many of you indicated we needed in the COACHE survey.

I also mentioned a desire to advance strategic faculty hiring, increase funding for graduate stipends and grow the number of Ph.D. students. These are fundamental priorities in the zero-based budget process, and as a result we will see significant progress in the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Lastly, I made a commitment to clear communication and to shared governance by including you, or your representative(s), in important decisions. As such, I have empaneled committees with representatives from the faculty, staff, and students to advise me on how to prioritize unit needs and how to implement the recommendations of the Graduate Assistantship Management committee. I am also hosting a Town Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 13, at 1 p.m. to provide an overview of the zero-based budget process and to answer your questions. I meet regularly with faculty senate leadership, and I have met with over a third of the faculty as I work toward my goal of meeting with every department on campus. In the next two weeks, I will be visiting LSU Eunice, LSU Shreveport, LSU Shreveport Health Sciences and LSU Alexandria.

Thank you for your warm welcome these past few months, and most importantly, your trust. I am confident that, together, we will continue to advance LSU’s research, teaching and service excellence.

Sincerely,

Roy Haggerty
Executive Vice President & Provost

Connect with Provost Haggerty on LinkedIn

Program Manager Mallory Danzy will be offering virtual trainings on Elements, LSU’s new faculty information system. Elements replaces LSU Faculty 360. Trainings will include information on how to update your Elements profile, add activities, and create your curriculum vitae.

Faculty will complete their 2022 annual reviews in Elements. Data from Elements will be pulled and used to populate the activity reports.

Two search committee trainings will be held in the month of December. All individuals serving on a faculty search committee must attend a training every two years. The training has new content on mitigating bias in the search process that will support more inclusive practices in the hiring process. 

Click here to register for a search committee training.

The Ogden Honors College is accepting proposals for fall 2023 courses now through Jan. 19, 2023. 

Faculty from all senior colleges are invited to submit a proposal for a special topics course based on their research. Faculty members are also encouraged to consider team-teaching for the freshman introductory course HNRS 2000 Critical Analysis, which considers issues facing the state of Louisiana through interdisciplinary approaches. To find more information on submitting a course proposal, visit Teach Honors Courses — LSU Honors College. Please direct any questions to Drew Lamonica Arms, Associate Dean of the Ogden Honors College, dlamoni@lsu.edu.

Faculty and staff are invited to submit potential opportunities for improvement in our operational and administrative processes and procedures to the Administrative Process Improvement Committee (APIC). 

Questions to Consider:

• Is the process too cumbersome?
• Are there opportunities for streamlining?
• Is communication of expectations clear?
• Is education, support, and training provided?
• Do the current processes and procedures still meet our needs?

The Student Technology Fee Oversight Committee has $1 million available to fund faculty projects in FY 2022-2023. These discipline-specific grants fund technology needs that benefit student learning and research in the classroom.

The deadline for submitting discipline-specific proposals for FY 2022-2023 is Jan. 19, 2023, by 4:30 p.m. 

View information about how to submit a proposal.