Dear Colleagues,

As we transition into February, I trust your semester is off to a productive start. 

Since the start of the year, we have made progress on several institutional efforts, including the university's strategic planning process. As we conclude our statewide listening sessions next week, we have launched a Strategic Planning Survey seeking additional input regarding the key comments, questions, and ideas that surfaced during our sessions, interviews, and other stakeholder meetings. As faculty, your opinions about our institution's priorities and goals over the next 10 years are critical; therefore, I urge you to take a few moments to complete the survey.

Through the participation of more than 800 members of the Auburn Family, several core themes have emerged that illustrate the opportunities and obstacles that will determine our success over the next decade. Among these, institutional silos and resource inequities across the colleges have been identified as key factors that impede a stronger culture of collaboration and innovation. In addition to competing interests and priorities, our institution's challenges are further deepened by the social and political realities that continue to impact higher education in general. Addressing these and other issues that affect faculty productivity remains a priority of the steering committee.
 
As mentioned in previous monthly messages, several academic leadership searches are underway with candidate campus visits and open forums occurring in the coming weeks. As the search committees work diligently to conduct interviews and identify dean candidates for the Colleges of Business, Nursing, and Architecture, Design and Construction, we are also progressing in our search for a new director of the Honors College. A key pillar of our academic community, the Honors College leads several initiatives and programs, including supporting our students in pursuing national and international awards through its Prestigious Scholars Program. An example of our most recent success includes Maggie Nelson, a senior in aerospace engineering, who was named as Auburn’s first Churchill Scholar last month. In addition to her impressive accolade, Maggie has also made history as the first Auburn student to win five prestigious scholar awards.
 
I’m pleased to announce that Auburn will make history next month as we host the Alabama Supreme Court’s oral argument for the first time on our campus. As part of its annual tradition of selecting a college campus to host an oral argument, the session will allow our faculty and students to observe the judicial proceedings of the highest Court in the state. The session will be held at the Gogue Performing Arts Center on March 14, with remarks beginning promptly at 10 am. More information about the case is available on the website; I encourage you and your students to attend.
 
As we look ahead to a busy February, it's hard to believe that we will be at mid-semester at the end of this month. In addition to my monthly note, I am also including some additional information from our academic units regarding faculty opportunities. Again, I thank you for all you do to advance our university.