Updates in Academic Affairs: November 10, 2014
Nominations sought for WMU's highest faculty honor
Nominations are due Friday, Jan. 30, 2015, for the Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award, the highest honor WMU bestows on its faculty members.
The award is based on outstanding professional achievements. It recognizes those whose work is widely known beyond campus and constitutes a significant body of achievement, a substantial amount of which has been accomplished while a WMU faculty member. Wide recognition beyond WMU is essential.
Current, continuing board-appointed full- and part-time employees with faculty rank are eligible if they have at least seven academic years of service to WMU and are not previous winners.
Recipients will be honored during the 2015 Academic Convocation and receive: a $2,000 honorarium that becomes part of their base salaries, a plaque, and an opportunity to present a campus lecture, exhibition or performance.
For more information, visit wmich.edu/research/awards.html, or contact Ernst A. Breisach, emeritus in history and chair of the Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award Committee, at eabreisach@gmail.com or (269) 344-1734.
Be apprised of important student code changes
Effective in September, the WMU Student Code has new policy language governing disruptive behavior, voluntary and involuntary assessments, interim suspensions, and the University’s response to direct threats and imminent danger.
Changes to existing policy language were adopted through a resolution agreement between WMU and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. It is important that all students, faculty and staff members are aware of these changes.
The WMU Student Code is available online at wmich.edu/conduct/code. The new policy language can be found in Article IV, Section B, item 5 and Article V, Sections C and D.
Fall 2015: University Libraries to unveil new Integrated Library System
by Dr. Joe Reish, dean of University Libraries
University Libraries will launch a new Integrated Library System for the University community in the fall 2015 semester.
The new system—Ex Libris’ Primo and Alma—is a major campus effort for providing students and faculty members with improved access to the expanding variety of electronic, digitized and print resources, and a more intuitive search environment for both novice and advanced researchers.
Primo—the front-end search interface—will replace and consolidate the three current options, PowerSearch, Books+ and the Classic Catalog. Meanwhile, Alma will afford library employees a new, more efficient behind-the-scenes system to purchase, catalog and manage the millions of information resources the library offers its users.
The project implementation team includes functional and data experts from University Libraries with representation from the Office of Information Technology's Project Management Office. The groundwork for this system is underway, with plans for trial use of the system in early summer 2015. The official switchover will occur by the beginning of the fall 2015 semester.
Technical and financial support for the project has been made possible through the office of the Provost, Office of Information Technology, Office of Institutional Research and the academic colleges. Hundreds of students, faculty, and staff will eventually lend their support in mounting this endeavor by participating in trials and usability testing.
For more information and periodic updates on the implementation of the new ILS, consult the University Libraries' ILS Project Blog.
Prism newsletter to be revamped, relaunched in January
The Prism newsletter is changing in its purpose and format. Since the newsletter was first created in 2005, communications in the Office of Academic Affairs have changed considerably.
Originally, Prism was the only publication in Academic Affairs highlighting the successes of our faculty, staff and students. Today, nearly every college, school, department and unit has its own website and electronic newsletter.
Recognizing this great breadth of academic news sources, the new Prism will provide a compilation of highlights from within Academic Affairs for the University and community at large, and will link readers to unit newsletters and websites.
Beginning in January, Prism will publish near the beginning of each semester to highlight noteworthy events, publications and people from the previous semester. We look forward to sharing the revamped Prism with you.