Dear Faculty & Staff:
We are moving ahead strategically as a State University with a plan that calls for us to “build shared culture.” Central to that aim is the excellence of faculty teaching, scholarship and service. On Friday we had two examples of how we are building that excellence. In Cochran we held our second Faculty Development Workshop, which provided an outstanding example on sharing of expertise and excellence, and uniting the best of existing traditions and strengths with future directions for the work of faculty. Later that day the Provost issued our new academic structure that will drive us forward and ensure that the disciplines we teach are organized in the strongest and most effective way to ensure our students’ success. Expertise in faculty knowledge is a shared, collaborative act, and not simply sharing of knowledge in isolation with a group of students. By uniting our faculty in new ways and a new academic structure, we will be ready for future pathways of learning for our students.
We saw earlier this month a powerful example of MGA faculty expertise being recognized in the wider environment. Drs. Yingfeng Wang and Myungjae Kwak, professors of Information Technology, secured our largest ever grant from the National Science Foundation for $480,000 to run through 2022. Their research, uniting technology, science and medicine in the field of metabolomics, shows how we are emerging as a University that understands and applies the changing nature of knowledge in the 21st Century. We congratulate Yingfeng and Myungjae on this extraordinary success, which provides an inspiring example of what MGA can do in uniting teaching and learning with the wider world. You can read more about their grant success and focus at: https://www.mga.edu/news/2019/02/MGA-Receives-Federal-Grant.php
Students typically remember their faculty for good reasons. Each of us probably knows of one or two teachers or professors from years ago who changed our lives. That is faculty excellence at its best, and I am proud that so many of our alumni talk about individual professors that fundamentally assisted in their trajectory through life, via their degree learning. MGA will continue to support, recognize and promote faculty excellence. Our students’ greatness hinges on our faculty’s excellence. And that excellence is a shared, collaborative and uniting experience. I thank and applaud our faculty as they work with our students through this semester and ensure their continued greatness in learning.
Thank you.
Chris