Beginning an academic year of opportunity
Dear faculty colleagues,
With the academic year now under way across all of our campuses, we collectively embark on a new era at Northwestern with new students and a 175th anniversary celebration that will include an initiative to raise $175 million to expand endowed professorships and related funds across academic units.
President Mung Chiang and I each spent the summer meeting with faculty, staff, students, alumni and other friends of the University, laying an important foundation for our joint visits to the schools this fall and winter. The excitement and enthusiasm our community has expressed for the future of Northwestern is inspiring. While we all acknowledge that higher education continues to face unprecedented headwinds, we will address these challenges with resilience and focus our energies on the opportunities to build on 175 years of institutional excellence.
Today, I want to share some of the topics that are on my mind as we start the academic year.
Faculty hiring
As President Chiang, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Amanda Distel and I mentioned last week in our joint message to faculty and staff, faculty hiring has fully resumed. After a year in which faculty hiring was essentially frozen, I approved virtually all the faculty search requests from the school deans across all schools for Fiscal Year 2027. In addition to a significant number of faculty lines in Feinberg, I have greenlit 99 tenure-line and non-tenure-eligible faculty searches. The Office of the Provost worked closely with the deans to approve searches earlier in the summer than in years past to allow schools and departments to return to the hiring market as soon as possible. I look forward to welcoming the cohort of new faculty next year.
Academic leadership searches
One of the provost’s greatest responsibilities is hiring leaders. In the coming weeks, the Office of the Provost will announce searches for the successors to Adrian Randolph, Dean of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, and Xuemao Wang, Dean of Libraries, both of whom will step down at the end of the academic year. In addition, I am also eager to co-chair the search for the next Vice President for Research with Amanda Distel. This role’s impact on the success of our faculty cannot be overstated. The Office of the Provost will be a strong supporter of the Office for Research through its leadership transition and organizational evolution.
Academic facilities
The former Jacobs Center in the center of the Evanston campus has now reopened, providing another place for faculty, staff and students to teach, learn and socialize in a welcoming academic environment. And in fall 2027, Kellogg will open the Ann McIlrath Drake Executive Center adjacent to the Global Hub, providing a spectacular footprint near the lakefront. In collaboration with the deans, the Office of the Provost continues to explore ways that our academic facilities can enhance the work and experience of our community.
Artificial intelligence
With AI technology advancing at an incredible pace, we are working collaboratively across units to address our institutional AI needs in research, education and administration by providing access to tools, training and policy guidance. The University recently launched an AI at Northwestern website that serves as a central point of connection to these resources. This topic is particularly important in the classroom, where instructors are adapting methods to teach in an environment where AI is seemingly everywhere. Ultimately, our goal is to prepare critical thinkers who are prepared for jobs that are rapidly evolving. In recognition of the pedagogical changes AI is requiring us to address, the Office of the Provost has partnered with the Northwestern Network for Collaborative Intelligence to establish the Provost’s Award for Teaching Innovations in the Age of AI. The deadline for submissions is Oct. 16.
Faculty engagement
As a longtime faculty member, I strongly believe that clear and open communication between faculty and academic leaders is essential to maintaining a positive institutional climate that empowers faculty to do their best work. In addition to this fall’s school visits with President Chiang, I am committed to facilitating a strong relationship with the Faculty Senate and being as responsive to individual faculty questions and feedback as I am able. I also encourage you to regularly check the Office of the Provost and Responding to Federal Polices websites for updates, read the Office of the Provost’s faculty newsletters (the September edition included links to many important faculty resources), and stay attuned to communications from your deans and chairs.
I look forward to a year in which you can do your best work, a year of discovery, accomplishment and celebration.
Sincerely,
Erik Luijten
Provost
Liu-Wang Liming Professor