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Northwestern Office of the Provost

Faculty Newsletter | June 2025

Dear faculty,

 

A couple of weeks ago, it was my pleasure to attend the 2025 University Teaching Awards ceremony, where we recognized some truly special members of our faculty (about whom you can read here). These individuals cultivate meaningful and effective learning experiences, and their profound impacts on their students last a lifetime. The awardees were (shown wearing medals in the photo below, with award benefactor Nancy McCormick at the far right):

  • Yumi Shiojima, Charles Deering McCormick Distinguished Professor of Instruction 
  • Caitlin Annette Fitz, Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence
  • Peter Slevin, Charles Deering McCormick Distinguished Clinical Professor
  • Jonathan Emery, Charles Deering McCormick Distinguished Professor of Instruction 
  • Michael Horn, Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence  

people smiling, showing off medals

 

Congratulations to these outstanding colleagues. During the ceremony, we also acknowledged the many instructors at Northwestern who have been recognized by their schools for their excellence in teaching. Additionally, we recognized the winners of this year's Alumnae Award for Curriculum Innovation.

 

Thank you to all of our wonderful faculty for your innumerable contributions to Northwestern and beyond. As the academic year comes to a close, I want to reiterate that, even as higher education and our own academic community face unprecedented challenges, President Schill and I are committed to staying true to Northwestern's guiding principles and continuing to work toward realizing our institutional priorities. While stressors will no doubt persist, I hope you will take some time to rest and recharge during the summer.

 

Sincerely,

 

Kathleen Hagerty
Provost
First Chicago Professor of Finance

News and Notes

Tracking federal policies

Northwestern is monitoring and responding to federal actions, including Executive Orders and agency policy changes that affect higher education. Visit the federal policies website for resources and updates.

 

Opportunity for students from the Office of Fellowships

Federal funding for graduate students in STEM fields has become more competitive than ever, but it has not disappeared. To help students navigate a complex new landscape, LaTanya Williams, Associate Director for STEM in the Office of Fellowships, will host application-writing workshops on July 23, 25 and 28. In anticipation of possible changes to the 2025-26 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program application, which is expected to open mid-summer, follow-up informational sessions are scheduled for Sept. 9, 12, 23 and 26. All sessions will be held on Zoom and are open to undergraduate seniors and first- and second-year graduate students. Please encourage your students to reach out to latanya.williams@northwestern.edu with questions and for registration information.

 

News from Searle

  • Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching has created a two-minute survey to gather input on potential topics for the next University Practicum, an online series of sessions designed for instructors of all levels, backgrounds and teaching contexts, which has engaged more than 1,275 Northwestern instructors since its launch in 2020.
  • Registration is open for the second annual Course Design Institute, a three-day immersive institute that will take place in August and focus on developing a new Canvas-ready syllabus for the upcoming academic year. Online and in-person participation options will be available. Learn more and register by June 15.
  • Applications are now open to join the 2025–26 Searle Fellows Program, a professional development initiative recognizing and supporting the great promise of early-career faculty members. Any early-career faculty member with a minimum of two years at Northwestern is eligible. Learn more and register by June 15.
  • The inaugural Searle Center Community Celebration will take place on June 4 from 2 to 4 p.m. Searle will unveil its new strategic plan, honor the first recipients of the Spirit of Searle Award and celebrate the collective achievements of the Searle community with bites and distinctive drinks. RSVPs are appreciated.

High-performance computing for AI-related research through Northwestern IT

With Quest, Northwestern IT provides researchers with resources for computing- and data-intensive research that goes far beyond the capabilities of laptops or workstations. Recently, Quest underwent significant upgrades in its operating, storage and networking systems, including more than doubling general GPU capacity to 200 GPUs to support cutting-edge computing and AI-driven research. These enhancements dramatically increase research productivity across all disciplines by improving computing efficiency and enabling researchers to leverage the latest applications and software. Learn more about high-performance computing at Northwestern and request a consultation today.

 

In case you missed it

Mark Your Calendar

Featured events

 

Key dates and deadlines

  • June 13-16: Graduation Weekend
  • June 19: Juneteenth National Independence Day; University closed

 

More resources



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