Editorial
Moving MIT Forward; Supporting Our Students in Making Change; Our New Website
MIT’s students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, staff, and administrators are facing the task of renewing education and research under conditions of extraordinary difficulty. There are few precedents to follow, and the arena is strewn with unidentified difficulties.
Gratitude for our Community’s Commitment to Reinventing MIT in the Era of Covid
At the September 16, 2020 Institute faculty meeting, I shared the image below as a way to convey the breadth of Covid-19’s impact on our mission and operations – and the intensity and scope of the MIT community’s response.
From the Faculty Chair
Improvements in Policies for Promotion and Tenure are Overdue
How can we improve MIT’s promotion and tenure processes? This has been a priority on my agenda since the beginning of my term as Chair of the Faculty.
Strong MIT 2020 Campus Research Performance
Last March, MIT’s research enterprise quickly reduced its on-campus research activity to about 10% of normal capacity as a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
The Ad Hoc Committees on Principles and Processes
The Ad Hoc Committee to Review MIT Gift Processes, which we call the Process Committee, was convened in mid-October 2019 by Provost Marty Schmidt. At the same time, Faculty Chair Rick Danheiser formed the Ad Hoc Faculty Committee on Guidelines for Outside Engagements.
Push the Pause Button on Teleconference Interviews for New Faculty Hires
Teleconference interviews are unfair to all faculty candidates, especially those with children at home. Evidence is mounting – the brunt of this unfairness falls upon female candidates.
Beyond Risk Management? How to Learn from MIT’s International Engagements
I was inspired by Richard Lester’s article in the May/June 2020 Faculty Newsletter ("On the Risks and Benefits of New International Engagements") in which he laid out a comprehensive process to assess the risks of MIT’s new international engagements.
Mission, Safety, Equity: Navigating Fall 2020 at MIT Libraries
Like you, we in the MIT Libraries find ourselves in a most unusual fall semester.
MISTI Global Seed Funds Call for Proposals Launched September 14
The MISTI Global Seed Funds program enables participating teams to collaborate with international peers, either at MIT or abroad, to develop and launch joint research projects.
Highlights from the MIT 2020 Quality of Life Survey
MIT has administered five major Quality of Life (QOL) surveys. The first survey of faculty and staff was run by the ad hoc Committee on Work and Family in 1989.
