I spend a lot of time here whining, but really, there is a lot that I am thankful for. And one of those things is our the Dean of USD’s College of Arts and Sciences, Noelle Norton.
First off, she truly cares about diversity, and puts a lot of her efforts and money towards improving Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice and Accessibility in the college. Not just talking about it, but actually *working* on it.
But also, she supports her faculty in ways both big and small. Last week, there was a college-wide party to celebrate the beginning of the semester. Noelle went and personally bought each faculty who was promoted to full professor a bottle of wine, but took great pains to ensure that the bottle in some way reflected the faculty member’s passion. So, for me, she got a bottle of San Simeon Coastal Petit Syrah, since she knows I study the effects of spatial subsidy on coastal ecology. How crazy and thoughtful that the Dean not only makes that effort, but that she knows our research topics well enough to do so.
And it doesn’t hurt that the whole Dean’s office is staffed with smart, compassionate colleagues who work really hard at supporting students and staff. I know, that sounds like it should be the case everywhere, but honestly, it is rare and much-appreciated.