January 23, 2025

Dear UNM Faculty,

Welcome to a new year and a new semester! In case you haven’t had a chance to see the news announcement, I wanted to introduce myself to you. My name is Christopher Lyons, and earlier this month, I became the assistant vice provost for faculty affairs — the first to hold this new position.

I have been a member of the UNM faculty since 2006, and I am eager to bring that experience, as well as my experience in leadership positions at UNM, into practice to enhance the life of faculty. My office is located in the Office of Academic Affairs in Scholes Hall, where I work closely with Barbara Rodriguez, senior vice provost for academic affairs.

 Since this is a newly created role, I felt it was important to highlight a few topics I am planning to focus on to provide support and guidance to UNM faculty. My aim is to assist those just beginning their academic careers, as well as those who are taking on leadership roles, such as department chairs or associate deans.

 My primary focus will be on identifying and creating development opportunities for our faculty. This will encompass workshops, panels, and a variety of other events and professional development opportunities. While some of these will be familiar, we will also introduce new events and resources to further support our faculty.

ADVANCE at UNM does an amazing job of creating relevant programming to support faculty, and we are proud to continue our successful collaboration with them. Together, we offer resources that benefit faculty both professionally and in managing work-life balance issues. The popular Lightning Lounge series — which provides succinct presentations of faculty research in an hourlong format — exemplifies this collaboration. Stay tuned for more information on the Feb. 19 event, which will be virtual, highlighting the work of our branch campus colleagues.

The tenure and promotion process can be stressful and overwhelming, so I am planning to prioritize offering support and resources to make this as smooth as possible. And for faculty further along in their careers, we will continue and build upon the Chairs and Directors Colloquium, as well as expanding development opportunities for associate and assistant deans. Chairs, directors, and associate deans: be on the lookout for communications from me about upcoming events. 

Earlier this month, the Office of Academic Affairs launched a newly designed website that features a wide range of useful information for faculty. As with all new websites, it is undergoing continuous improvements, but I did want to direct you to a few especially helpful resources. Under the Support in the Classroom page, you will find the results of a collaboration  between the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Dean of Students, and Academic Affairs that provides recommendations to faculty on student conduct and discipline. I encourage faculty to review this section of the website for sample syllabus language, information on co-constructing classroom community agreements, and suggestions for progressive approaches to addressing disruptive conduct in the classroom, Also, the Faculty Career Development section provides a quick overview of the main ways we support faculty. I invite you to check these resources out, as well as others on the site. 

Stay tuned for much more, and as always, if you have any questions, concerns, feedback, or ideas about resources or programming you would like to see, please feel free to reach out to me at clyons@unm.edu.

Thank you for all you do, and have a great semester.

Christopher Lyons

Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs

Professor of Sociology & Criminology