Dear College of Fine Arts Colleagues,
I write to share the news that Executive Director for Instructional Continuity, Innovation and Accreditation Julie Schell has accepted a new position on campus. She will be leading the Office of Academic Technology as the assistant vice provost and director of that unit, which is a part of the newly formed Office of Academic Affairs in the Provost’s Office. She will begin this new role Feb. 1.
Please join me in congratulating Julie as she steps into this role and in thanking her for her extraordinary efforts as a key figure in ensuring our college’s capacity to continue our operations during the pandemic. When classes transitioned to remote teaching overnight in spring 2020, Julie jumped into action to support our faculty members in navigating these new technologies and adapting their pedagogy and teaching practices through workshops and 1/1 consultations.
As we worked to navigate a testing cadence for our high-risk courses, Julie negotiated and managed complex logistics with our campus partners to set up onsite weekly testing for faculty, students and staff to keep our community safe. During this time, Julie also led the college’s accreditation office, helping to support the evaluation of educational effectiveness across more than thirty programs. She did all of this work in good spirits and humor, and we’re grateful to her for helping our college navigate a period of disruption and change.
Julie started her journey in the college working with the School of Design and Creative Technologies, teaching Design courses while advancing her own research around design thinking in pedagogy. She’s spearheaded major projects with community partners such as Waco ISD and the Higher Education Coordinating Board in recent years. In 2021, she was named a Provost Teaching Fellow.
We’re grateful to Julie for her dedicated service to the College of Fine Arts, and we wish her all the best in this new position.
Sincerely,
