Moving Forward
One year ago, the mathematics department at UT was in the process of searching for a new department head. It was a great honor for me to be given the opportunity to serve the department in the headship role after being at UT for almost thirty years. Now, after almost eight months since becoming the department head on August 1, 2022, I would like to take a moment to update everyone on some recent developments and events in the department, as well as look forward to where we might be heading.
Teaching is one of the primary responsibilities and missions of the mathematics department, as we teach the entire campus with an enormous number of credit hours. Due to record enrollment, our teaching manpower was stretched beyond our limit in fall 2022. However, with some creative measures and assistance from the dean and provost, the department was able to manage the crisis and ensure that every student was taught without one left uncovered. The department is in better shape in spring 2023, and with many new TT/T and non-TT faculty joining our department in fall 2023, the future looks bright.
Another primary responsibility and mission of the math department in a flagship university like UT is training and advising graduate students. Currently, the department has 88 graduate teaching assistant lines in spring 2023. Thanks to the college’s support, that number will grow to 100 in fall 2023. However, the large influx of new graduate students puts a significant pressure on the department, specifically the TT/T faculty, to direct them and fulfill our commitments to those students, and mentor them to become competent instructors to teach for the university. With the help of a group of dedicated faculty members, the department was able to develop a new GTA Teaching Advising Program that improves/replaces the eight-year-old GTA Mentorship Program. The pilot experience in fall 2022 showed that the new program largely works well, and further tweaks and improvements will be implemented in fall 2023, so the future looks bright.
Research is another primary responsibility and mission of the math department, and many of the faculty cherish and are proud of it. Most of the TT/T faculty have been actively pursuing scholarly research via publications and presentations, and many have been supported by external grants. About 43% of the faculty had external funding in 2023FY, which is up from 31% in FY2021, a great improvement. Among many bright spots, perhaps the brightest was the success of a multi-million-dollar UT cluster hiring proposal on Science-Informed AI, a multi-college and multi-department effort led by Professor Vasileios Maroulas. This is the only winning proposal by the College of Arts and Sciences in the competition and provides critical faculty lines and resources that potentially will put the UT on the map as a leader in AI and machine learning research. Along with the continuous strong traditional mathematical research output of the department, the future looks bright.
Over the past few years, the TT/T faculty of our department has experienced a significant decrease due to retirements and resignations. However, I am pleased to report that the trend has stopped at the end of FY22, and we have made progress. With the support of the college, we were able to conduct three successful TT faculty searches in FY 2023, filling positions in mathematical biology, probability, and topology. I extend my gratitude to the search committees for their hard work and to the committee chairs (Professors Suzanne Lenhart, Jan Rosinski, and Mike Frazier) for their excellent leadership. Additionally, we are already in the process of hiring two senior tenured faculty members through the Science-Informed AI cluster, and the college has approved our request for eight new non-TT faculty positions. In conjunction with previously approved but unfilled positions, we are currently searching to fill 12 non-TT faculty positions. These developments will significantly increase and improve our department’s manpower. With expected changes to take effect in fall 2023 and beyond, the future looks bright.
While shared governance requires our faculty to perform various service responsibilities for the department, college, university, and profession, it is unfortunate that the trend for service load is increasing. This means our faculty will likely carry heavier service responsibilities in the future. Balancing teaching, research, advising, and services will continue to be a challenge, and this challenge may increase.
Our dedicated staff plays a critical role in keeping the department running smoothly, and the COVID pandemic has made us even more appreciative of their services. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our staff for their ongoing support to the faculty, students, and university.
For the first time in over five years, our department will be publishing a newsletter. With COVID behind us and a gradual return to normalcy, we hope the newsletter will serve as a means to connect with all of you and enable us to tell our story to the university community and beyond.