Insert Date
Dear [insert Dean’s title and name),
We are very pleased to bring to your attention the work of members from your faculty --
[insert names of team members] -- who (along with [insert names of colleagues from other institutions – if any]) are engaged in an action-learning project supported by SaMnet.
SaMnet has 25 such action-learning projects nationally. We provide the project teams with advice, peer review, and leadership training. SaMnet assists them to disseminate their findings in scholarly journals and to exercise leadership at the institutional level and contribute to influence at a national level.
The team from your faculty at the University of [insert name of institution] are [insert short description of project objectives]. This area of research is important [elaborate on project relevance and importance here].
A poster summarising the project objectives and outcomes to date is attached. Leadership exhibited in the project team has been characterised by the following comment made by [insert name] (team member from [insert name of institution] and/or SaMnet Steering Committee member or critical friend to the project -whichever applies):
[Insert comment] as for example: Mary Familari’s engagement of her colleagues, and influence on their thinking about student learning in zoology and the national agenda around broader learning outcomes, is an excellent example of influential leadership. She wants to create some change and a larger focus on student learning in her discipline. She is creating the opportunity for this to occur - leading from behind, if you will. She is doing this in a subtle way through effective research design that encourages and seeks engagement from her colleagues, which she modestly views as simply doing SoTL research.
Kind regards,
Assoc Prof Manju Sharma, School of Physics, U of Sydney
Chief Coordinator, SaMnet of Australian university educators
Director, Institute for Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education