Dear fellow faculty members,
About seven weeks ago, we initiated the Teaching and Scholarship Hub (Faculty Hub). We are excited today to roll out version 1.0 of our new website! Our goal in the Faculty Hub is to support faculty development throughout the professional lifecycle, including support for effective pedagogical practices and opportunities to enhance scholarship, creative work, and intellectual community. With the start of another academic year, we are reminded of the countless ways in which our work demands our best every day. However, sometimes it helps to acknowledge that there is no need to be an island. Faculty connecting with and learning from other faculty enriches our professional lives and helps us do our best work with students and for our disciplines. We invite all faculty to consider the programs and opportunities offered by the Faculty Hub as ways to cultivate these important connections.
We want to point your attention to an upcoming event with an early registration deadline—we are fortunate to host Dr. Kumea Shorter-Gooden, an expert in facilitating dialogue to promote awareness and effective practices to encourage a culture of inclusivity. On the morning of September 6, Dr. Shorter-Gooden will lead us in a workshop on strengthening faculty capacity to foster equity and inclusion. We hope that faculty will join in this important discussion. To learn more about this event and please register here.
This semester, we are initiating an early career faculty seminar to dive into issues that resonate with the inclusive excellence plan. This program complements school-based or department-based orientations and begins the process of connecting faculty with professional development opportunities in the Hub and building community among the faculty.
We invite faculty to share their creative, engaging, and sometimes provocative work or works-in-progress in our new “Hub Talks” series, a program designed to foster cross-disciplinary conversations. We also invite faculty to be “learners” in their colleagues’ classrooms through a new “Teaching Squares” program. Please see this article for more information on teaching squares and you may register here.
An appreciation for the time demands on faculty has guided our approach to help faculty learn about and use pedagogy and scholarship tools. We have designed a “workshops to-go” program with training to be delivered in time periods during which faculty already meet as a group. We are also initiating on-line training for faculty in which we share approaches and materials in ways that facilitate faculty adoption of new tools in their teaching or scholarship. We will continue to add to the workshop menu and create new learning modules and resources throughout the year.
We hope that faculty will engage with the Faculty Hub as we continue to grow and expand the opportunities for meaningful professional development. In addition to programming and events, individual consultations and your feedback are always welcome in the Faculty Hub.
Best wishes as you prepare for the start of the semester and as we welcome all who are new or returning to our campus community.
Linda Boland – Director, Teaching and Scholarship Hub