Session Schedule for 2008 - 2009
The Students
Session #1
Sunday, 24 August 2008
Social Hour/Dinner
5:00pm-8:00pm
University Center,
Room 261
In this inaugural meeting, attendees will mingle with other faculty new to the campus during a social hour and dinner.
We’ll then, briefly, overview the First Year Program before taking an engaging look at whom it is we teach. We’ll compare the demographic make-up of the UW-Whitewater student body with other regional comprehensive universities, and examine sets of self-reported behaviors from incoming freshmen and graduating seniors. By the end of the session, first year faculty will have a better understanding of:
- Who enrolls here, where they come from, and why they chose Whitewater;
- Attitudinal sets endemic to the student body as a whole; and
- What campus services are available to assis students with academic and personal problems
Hands-On Campus Technology
Session #2
Thursday, 28 August 2008
Continental Breakfast
10:00am-Noon
McGraw Hall, Room 127
Few tools serve the contemporary faculty member as readily as technology. It’s a pervasive part of virtually all instructional and non-instructional activities. This session will familiarize faculty with on-line services to assist in managing courses and the host of other professional responsibilities.
Through a series of hands-on and interactive exercises, attendees will meet and work with staff of Instructional, Communication and Information Technology, getting an early start on using or refining use of:
- Web-based email and calendar services, web-storage and publishing space;
- Desire2Learn (the campus course management system);
- Accessing campus files, student rosters, and printing services; and
- Other emergent questions and issues
The Purple Book
Session #3
Friday, 12 September 2008
Lunch
Noon-2:00pm
University Center,
Room 259A
During the first of the luncheon meetings, Associate Vice Chancellor Barb Monfils will overview the Purple Book process—introducing first year faculty to UW-Whitewater’s vehicle for chronicling professional accomplishments relevant to reappointment, promotion and tenure.
By the end of the session, first year faculty will have a sense of the purposes and timelines relevant to the Purple Book, and have:
- Developed an understanding of the format and contents of the Document of Expectations, the Applicant's Narrative, and the Performance Evaluation Form;
- Derived a sense of how to best document teaching/job performance, research/creative activities, and profession and public service efforts; and
- Developed questions to ask his/her chair relevant to individual departmental use of the Purple Book.
Reflective College Teaching
Session #4
Friday, 3 October 2008
Lunch
Noon-2:00pm
University Center,
Room 259A
Teaching requires instructors to make hundreds of planned and impromptu decisions—decisions that directly affect what, if, and how students learn. As such, it is a process that is particularly subject to critical reflection.
Dr. Brenda O’Beirne, winner of the 1999 W.P. Roseman Award for Excellence in Teaching, will lead participants through a structured discussion of what it means to be a “reflective teacher.” First Year Faculty will leave the session with:
- A sense of how feedback from students and peers can be used meaningfully in the self-evaluation process;
- Resources which can be used in guiding the self-reflection process; and
- A plan regarding how to make critical reflection a recurrent and beneficial part of the teaching improvment process.
Grading & Assessment
Session #5
Friday, 7 November 2008
Lunch
Noon-2:00pm
University Center
Room 266
Faculty surveys indicate that evaluating student work and assigning grades is the “most time consuming,” and “least satisfying” part of their job. This session will begin by looking at the biggest challenges of grading and evaluation, and progress to a discussion of strategies designed to make grading more fair, efficient, and conducive to student learning. Thesession will also overview the institution’s academic assessment efforts. By the end of the session, first year faculty will:
- Have self-assessed how their evaluation methods compare to a list of "best evaluation practices" in post-secondary settings;
- Better understand campus grading practices and tendencies; and
- Developed and understanding of what "academic assessment" is, and how it is practiced on the UW-W campus.
Finding Your "Happy Place"
Session #6
Friday, 6 February 2009
Lunch
Noon-2:00pm
University Center,
Room 259A
Issues influencing faculty satisfaction, vitality, burnout, and engagement now are part of a growing research literature.
This session will provide an engaging overview of this literature, paying particular attention to how faculty attitudes toward their profession evolve from early, through mid- and into senior stages of their career. Attendees will:
- Self-assess the influence of variables found to promote work stress and affect job satisfaction and among post secondary faculty;
- Discuss manifestations of "stress" and "burnout" in academic careers, and explore literature-based lists of recommended antidotes; and
- Consider information and tools to permit individual faculty to identify specific strategies that will enhance long-term job satisfaction and professional engagement
Scholarship & Creative Activity
Session #7
Friday, 6 March 2009
Lunch
Noon-2:00pm
University Center,
Room 259A
Tenure-track faculty from across the nation consistently report that the pressure to meet scholarly/creative expectations as the most significant “stress-producing” professional challenge they face.
In this session, first year faculty will break into groups for panel discussions led by some of UW-Whitewater’s most accomplished scholars in the areas of the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, business, education and the arts. These scholars will share their perspectives and lead discussions about:
- How to establish and launch a profitable scholarly/creative agenda;
- Strategies for getting more work submitted and accepted;
- Methods for collaborating with fellow faculty and students to increase scholarly/creative output; and
- How best to meet scholarly/creative expectations in the UW-W enviornment.
Grant Writing
Session #8
Friday, 3 April 2009
Lunch
Noon-2:00pm
University Center,
Room 259A
Acquisitions of extramural funding at UW-Whitewater have grown over 300% in the past five years. During that same time, the institution has set new goals and allocated resources to push this figure still higher. Such acquisitions are critical to not only helping the University become increasingly self-supportive, but also essential in permitting faculty freedom to pursue long-term research initiatives and release time.
This session, led by Denise Ehlen of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs and faculty grant-writers, will overview and answer attendee questions about:
- The grant-writing and submission process;
- Formulating fundable grant ideas and locating exramural funding sources; and
- Services available through the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs to assist faculty with their grant-writing initiatives
