Dear Colleagues,
Welcome back and a very Happy New Year to you! I’m writing to share with you three important opportunities this winter:
1) the fast-approaching Ideas to Impact RFP response date;
2) the February Provost Conference; and
3) our upcoming COACHE survey
First, a quick reminder that all Ideas to Impact proposals are due by January 17th. We look forward to your participation in this process!
Second, please join us at the 2023 Provost Conference on Relationship-Rich Education: Faculty Thriving and Student Learning to be held on Thursday, February 2, and Friday, February 3, 2023. This in-person conference explores relationship-rich education and the important connections between faculty thriving and student learning.
We will learn with three national experts:
- Dr. Peter Felten is Professor of History, Executive Director of the Center for Engaged Learning, and Assistant Provost for Teaching and Learning at Elon University.
- Dr. Nancy Chick is Director of the Endeavor Foundation Center for Faculty Development at Rollins College.
- Dr. KerryAnn O’Meara is a Professor of Higher Education at the University of Maryland and a distinguished scholar teacher at the University of Maryland College Park.
Our speakers will address how investments in faculty growth and development link to student success in the classroom and fuel a cycle of mutual enrichment. Learn more about our speakers here.
Relationship-Rich Education: How Human Connections Drive Success in College (2020) argues that four interlocking principles shape generative cultures on campus for students—and this conference extends these principles to faculty and staff.
To experience a relationship-rich campus, we all should:
- Experience genuine welcome and deep care
- Be inspired to learn
- Develop a web of significant relationships
- Explore questions of meaning and purpose
If we are to center and value relationships, we need to consider how the work of building and maintaining those relationships is evaluated and rewarded in the consequential and annual review processes.
Some of the workshop and keynote topics include:
- Faculty Matter: Thriving as a Teacher Scholar in Times of Burnout
- Relationships Matter: Teaching for Learning, Equity, and Well-Being
- Teaching Matters: Capturing Moments of Hope in Your Work as a Teacher Scholar
- Yes, And … : Sustainable and Scalable Approaches to Equitable Workload Reform
The interactive sessions will provide wonderful opportunity to engage in conversations with colleagues across campus on topics vital to us as teacher scholars. Please register for the upcoming Provost’s conference, and we look forward to seeing you on the 2nd and 3rd of February!
Finally, I’m pleased to share with you that we have partnered again with the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education to administer the Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey this academic year. COACHE is a research-practice consortium of peer institutions focusing on outcomes in faculty recruitment, development, support, and retention. The Office of the Provost, VPFA, and the DU Faculty Senate are partnering to support the administration of the 2023 COACHE survey in early February.
The COACHE survey is distinct from the Modern Think employee survey administered by Human Resources in Spring 2022 in that Modern Think is an employee engagement survey while COACHE is a faculty satisfaction survey with unique focus on faculty needs and the intricacies of life in higher education. COACHE allows us to benchmark DU faculty member’s experiences of the academic workplace within both internal and national contexts and enact data-driven policy changes on campus. Learn more about our progress since the last DU COACHE survey here.
I am particularly pleased to launch this survey as it will provide a meaningful baseline regarding our faculty environment, including areas of improvement and celebration. Please look for an email invitation to the online survey in early February, which will be available until early April.
Welcome back, and my warmest regards,
Mary L. Clark
Provost