Reflections on Past Professional Development Events 

Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash

Sustainable Strategies Series Overview 
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Over the past two quarters, the estimable Dr. Brandy Simula has supported over 100 DU faculty members from all series in four workshops. We invite you to watch the recordings and follow along at home!

• • In  “Cultivating Professional and Personal Flourishing as an Academic,” she helped us understand core indicators of flourishing and how to use our academic values to orient our work going forward. We left this workshop with a better understanding of our own level of wellbeing and some concrete “small changes” we can make to improve it.
  • In “Creating and Sustaining Your Mentoring Network,” Brandy framed mentoring as the practice of building a plural, flexible network rather than a 1-1 relationship between a senior and junior scholar. She also provided templates for setting expectations and revisiting mentor and mentee needs during the process.
  • Brandy’s “Developing and Running a Research Agenda & Publication Pipeline” made concrete the challenging but vital work of managing multiple projects and keeping them moving, despite the time crunch of the quarter. This workshop starts with the importance of discovering and honing a research identity, but also includes tools for concrete prioritization and management.
  • “Project Management for Academics” offered tips for keeping academic work organized, including both high- and low-tech options. Perfect for you if you struggle with the “next step” on a task, or keeping various collaborators aligned and on task.

Join us for the final two events in this series:

• • Preparing and Revising Academic Manuscripts
    May 10, 2021 | 3:00pm – 4:00pm
  • Academic, Organize Thyself: Tools & Tips for an Organized Scholarly Life
    June 16, 2021 | 3:00pm – 4:00pm

If I Knew Then What I Know Now Reflection
Starting at a new institution is nearly always daunting, but especially during a global pandemic that has upended research trajectories, reconfigured teaching modalities, and taxed both student and faculty bandwidth. This panel features faculty in their second through fifth year, offering perspectives on how to approach teaching, research, and service at DU. It’s a great video to share with prospective or early career faculty members!