Support for New Faculty

Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning

About

Goals and Outcomes

Formal support and programming for new faculty was established in 1998 as part of the University's commitment to helping new faculty make smooth and positive transitions to Ferris State, and to successfully advance students' development and learning.  A week-long orientation is complemented by the New Faculty Transition Program that continues throughout the Fall and Spring semesters.  Together, the New Faculty Orientation and New Faculty Transition programs share the following goals (in no order of priority or importance):

  1. To enable new faculty, for purposes of advancing student development and learning, to cultivate stimulating, student-centered, and inclusive learning environments (see FSU Strategic Planning Goal 1, Initiatives 3 and 4, and Goal 2, Initiative 1).
  2. To assist new faculty in establishing peer relationships that can support and enhance personal and professional growth and development (see FSU Strategic Goal 2, Initiative 5)
  3. To support and enhance engagement in the University community (see FSU Strategic Goal 2, Initiative 5, and Goal 5, Initiative 2)
  4. To enable new faculty to gain and successfully use knowledge about the University's mission, goals, core values, processes, and students (see FSU Strategic Planning Goal 2, Initiative 6)
  5. To enable new faculty to gain knowledge of and successfully use University resources (e.g., FLITE, Academic Support Services, instructional technologies and support personnel) (see FSU Strategic Planning Goal 2, Initiative 6).

The New Faculty Orientation Week itself is designed to enable new faculty (again, in no order of priority or importance):

  1. To gain knowledge and skills about teaching and students' learning, and develop course materials that can be used during the first week of class (or equivalent thereof)
  2. To establish supportive networks of faculty and staff colleagues
  3. To successfully use knowledge of the University's mission, goals, core values, processes, and students
  4. To successfully use knowledge of the University's resources.

The Fall 2009 New Faculty Orientation Week schedule is online here.

The New Faculty Transition Program is conducted by the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (FCTL), and has the full support of the University's Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, College Deans, Department Heads and Chairs, and Program Directors.  This support includes a strong advocacy for the full participation of all new faculty members. This strong recommendation for participation is based on a belief that all professionals new to an academic community in general and a teaching institution in particular can greatly benefit from engaging in an exploration of teaching and learning in a caring and supportive environment.  The Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning in general and the New Faculty Transition Program in particular offer just such an environment.

The 2009-2010 New Faculty Transition Program will engage you and your new faculty colleagues in meetings twice each month throughout the Fall and Spring semesters.  The topics covered in many of the sessions are focused on the most important aspect of Ferris State University's mission – namely, student learning.  Each session will be divided into three parts:

A schedule for the sessions, including information about meeting dates, times, and location, is provided below.

Logistics

To accommodate the schedules of as many new faculty as possible, we have established two meeting times.  You need only attend one of the two times, which are:

All sessions will be held in the Interdisciplinary Resource Center, room 104 (unless otherwise noted).  Food will be provided at each session.  If you have any particular dietary needs, please let us know.

We look forward to working with you during this academic year and, hopefully, years to come.  If you have any questions, please contact Todd Stanislav at ext. 3541 or via e-mail at stanist@ferris.edu.

-Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning
September 2009

Schedule

The list of topics given below is subject to change based on particular needs or interests of the new faculty members.  That is to say, then, please let us know if there is a topic or issue that you think we should consider in one of our sessions.  Contact information is given above.

Dates and Topics

September 16/17 - Trouble-shooting Issues of Technology and Student Motivation

In this first session of the New Faculty Transition Program (NFTP), we plan to cover a handful of topics, from a look at the NFTP itself, to FerrisConnect and classroom technologies. We also want to spend some time today examining the sometimes perplexing, but often-present, lack of motivation for learning that characterizes students. Hopefully, by the end of the session you will have resolved problems or questions you may have about FerrisConnect and classroom technologies, and gained a handful of ideas that you may use to enhance students' motivation for learning.

Guests: Bill Knapp and Meegan Lillis (FCTL)

Session Materials:

Open-ended discussions (Word doc 33KB)
Motivating Students (PDF 995KB)
Teacher Immediacy (PDF 91KB)

September 30/October 1 - Revisiting Generation Y: Do They Fit Inside the Box?

Since Generation Y has burst onto the scene, there have been many articles written about how to deal with this new generation. They make up the vast majority of the students in our classroom, but do we know what they are really like? Join us for a panel discussion with current Generation Y students who will let us know if they do "fit inside the box." Guest panelists will also include those who can offer their Generation X perspective.

Guests include Brooke Moore (College of Arts and Sciences), Patrick Bishop (College of Business), and a host of Generation Y students from Ferris State!

October 14/15 - Hearing from Your Students: The SAI and Other Means for Student Feedback about Your Teaching and Their Learning

In this session, we'll consider, with a collection of experienced FSU colleagues, the following questions: (a) What is the process for conducting the near-end-of-semester student evaluations? Are there options (e.g., SAI form vs. Idea form; use of mid-term evaluations such as a Small Group Instructional Diagnosis)? (b) How are or can the evaluations be used by (i) administrators, (ii) peer faculty (e.g., tenure committee), (iii) the faculty member him- or herself? and (c) If there are any common, recurring, or predictable criticisms, problem areas, etc. that emerge from students' evaluations, what are they, and how can a faculty member work to avoid these?

Guests: Julie Coon (Director, School of Nursing), David Frank (Head, Physical Sciences Department), Karen Strasser, (Head, Biological Sciences Department), and Greg Wellman (Assistant Dean for Student Affairs and Assessment)

October 28 and 29 - The Art and Science of Giving an Engaging and Learner-Centered Lecture

The focus of this session is two-fold: (1) How do we use class time? and (2) What are best practices as concern the lecture method?

Regarding how we use class time, we'll chronicle the activities that occur over the span of a week's time in one or more of our classes. As part of our discussion, we'll consider how particular activities relate to three commonly referenced learning domains: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.

We'll also begin building a "Best Practices of Lecturing" document. To help build this document, each of us will bring at least two sources of information, such as relevant research papers, web pages, books, etc.

November 11 and 12 - Integrating FLITE Resources and Personnel into Teaching and Learning

In this session, Ferris librarians will inform you of the many services and resources the Library has to offer. These will include library instruction in its various forms, course reserves, library databases, e-books software, citation management software, requesting the purchase of new materials, and interlibrary loan.

Guests from FLITE: Kristy Motz (Coordinator of Library Instruction), Stacy Anderson (Distance Education Librarian), Mari Kermit-Canfield (Instruction Librarian), Alison Konieczny (Health Sciences Librarian), Emily Mitchell (Educational Technologies Librarian), and David Scott (Access Services Librarian)

Archived Information

For historical information, please refer to the archives.