Junior Faculty Fellows Program Cohort Projects

Dana Holcomb

Arts, Sciences, and Education

Social Work

COVID-19 had a widespread impact on faculty in various aspects of their professional lives. The goal of Dana’s project is to understand how the pandemic affected social work faculty and their experiences with formal faculty mentorship. Faculty mentorship is an often-underutilized academic tool despite its numerous benefits. However, mentorship is not without its obstacles, which were heightened during the pandemic (e.g., a remote workplace can make it more difficult to pursue).

Dana will conduct semi-structured interviews with social work faculty members to explore how COVID-19 affected their experiences with formal faculty membership. Eligible faculty include those who were mentees in formal mentoring relationships before the pandemic, and who were previously in a face-to-face role that transitioned to remote/virtual learning. To determine the impact of COVID-19, if any, Dana will interview faculty to learn if their department worked with them to provide formal mentorship opportunities while remote, how supported and connected they felt to their mentors, and what their positive and negative experiences were.

Kelly Vigants

Arts, Sciences, and Education

Education

As Michigan restructures teaching certification, the Early Childhood Education program must follow suit. While faculty in the Education Department were adjusting the program to align with the new Standards for Preparation of Teachers of Early Childhood General and Special Education (birth through kindergarten), they discovered that the course EDCD 440: STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) was an area of weakness. 

For her project, Kelly intends to develop the EDCD 440 course for launch by Fall 2022 and spearhead a community event to promote Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. Weekly topics for the course have been decided, but the full curriculum and resources have yet to be developed. Kelly hopes to work with other departments on campus to promote STEAM and create synergy to attract even more students to these disciplines.

Kevin Brennan

Kendall College of Art and Design

Life Sciences and Pre-Medical Illustration

To remedy outdated program and course outcomes, Kevin seeks to align the current Life Sciences and Pre-Medical Illustration (formerly Medical Illustration) curriculum with the expectations of master’s level programs and professional organizations. The re-evaluation and development of new program outcomes will allow students to be better prepared for their academic and professional careers.

To develop new program outcomes, and new course descriptions and titles, Kevin will use other undergraduate programs and competencies defined by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP), the accrediting body for graduate Medical Illustration programs.

Mindy Myers

Arts, Sciences, and Education

English, World Lanuages, and Literature

Mindy’s project is motivated by the lack of pedagogic content about social justice, diversity, and inclusion in the field of technical writing and professional communication. There has been a push within the field to include these topics, but dedicated resources and materials remain scarce.  To begin addressing this dearth of knowledge, she plans to revise ENGL 311: Advanced Technical Writing and ENGL 325: Advanced Business Writing to centralize these topics in the pedagogic approach. 

Building upon these revisions, Mindy will develop a textbook proposal titled A Socially Just Technical Communication to submit to Broadview Press. Additionally, Mindy intends to present at the 2022 Association for the Teaching of Technical Writing Conference and hopes to complete an article to submit to the Technical Communication Quarterly. 

Pam Smyth

Health Professions

Nursing

Mental health needs are ever rising in the USA with increased rates of mental health disorders, suicide, and substance abuse. This includes college students who are reporting issues with, for example, anxiety, depression, and substance abuse,  each of which can affect their physical, mental, and emotional health, as well as negatively impact their academic performance. To meet the mental health needs of Ferris students and the broader community, Pam aims  to implement Mental Health First Aid  training. 

Pam intends to participate in Mental Health First Aid instructor training through the National Council for Mental Wellbeing and then share her knowledge and provide training to FSU faculty, staff, students, and community members. This training will help participants recognize the signs and symptoms of mental illness and emotional distress, utilize tools to assess others for risk, give effective reassurance, share useful resources, and more. Pam also hopes her efforts will help reduce stigma surrounding mental health.