Faculty
Development Committee
Tuesday,
August 19, 2003
Old
Main Village
Approved Minutes
Members
Present: Nancy Fitzsimons-Cova, Chair; Anne
O'Meara; Sandra Mullins; Barbara Bergman; Christophe Veltsos
Invited
Guest: Stewart Ross, Director of the Center
for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
1.
Introductions. Each member of the committee introduced
their self.
2.
Review
Committee
Purpose. Nancy provided an
overview
of the purpose of the Committee as follows:
Members
of the Minnesota State University, Mankato
Faculty Development Committee have had two main responsibilities over
the past
few years: (1) Meet with administration in a formal Sub Meet and Confer
to make
recommendations for Summer Teaching Scholar awards, and (2) meet in a
Sub Meet
to plan the spring Tenure/Promotion Workshop. Committee members are
also
encouraged to attend the T/P workshop. Beginning in AY 2002-03, the
committee
also works with the director of the university's new Center for
Excellence in
Teaching and Learning on occasional projects to aid and reward faculty
in their
professional-development activities. The Faculty Development Sub Meet
and
Confer, along with Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning director Stewart Ross, during the
2002-2003 Academic Year discussed the possibility of instituting one or
more
new, annual university-wide teaching awards. The committee chair is
automatically a member of the FA Executive Committee, prepares a report
for
each Exec meeting, and attends Exec meetings if his/her schedule
permits.
3. Discussion of Committee Agenda for
2003-04
- Teaching
Scholar Awards. The Committee members unanimously concurred that we
would like to review the Call for Proposal for the Teaching Scholar
Fellowship Program and
make recommendations for changes that correspond to the evaluation
criteria that will be developed by the Committee this year. Members
discussed the challenges of reviewing and ranking proposals because of
the lack of clear proposal guidelines and rating criteria. Members also
express concern over the lack of feedback from administration regarding
the ultimate selection of Teaching Scholar recipients.
- Tenure/Promotion
Workshop. The Committee members discussed the role of (or lack there
of) the Committee in the Tenure and Promotion Workshop conducted by
Administration. The Committee members unanimously agreed that the
Committee, along with other faculty representatives, should have more
input into the content of the workshop. If available, the Committee
would like to obtain and review copies of evaluation forms from past
workshops.
- Teaching
Awards. Members
unanimously agreed that we would like to continue to pursue discussion
of and establishing criteria and protocols for instituting a
University-wide Teaching Award to recognize excellence in teaching.
4. Center
for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Stewart Ross
shared
information about the status of the Center and activities for 2003-04. The Center was awarded an Active
Learning Advocate Grant. The Center's budget increased from $3,400 to
$15,000.
Stewart is now operating as the fulltime Director of the Center.
Stewart
reiterated that both the Administration and IFO are in support of the
idea of a
Teaching Award. He was successful in meeting with every new faculty
that was
hired in 2002-03. The Center now has a webpage. Activities planned for
this
year include:
- A
series of Faculty Workshops.
- Implementation
of a Peer Faculty Consulting program. Nine faculty have been trained to
serve as peer consultants.
- Two
conferences are planned for this year.
- The
Center continues to work with the Collaboration
- The
Center will implement the Active Learning Advocate grant activities.
5. Next Steps
- The
next Committee Meeting is scheduled for September 15 from 9 am to 10 am
in the IFO Conference Room (location pending confirmation from Donna
Blom).
- Committee
members will email Nancy their schedules.
Nancy will do
the following:
- Obtain
the names of Sub Meet and Confer administration representatives.
- Contact
the F.A. Allied Health & Nursing and Business unit representatives
to solicit names of persons to serve on the Committee. Request that
Donna put out a call for representatives from the aforementioned
colleges.
- Obtain
and disseminate the Teaching Scholar Application.
- Meet
with Scott Olson prior to the September Meeting.
- Request
past T/P Workshop evaluation forms.
- Disseminate
Marshel Rossow's notes on past discussions about the University-wide
Teaching Award.
Prepared by:
Nancy
Fitzsimons-Cova, Chair
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