Academic Affairs Newsletter - Message #26

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the fall semester! I truly hope that the summer provided you with at least a bit of time for rest and renewal, along with opportunities to catch up on reading, writing, and thinking. I’d like to offer a special welcome to our newest faculty members who joined us at New Faculty Welcome last month. We have had some academic leadership changes over the summer with Tambra Jackson assuming the role of interim dean of the School of Education and Shiaofen Fang assuming the role of interim dean for the School of Science. Janice Blum expanded her portfolio to include the Office of Research. She is now serving as interim vice chancellor for research and graduate education as we explore whether this integrated structure will help strengthen connections between our research enterprise and graduate education on our campus. Finally, Hilary Kahn assumed the role of associate vice chancellor for international affairs (and associate professor in the department of anthropology) on September 1.

Many of us spend a lot of time writing for academic audiences, but have you ever tried communicating your work to the general public? The Conversation is a nonprofit publisher of news, commentary, and analysis written by academics and edited by journalists for the general public. Between now and June 30, 2020, faculty whose work is published in The Conversation will be provided with a $500 incentive jointly funded through the Office of the Vice President for Research and IU Communications. Recent pieces authored by Gabriel Filippelli (School of Science) and Tyrone Freeman (Lilly Family School of Philanthropy) have been picked by The Washington Post and Time, respectively. If you have a bit of time to write an 800 to 1000 word piece for a mass audience, this is a terrific way to raise awareness of the outstanding research and creative inquiry projects that IUPUI faculty lead.

Finally, I wanted to let you know that over the summer a number of colleagues have worked very hard to develop a virtual “one-stop-shop” for professional development resources for faculty at IUPUI, IUPUC, and IU Fort Wayne. It’s called The Forum Network and it evolved from a concept paper authored by a task force of faculty and staff who were asked to envision how we might better provide holistic support to faculty and other educators in order to help them to achieve their professional goals. Complementing this site is a long-awaited physical space for faculty to build community across disciplines on the IUPUI campus, called Faculty Crossing. The design, mission, and purpose of Faculty Crossing have been shaped through the creativity and dedication of many faculty, but ultimately three faculty appointed as Forum Fellows deserve our utmost thanks: Andy Buchenot (Liberal Arts), Daryl Nicholson (Engineering & Technology) and Aimee Zoeller (sociology and women’s studies, IUPUC). A blend of informal meetings and faculty-led programming is based in Faculty Crossing including Forum Writing Groups. It’s located next to the recently-remodeled Center for Teaching and Learning on the first floor of University Library and can be accessed during regular library hours. I hope that you drop in and find it to be a welcoming and supportive environment that helps to honor the important work that all IUPUI faculty do.

Best wishes on a rewarding and productive fall semester!

Sincerely,

Kathy E. Johnson, Ph.D.
Executive Vice Chancellor and Chief Academic Officer
Professor of Psychology

The IUPUI Syllabus Supplement that normally appeared in Canvas in the course navigation menu has been moved to appear directly within the Canvas Syllabus tool. The supplement will appear beneath the instructor’s syllabus and above the Course Summary generated by Canvas. This change was recommended by the Canvas Priorities Committee with the hope that it would declutter the navigation menu and make it easier for students to see all the items a syllabus should contain in one location.

As a general reminder, the campus has an expectation on the use of Canvas by instructors at IUPUI. You can find information here.

Three cheers for decluttering!

Jerry Daday was named executive associate dean of the IUPUI Institute for Engaged Learning on November 1. Check out this video interview with Dr. Daday for your chance to get to know him a little better.

Indiana University has developed a new award-winning smartphone app to help students stay on top of their schoolwork in Canvas. “Boost” is available for free to all IU students. It integrates with Canvas to provide reminders about deadlines and other helpful notifications.

Faculty are welcome to interact with “Boost” and inform students about it.

For more information, see the IU Knowledge Base.

Below is language about “Boost” you are welcome to include in syllabi:
Indiana University has developed a smartphone app to help students stay on top of schoolwork in Canvas. Students in this class are welcome to use this app. It is free, provides notifications and reminders for schoolwork in Canvas, keep track of assignments deadlines, important announcements, and course events. For more information, see https://kb.iu.edu/d/atud or https://boost.iu.edu .

In May 2019, we celebrated retiring faculty members at the annual Faculty Retiree Luncheon. At this event, distinguished members of the IUPUI community celebrate the accomplishments of retiring faculty members.

This year, Gail F. Williamson, professor emerita, was the keynote speaker. Her remarks were themed around the mid-1980’s song, The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades.

For inspiration and a few laughs, we recommend reading Gail Williamson’s keynote remarks.

Welcome back from summer break! I hope you all had a wonderful summer and are enjoying the start of the 2019-20 academic year!!

The IUPUI Faculty Council (IFC) is already gearing up for a busy year with several initiatives for consideration by both at the IFC and the University Faculty Council (UFC). Please plan to attend the meetings of the councils as a way of participating in shared faculty governance.

I will summarize the results of one of last year’s initiatives that will require additional faculty involvement this year. This initiative was to create a third tier within the lecturer rank with an appropriate new title. The proposal was endorsed by the IFC and so moved on the UFC, where it was strongly endorsed by both the UFC Executive Committee and the entire UFC. The new title was teaching professor, based on a survey of the entire IU faculty. The IU Board of Trustees approved the new rank and title at their June 2019 meeting. However, more work remains because now the departments, schools, and campuses need to be revamping their promotion criteria to accommodate the new teaching professor rank. The goal is to have our criteria ready for the next academic year.

I hope to see you at an IFC meeting soon!!

Have your voice heard!
Next IFC meeting: Tuesday, October 1, from 3 to 4 p.m. // Hine Hall Auditorium 
Stay for the State of the Campus address at 4 p.m. in the same location.

Important Date: Nominations due September 6

Consider nomination an excellent teacher to become a member of FACET.

• Nominations due no later than September 6, 2019.
• Dossiers due by October 29, 2019. See the FACET website for more information.

   
FACET Fall Information Session: Come learn about the application process Friday, September 20, 2019, from 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.

FACET Teaching Tuesday Lunches: (Last Tuesday of the month–see below for dates) in the Faculty Crossing UL 1125M from 12:00 noon–1:00 p.m.

• 8/27/19 (UL 1125M) (RSVP by 8/23)
• 9/24/19 (UL 1125M) (RSVP by 9/20)
• 10/29/19 (UL 1125M) (RSVP by 10/25)
• 11/26/19 (UL 1125M) (RSVP by 11/22)

Please RSVP to Cori (ude[dot]iupui[at]teugnerc) or Rob (ude[dot]iupui[at]ttoille).

Important Date: Writing groups begin on September 9

Every semester, the Forum Network offers writing groups that provide encouragement, accountability, and community. This fall, there are two ways to participate:

In-Person Writing Groups
The in-person writing groups will meet weekly in the Faculty Crossing for two hours. Group members will share their writing goals for the week and then write quietly for, at minimum, 90 minutes. We plan to offer two times this fall: Tuesdays 9:00-11:00 a.m. or Wednesdays 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Online Writing Groups
Group members record their time spent writing in an online spreadsheet that is shared with the other writers. NEW FOR FALL 2019:  Group members are also invited to a weekly Zoom meeting during which they will share their writing goals for the week and then write quietly for, at minimum, 90 minutes. Zoom meetings are optional but participation is encouraged.

For more information and to sign up, visit the writing group page on the Faculty Crossing website. Please contact Andy Buchenot (ude[dot]iupui[at]tonehcub) with questions.

Important Dates: First-Generation Week is November 2–9

IUPUI First-Generation Week will be a chance to celebrate students, faculty, and staff at IUPUI who are the first in their families to attend and to graduate college!

Are you a faculty or staff member who was a first-generation student? Proud first-generation IUPUI alumni? Tell us about your experiences being first in this survey. Your responses may be shared through promotion of First-Generation Week (November 2–9, 2019), so only share what you’re comfortable with people knowing about you. You don’t have to answer every short answer question.

The Faculty Inclusive Excellence Grants initiative, sponsored by the Office of Academic Affairs and the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, will award up to 10 grants of up to $1,000 in support of faculty-engaged activities that advance the objectives of our campus Strategic Goal 9: Promoting an Inclusive Campus Climate.

Proposals will be accepted on a rolling basis during the 2019-2020 academic year, as funds are available. Full-time faculty of any rank who have completed at least one year of employment at IUPUI are eligible to apply. Application and more information are available on this page.

• Wednesday, September 18, 2019: Rethinking the Classroom
• Wednesday, September 18, 2019: New Faculty Plan Now for Success
  
• Friday, October 25, 2019: Exploring Culture, Race, Power and Privilege in Life and Work

In 2018, the Office of Academic Affairs created a communication for new faculty members called the New Faculty Notes. In each issue of the notes, there is at least one hot tip. We are asking for tips from faculty members to be submitted on this page. We appreciate your contribution!