CENTER FOR FACULTY EXCELLENCE | OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021
Upcoming professional development opportunities for faculty and staff
Greetings, we hope you enjoy the Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE) newsletter in which you’ll find descriptions and registration links to upcoming offerings as well as links to resources. These will be listed under the categories of DEAI, Retention, and Upcoming Opportunities for Chairs and Directors. Before you scroll down to find those, I want to draw your attention to two of CFE’s collaborative efforts. First, on November 18, over 70 UNO faculty and staff members participated in the Equity Institute’s Virtual Lab sessions. These sessions were a joint effort between CFE and the STEM TRAIL Center, and participant input will be summarized and shared with campus leaders. Thank you to all who contributed.
Second, CFE along with the Service Learning Academy and Digital Learning worked together to create a faculty FAQ page for the upcoming J-session. If you are teaching during the J-session or if you just want to learn more about it, helpful colleagues from across campus answer some common questions. If you have an additional question about the J-session, please reach out to me via email, and we’ll add it to the resource page.
The three-week J-Session is just around the corner. If you are teaching in the J-Session or talking with students to encourage them to enroll in the session, you may have a few questions. CFE, the Service Learning Academy and Digital Learning have teamed up to find some answers from your colleagues across campus.
The search process is central to recruiting a diverse faculty body and fostering an inclusive environment for faculty, students, and staff. This workshop combines brief presentations with active discussions focused on empirically-based best practices that encourage small groups to learn from each other’s experiences and ideas.
Participants will have the opportunity to learn more about types of microaggressions, discuss experiences with microaggressive situations, and actively engage in practicing strategies for addressing behaviors when they occur. Information on additional support resources will also be shared.
Leading classroom discussions on difficult topics is an on-going challenge for many instructors. Part of the challenge is not knowing what issues are “hot button” topics for our students. Conversations can become heated, and it may feel like you are losing control quickly. This series is intended to help faculty and GAs learn about tips, tools, and techniques that will help them successfully lead and facilitate difficult conversations in the classroom and digital learning environment.
Next Sessions:
Monday, Nov. 8th, 11am-12:30pm
What About Online? Difficult Dialogues in Online Environments
Unconscious or implicit bias refers to the associations that are made between different qualities and social categories such as race, gender or disability and are judgements that are made without conscious awareness (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995). At the end of this session learners will be able to:
Describe different types of biases.
Describe how unconscious biases impact decision making.
Be able to recognize biases in themselves and reduce their impact on decision making. Campus Forum (in-person):
Using the book Creating Inclusive Learning Opportunities in Higher Education: A Universal Design Toolkit by Sheryl E. Burgstahler as a starting point, faculty and instructors are invited to participate in a series of learning labs throughout the academic year. Labs will use elements from the book and from UDL Guidelines to demonstrate how to create more inclusive learning experiences. Participants will strategize with colleagues on how they might make small adaptations to meet the diverse needs of students.
The Center for Faculty Excellence partnered with faculty experts on campus to bring workshops relating to how faculty intention can lead to student retention during the fall 2021 semester. These workshops have been transformed on our website into resources for faculty members in the form of one page overview documents, student testimonials, and recordings of the workshops themselves.
Peer connections can lead to study groups that can have a powerful impact on student performance on assignments and exams. A network of peers can also help a student get caught up when they miss a class due to illness or emergencies and in navigating other challenges they may face.
Requiring students to meet with you reaps big rewards. It allows you to better know them and lets each student know you care about them as a person. It also provides opportunity for you to express interest in a student’s academic performance, and students can pose questions to you without worrying about how peers may perceive their inquiries.
Many students may not think about asking for academic support, but they are more likely to seek assistance if a faculty member specifically recommends this. Students can expand their network of support by connecting with the Math and Science Learning Center, Writing Center, Speech Center, and specialized academic support services within your college.
Join Title IX staff in an exploration of how Title IX impacts your role here at UNO. Learn more about what it means to be a responsible reporter, how to offer support in regards to pregnancy and parenting issues, and a deeper dive into UNO's Sexual Misconduct Policy. This session features a brave space for participants to ask any questions they may have in regards to Title IX.
University of Nebraska at Omaha, Center for Faculty Excellence, 6001 University Dr, Eppley Administration Building 113, Omaha, NE 68132, unofacdev@unomaha.edu
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