Category Archives: For Faculty Archive

J-Term 2024 travel seminar proposals due Oct. 27

J-Term 2024 travel seminar proposals are due Thursday, Oct. 27. A travel seminar is a short-term, faculty-led study abroad (or domestic) program. This is an opportunity to teach a course that integrates an academic experience with intercultural and experiential learning while traveling. If you are interested in leading a travel seminar in 2024, email Maria Rohach, director of education abroad, at maria.rohach@drake.edu to set up a meeting to discuss your ideas and learn more about the process.

You can review the proposal process and submit a proposal through Qualtrics.

— Maria Rohach, Global Engagement

Blackboard Learn Ultra monthly learning sessions

Ultra Hours: Get Help with Blackboard Learn Ultra
What a great turnout for Ultra Hours in August. More than 30 faculty members joined us in-person or online for personalized assistance. Popular topics included: Blackboard Learn Ultra refreshers and introductions, Gradebook setup, new features for Tests, copying materials, course design, managing content, and video discussions.

Mark your Calendars, Save your Spot
Bring your computer and questions about course design for hands-on practice with the instructional design team from Drake Online and Continuing Education.

The first Friday of each month (Oct. 7, Nov. 4, Dec. 2)

Help Us Help You
Please sign up to indicate when you plan to come and what types of questions you have. Your feedback helps us adequately staff and prepare to assist you.

Reminders

— Shannon Hilscher, Drake Online and Continuing Education

Grant opportunity: Open educational resources

Cowles Library is excited to announce an opportunity for full-time Drake faculty interested in learning more about using open educational resources (OER) in their courses. These open resources replace costly textbooks, and are beneficial to students in your courses in so many ways.  The Drake Faculty Open Education Grant Program is offering $500 stipends to participants who complete the program, which comprises a workshop, self-paced learning modules, and peer discussion.

This program will be limited to eight participants in Fall 2022, and participants must complete all required components to receive their stipend. We expect the time commitment for the program to be 10–12 hours, which includes the virtual kickoff workshop on Friday, Oct. 7, 3:30–5 p.m.

Apply now: Drake Faculty Open Education Grant Program Application

Deadline: Applications are due by Friday, Sept. 23. Individuals will be notified of the status of their application by Monday, Oct. 3.  Grants will be awarded based on representation of a wide range of disciplines and the alignment of application responses to the proposed content of this program.

— Teri Koch, Cowles Library Dean’s Office

Deputy Provost 2:10: Writing Center opens, a note from Professor Megan Brown

Each Tuesday in OnCampus the Deputy Provost shares two articles with a read time of 10 minutes.

The Writing Center (formerly known as the writing workshop) opened Monday, Sept. 12.

The Writing Center’s trained peer tutors advise and assist students at any stage of the writing process:

· Understanding instructions/prompts

· Generating ideas and ways to develop ideas

· Outlining and organizing

· Writing, expanding, revising, and/or copyediting a draft

The Writing Center is a free service for all Drake students, including graduate students and those in professional programs.

How to sign up: Go to library.drake.edu/writing-center/ to book an appointment with a tutor—instructions for booking and visiting are available on the site as well. Appointments are approximately 30 minutes, and students can sign up for more than one session if they wish. They may also request that a tutor keep a regular time slot available for them if they would like to come in each week.

Location: The Writing Center has moved! The Center is still on the lower level of Cowles Library—please follow signs to find the new, larger, more comfortable space. The Writing Center offers hours daily, from mornings to late afternoon/evening (including weekends). Students with health concerns can request an appointment on Zoom.

For faculty and staff: If you refer a student to the workshop or require all students to visit, please let the Writing Center know via email (megan.brown@drake.edu). Ask students to bring their assignment prompt/instructions to the Writing Center, as well as any writing they have done so far. When students are referred, or required, to visit, the tutor will email you to let you know that your student has attended and briefly describe what work was done. When students attend on their own, The Writing Center does not inform professors unless they specifically ask the Center to do so.

For questions, contact Professor Megan Brown, director of writing, at megan.brown@drake.edu.

— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost

Deputy Provost 2:10: Books, breakfast, conversation, coworking, equity and inclusion

Each Tuesday in OnCampus the Deputy Provost shares two articles with a read time of 10 minutes.

This fall we’ll be reading two books as part of the Deputy Provost’s Books for Breakfast series:

The New College Classroom, by Cathy Davidson and Christina Katopodis, Thursdays, Sept. 22 and Oct. 6, from 8:30–9:30 a.m.  Please email nicki.kimm@drake.edu to sign up and get your book.

AND

Teaching to Transgress, by bell hooks, Tuesdays, Nov. 15 and Nov. 22, 8:30–9:30 a.m.  Sign up here.

On Nov. 4 from 2–4 p.m., I’ll be leading a session on meeting the outcomes related to the Equity and Inclusion requirement adopted by faculty senate 18 months ago.  Please sign up here, as soon as you’re able to commit, so that I can be in touch with some pre-session questions and homework.

Books for Breakfast and the Equity/Inclusion session are in Howard Hall, Room 210.

In addition, I’m going to be ‘working in public,’ and hoping for impromptu conversation, in several different locations this fall. I’d love the chance to catch up with faculty colleagues I don’t often see in my day-to-day deputy-provosting. Please come find me. Here is where I’ll be:

Thursday, Sept. 15, 1:30–2:30 p.m., Olin, 1st floor

Tuesday, Sept. 20, 1:30–3 p.m., Olmsted Starbucks

Wednesday, Oct. 5, 9–10 a.m., Cowles Reading Room

Thursday, Oct. 13, 2–3 p.m., Collier Scripps, 1st floor

Thursday, Nov. 22, 10–11:30 a.m., Olmsted Starbucks

Friday, Dec. 2, 1–2 p.m., Cartwright Atrium

And, I’ll be hosting light breakfasts (pastries from La Mie, hot tea/instant coffee) in Howard Hall’s Academic Affairs suite, on the following dates.  No agenda—just conversation about teaching, professor-ing, out curriculum, and Drake:

Tuesday, Oct. 4, 8:30–9:30 a.m.

Thursday, Oct. 20, 8:30–9:30 a.m.

Friday, Nov 4, 8:30–9:30 a.m.

Friday, Dec. 2, 8:30–9:30 a.m.

— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost

Faculty of Color Affinity Group

Once again this year, the Provost’s office will be providing hospitality support for pre-tenure and non-tenure-track faculty of color to gather to build community, share resources, and create networks of support and collegiality. Assistant Professor of Math Enes Akbuga will be convening all interested faculty for a gathering(s) over coffee or dinner sometime this semester. If you are interested in joining us, please send Enes an email at enes.akbuga@drake.edu. Both new and existing pre-tenured faculty are encouraged to join.

— Jen Harvey, Associate Provost, Campus Equity and Inclusion

Des Moines Consortium reception Sept. 21

Faculty and staff are invited to meet other higher education professionals at the annual Des Moines Consortium reception, hosted this fall at Des Moines Area Community College, Ankeny Campus, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 3–4:30 pm. The reception will be held at DMACC the International Culinary Institute and Conference Center, Building 7, 2006 South Ankeny Blvd, Ankeny.

— Drinda Williams, Provost’s Office

Call for applications: Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence

Full time Drake faculty (continuous term, tenured, and tenure-track) are invited to apply to be the next Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Drake University. The Director of the CTE will work closely with the office of the deputy provost to deliver essential pedagogical support to Drake faculty and staff.

Job description:

Drake’s Center for Teaching Excellence supports the ongoing work of providing an outstanding Drake education for all our students. Working closely with the deputy provost, as well as other campus partner, the Director of the CTE will develop, initiate, and assess programming to support the effective delivery of the Drake Curriculum – from FYS to the capstone experience – as well as excellence in teaching across the disciplines in every modality.

The CTE director will, in consultation with the Deputy Provost:
Define the scope of, reason for, and impact expected by the Center for Teaching Excellence. The Center was developed and launched just prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, and much of the work in these early years centered on our move to online teaching and learning. The new CTE director has the opportunity to shape the vision of the Center and articulate a passionate and visionary purpose for its role on campus.

Collaborate with university partners to create, initiate, and assess pedagogical support programming around the Drake Curriculum; teaching across the disciplines; and serving our commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion in our curricular spaces.

Serve as a liaison with Instructional Technologists and Course Designers to develop robust use of our Learning Management System, as well as classroom technology, and to support the creation of online coursework in the undergraduate curriculum;

Reinvigorate and launch a peer-to-peer course observation program;

Support effective teaching in our First Year Seminars by facilitating the FYS Learning Community in collaboration with the Director of the Writing Center as well as library faculty teaching within the Informational Literacy AOI.

Champion student-ready instruction and partner on initiatives related to retention and persistence;

Revitalize the CTE website, and write articles to share pedagogical resources for placement in OnCampus and on that site;

Collaborate on developing New Faculty Orientation and Onboarding opportunities.

The Director of the CTE will serve a three-year appointment, beginning January 1, 2023, with a professional development obligation in late fall 2022. The Deputy Provost and CTE Director will engage in an annual review each fall, with the director eligible for two terms of appointment (6 years total) before a university-wide call is circulated, at which point the director is welcome to reapply.

Resources for the work:

Compensation for the Director of the CTE will include:
Dedicated and directed professional development funding, to attend the POD Network annual fall meeting (mid-November) twice per three-year term, and to attend the New Educator Development Institute (summer) once per three-year term;

A $5,000 stipend paid each summer (this stipend applies for both 12- and 9-month faculty);

Up to two funded course reassignments per academic year.

The Director of the CTE will work with the office of the deputy provost to determine a budget that facilitates appropriate funding support for faculty pedagogical development opportunities; the Deputy Provost will support CTE workshops with funding for hospitality, stipends for participants, and material costs.

Application Process and Timeline:

The Deputy Provost will convene a hiring committee in early fall, 2022. The committee will seek applicants who: have a record of excellent teaching; demonstrate an understanding of the Drake curriculum and its intersections with our majors and minors; evidence good relationships with faculty and staff across the institution; are committed to interdisciplinary work as well as the work of equity and inclusion; and are well-organized, innovative, and ethical leaders.

Please submit a cover letter indicating interest in the position, qualifications for it, evidence of teaching effectiveness, and a vision for the CTE, along with a cv, to renee.cramer@drake.edu (cc:ing nicki.kimm@drake.edu) by Wednesday, September 14. Please use the subject line: CTE Director Application, on your email.

The hiring committee will meet to review files during the weeks of September 19 and 26, and will make a recommendation for interviews by September 30. The committee will complete interviews by October 15 and deliver to the deputy provost an evaluation of the interviewed candidates in time for an offer to be communicated by October 19.

— Renée Cramer, Deputy Provost