Mission Statement

The Faculty Development Center (FDC) is charged with promoting faculty development, vitality, and enrichment.  The FDC is responsible for designing and implementing a comprehensive program of support for all instructional faculty across a broad spectrum of professional activities.  The mission of the FDC is to support faculty in the following areas:

1. Enhancing excellence in teaching

2. Understanding and assessing student learning

3. Enhancing the effective use of technology in teaching

4. Promoting scholarly research and creative activities

5. Enhancing professional and service activities

6. Sponsoring special support programs for special faculty constituencies, including the Chair Support Program, New Faculty Orientation and Semester Series, Untenured Faculty Support Program, Women & Under-represented Faculty Support Program, and part-time faculty, and

7. Promoting other campus-wide intellectual and community-building events. 
   

Description Guiding Principles

Established in 1998, the Faculty Development Center (FDC) is funded by the Office of the President and is charged with promoting faculty development, vitality, and enrichment.  The FDC is responsible for designing and implementing a comprehensive program of support for all instructional faculty across a broad spectrum of professional activities, including but not limited to:  teaching and learning, use of instructional technologies, scholarly research and creative activities, professional and service activities, and other campus-wide intellectual and community-building events. 

The FDC is based on a number of guiding principles. The FDC:(1) recognizes and champions faculty in their multiple roles (e.g., as teacher, scholar, professional, community member) and acknowledges the broad range and depth of their varied accomplishments; (2) focuses on increasing faculty and thereby student learning; (3) promotes cross-departmental, school and unit interactions and fosters collaboration among faculty, administrators, and staff with shared interests and professional development goals; (4) reflects an awareness of different patterns of faculty growth and development and offers comprehensive, on-going, developmental, and flexible support programs; (5) recognizes individual scholarly and creative pursuits, as well as collaborative activities and developments; (6) creates opportunities for discipline-specific, as well as cross-disciplinary shared learning and experimentation emphasizing transferability of knowledge; (7) informs faculty about the impact of external factors on the institution and fosters concomitant dialogue and adaptation; (8) reduces a sense of isolation among faculty, administrators, students, and other units on campus by building community; (9) encourages and appropriately supports faculty in undertaking new roles and responsibilities and in further developing current skills, for example, in the areas of student learning outcomes assessment and instructional technology; and (10) connects faculty growth and development to the university’s vitality and seeks a balance between institutional, faculty, and student goals and needs.

Given these goals and principles, the FDC represents a collaborative effort that includes an administrative Director and staff, as well as a team of Faculty Coordinators and Liaisons, and a Senate-convened, 18-member Advisory Board with representation from faculty, administrators and students.  Specific activities of the FDC include:  coordinates several funding programs directly supporting teaching and scholarly/creative activities; provides individualized and group support and training to faculty in instructional technology and use of assessment; provides support to faculty regarding special issues (e.g., community-based service learning, peer support of teaching, diversity issues, statistics and research design consultation); assists new and tenure-track faculty with an on-going orientation and retention/tenure/promotion workshop series; works with part-time faculty and lecturers; sponsors an annual program of support for Chairs; arranges campus-wide conferences, seminars, workshops, and colloquia across a large variety special topics; publishes periodic newsletters; establishes a FDC track record of scholarly publications, presentations, and successful external funding; maintains a current resource library; and sponsors community-building and campus cultural activities.  For more information on specific activities, programs, and events, contact the Director, Dr. Rhonda Allen, 278-5628 or the FDC’s Administrative Office at 278-2841, Library South, room 44.