We are ready for the next stage of implementing the Faculty Commons. This is the model for faculty development at Ithaca College that was developed during 2008-09 by Susanne Morgan and a group of faculty members, was endorsed by the Faculty Development Committee and accepted by the Provost and President. It features a structure linking the varieties of faculty development activities that exist through designated Affiliates who connect with the Faculty Commons as part of their normal job or committee work. It also features a blended face to face and online environment that will be part of the myHome structure that the college has developed. An update and next steps meeting is scheduled on Friday December 4, 1:30-2:30 in the DeMotte Room of the Campus Center.
Interested? Read on and complete the online form.
The next step is to assemble task groups for three major areas of implementation. Please consider which one you might be involved with.
1. Organizational structure. This group will identify faculty development activities that need to be part of the Faculty Commons and will approach those organizing the activities to select an Affiliate. The group will also recommend a structure for reporting to the Commons and for Affiliates to communicate. In addition, this task group will suggest appropriate expectations and incentives for faculty and staff members to engage in these roles.
2. Online structure. This group will work to arrange the ways that the online elements will occur. The mechanisms for Affiliates to link their events and services to the Commons, the strategies for continuing and archiving face to face activities, and the best organizational connection between the Commons and ITS are among the outcomes of this group.
3. Event planning. This group will oversee the spring events, which include identifying coordinators for:
a. “Supporting students and faculty from increasingly diverse backgrounds” the inauguration of the Ithaca Faculty Commons. This is a blended online and face to face multi-part event that features Carlos Cortes, noted scholar on diversity in higher education and in the media.
b. “Faculty Commons Colloquium Series,” re-establishing the series of presentations of faculty scholarship. The primary focus is on scholarship of teaching and learning. Barney Beins has agreed to coordinate.
c. Spring Faculty Conference, the annual half-day conference featuring presentations from faculty whose work, supported by internal funding, represents each of the five types of scholarship in the Faculty Handbook.
d. May Faculty Institute, which will include the concluding session of the inauguration event and perhaps another focus.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20091118135405792