Academic Affairs Programs Workshop Series

Each year we organize a series of workshops which are planned with three goals in mind: first, to provide a chance for faculty to interact with their colleagues; second, to support faculty in developing the skills necessary to be successful as academic leaders; and third, to provide faculty information about and to engage you in UNL's various priorities and initiatives. We are aware that faculty will be unable to attend all of these events, and we are also aware that some of them may be more relevant and of more interest to particular faculty than others. We do hope that you will take advantage of as many of these events as possible.

The workshop series are as follows:

UNL Department Chairs, Heads and Deans Workshops

As is clear from the title, the targeted audience for these sessions is the academic leadership team of the University. In deciding on topics for this series, we relied on input from an ad hoc chairs advisory council. Please watch for upcoming information about these workshops.

The next workshop for the UNL Department Chairs, Heads and Deans is about Performance Management and Performance Evaluation. Attendees may select either the Monday, Jan. 26 date, 1 p.m., East Campus Union, or the Thursday, Jan. 29, date, 3 p.m., Nebraska Union.

The workshop will address principles of staff annual evaluations, staff development, and performance management. These principles will be explored in discussions of best practices for the annual evaluation and management of staff. In order to make sure the workshop is targeted to the attendees' needs, please identify a particular problem or concern that you have relating to the evaluation of faculty when you register. To register, e-mail Jennifer Lottman by Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009, and say which session you will be attending.

Teaching and Learning Workshops

There are several upcoming Teaching & Learning Workshops. The first is Thursday, March 5 at 10 a.m. on English Proficiency and the TOEFL. This workshop is being presented in the Nebraska Union by Eileen Tyson and Terry Axe from Educational Testing Service (ETS).

Then on Monday, March 9, Dr. Kathleen Yancey, is presenting two workshops - one on Assessing General Education, 10 a.m., Nebraska Union, and one on Using E-Portfolios for Assessment, 2 p.m., Andersen Hall. See the flyer for more information.

The Teaching & Learning Workshops are open to anyone who supports the teaching mission of the university and are designed to enhance student learning through informed and effective teaching. Topics will be selected with assistance from the Teaching Council, often in coordination with other campus efforts (e.g. the Initiative for Teaching and Learning Excellence, the general education reform effort), and workshop leaders both local and visiting experts. Announcements of these events will be widely distributed in both electronic and print formats. The calendar at http://events.unl.edu/svcaa/upcoming/ will also list these workshops.

Pre-Tenure Faculty Events

We hope that you will encourage your pre-tenure faculty to attend these events. On Tuesday, Feb. 10, Academic Affairs is offering a session called Financial Planning for Early Career Faculty. It will be held at the Nebraska Union from 3-4:30 p.m. Last fall, the office offered three events for pre-tenure faculty. These events not only provide assistance in achieving academic success, but are also invaluable in giving new faculty the opportunity to identify and create a network of peers.

We are also planning to schedule open forums on the UNL strategic plan for all members of the university community. Finally, there are un-planned occasions on which UNL has the opportunity to bring a well-known speaker to campus whose expertise might be of interest to you, and other times when an event is specially organized in response to a specific need. These will be announced on the Academic Affairs web site under workshops as Special Events.

We hope to see you at a number of these sessions, and we will be asking for your assessment after each one to assist in future planning.