A Word From the VP
Greetings! I hope the new academic year is going well for you. I had the pleasure of welcoming close to 150 new faculty members to FSU the week prior to the start of classes. They are an impressive group. I hope you’ve had an opportunity to meet some of our newest colleagues and help them to make the transition to their new academic home.
Last year we disseminated the results of the COACHE faculty survey and I met with many faculty groups to discuss ways to continuously improve faculty life at FSU. Many of you expressed a desire for mentoring and professional development opportunities. In response to your feedback, the Office of Faculty Development and Advancement has increased our offerings of workshops, panels, writing groups, and other activities intended to support the advancement of our faculty. This issue of the newsletter includes information about upcoming events that I hope you will find helpful.
I would like to highlight two of these upcoming events. In November, we are hosting two events on faculty mentoring. Dr. Joy Gayles of North Carolina State University and a presenter for NCFDD will be on campus to give a keynote address for mentors entitled “Rethinking Mentoring” that describes a network model of mentoring. She will also offer a workshop for faculty entitled “Mentoring 101.” I hope you let us know you plan to attend one or both of these events by registering via the link later in this issue.
This semester we are also hosting a visit from “The Conversation”. This not-for-profit group works with faculty members to disseminate their scholarship to the general public. This is a great way to increase readership of your work as well as to provide an important public service by increasing the public’s access to the great work going on at FSU. I am pleased that Martin LaMonica, one of the editors of “The Conversation,” will be on our campus on October 28 & 29 to meet with faculty members interested in learning more about this organization and even to pitch ideas to him for articles. Let Peggy Wright-Cleveland know if would like an appointment.
Finally, I hope to see many of you at some open meetings I am planning for this year on the topic of Faculty Diversity. One of the goals of FSU’s Strategic Plan is to enhance diversity of our campus. I welcome your ideas about how to move forward on this goal. Be on the lookout for announcements of meetings to be held later this semester and continuing in the spring.
I wish you all a wonderfully productive semester.
Regards,
Janet Kistner
Professor of Psychology
Vice President for Faculty Development and Advancement
Faculty Support
Writing Intensives
Do you need some focused time to jumpstart a project? Do you need time to finish a project? The FSU Writing Intensives are set up to give faculty daily writing time to maintain an intense focus on projects. If your ideas are ready for short bursts of rumination – less than twenty-four hours – and regular bouts of writing – four hours daily for five days in a row – register for a writing intensive. Space is limited. Don’t delay!
October 7 – 11, 8:00 – noon, breakfast provided
November 18 - 22, 1:00 – 5:00, snacks provided
Weekly Writing Retreats
Weekly, FSU faculty gather in a room together and write. They have no workshop; they share no drafts. They smile at each other and write. They get up and get coffee and submit to the pressure of the group to come back and write. They move their chairs over to make room for the next writer, smile, and keep writing. It helps to write in solidarity with each other, to do this task in a room of people who understand what this task demands, to have someone miss you when you cannot show up one week. We have eleven faithful writers on Wednesday mornings and eight on Monday afternoons. We will open a second room on Wednesday mornings soon but have plenty of room for more writers on Mondays in Dirac. Come give us a try.
Wednesday mornings
Norwood Reading Room and Bradley Reading Room, Strozier Library
8:30 – noon
Monday afternoons
Dirac Science Library Conference room
1:00 – 5:00
New Faculty Workshops
Every year new faculty write on their orientation evaluations that they want more opportunities to get together and to address orientation issues throughout the year. In response, we are hosting the New Faculty Path to Tenure Workshops. Looking to tenure and beyond, this group will use the NCFDD materials to establish a healthy, sustainable work ethic for long-term success in the academy. We meet once per month to think and talk about career planning and we gather at the end of each semester for fellowship and fun.
September 19, October 17, November 14, December 6
3:30 - 5:00
"Path to Full" Workshops
Faculty responses to the COACHE survey let us know of your desire for more mentoring in the Associate to Full stage of career. Four times this year – twice each semester – Vice President Janet Kistner will host Path to Full Workshops. Our October meeting will be a discussion led by a panel of Full Professors about their career journeys and our November meeting will focus on the strategic sabbatical. These workshops are open to all Associate Professors.
October 24,
1:30 - 3:00
November 15,
10:30 - noon
NCFDD Faculty Forum
Do you find the NCFDD webinars more useful to you if you can discuss them with your peers? Then join us once each semester to do just that. Bring your lunch. We will watch the webinar together and then discuss the contents.
September 27
11:30 – 1:00
“Daily Writing for Academic Scientists and Engineers”
Fulbright Scholar Application Workshop
FSU is proud to have been designated a Top Producer of Faculty Fulbrights twice and we want that recognition to become a standing tradition at FSU. Fulbright Scholar and Chair awards develop faculty research, enrich faculty teaching, and create lifelong connections among FSU, the faculty member, and the host institution. Come learn about all the good a Fulbright award can do for you.
October 30
1:00 - 2:30
NCFDD Visits FSU Campus
FSU is proud to bring Dr. Joy Gaston Gayles back to campus. Dr. Gayles is a Professor at North Carolina State University and an experienced NCFDD presenter. On Friday, November 22, Dr. Gayles will lead a three-hour workshop for faculty titled “Mentoring 101”. Click here to Save the Date and reserve a seat for yourself: NCFDD on Mentoring. More Details will be sent to all who register.
Seeking Examples of Great Mentoring
FSU’s tradition is to allow departments and colleges to create specific mentoring programs that meet the particular needs of their faculty and discipline. Current faculty leaders want to share our discoveries about best practices across departments. If you experienced excellent mentoring at FSU, please let us know your ideas about best practices here: Mentoring Best Practices.
FACULTY SOCIAL GATHERINGS
Watch the Thursday Announcements and the FDA Social Media for dates and times or email Peggy for more information.
ACCOUNTABILITY GROUPS
Focused accountability groups may be developed upon request. Email Peggy Wright-Cleveland.
Faculty Celebrations
Welcome to Our New Faculty
We are excited that over 150 new faculty have joined us here in Tallahassee and look forward to working with and getting to know these new colleagues and friends. If your department was lucky enough to welcome new faculty this year, make a point to introduce yourself and your new colleague to one of your out-of-field peers. One never knows where future collaborations are born! Check here to find a brief introduction to each new faculty member:
New Faculty Orientation
Faculty Camaraderie
Faculty continued to meet over the summer and right before the start of the semester to write, support each other’s writing, and create community. Make sure you get to do those things this fall.
Faculty Writers Lunch Group
Faculty working on writingNuts and Bolts
Sabbatical Leave
The University Committee on Faculty Sabbaticals invites applications for one-semester sabbaticals at full pay and two-semester sabbaticals at one-half pay for the academic year 2020-2021. Sabbatical leave is granted to increase a faculty member’s value to the University through enhanced opportunities for professional development, research, and creative activities. This leave is made available to tenured faculty members who are covered by the BOT-FSU UFF Collective Bargaining Agreement and who meet the requirements set forth in the policies governing the Faculty Sabbatical Program.
An informational memorandum and the applicable forms are available on the Office of Faculty Development and Advancement website. Please read the memorandum in its entirety since there are directions clarifying what is expected in the application. The deadline for deans’ offices to submit electronic applications is Friday, October 11, 2019. Please note that there may be earlier deadlines at the department and/or college level. All applications must be submitted by the dean's office as one (1) PDF file per application. Please contact Melissa Crawford if you have questions regarding how to submit your college's applications electronically.
Promotion and Tenure
The 2019-2020 Promotion and Tenure (P&T) process is well under way, and this is the third year that the process will be completely digital! All Promotion and Tenure materials are to be submitted through the custom-designed digital Promotion and Tenure workflow within myFSU-HR. EBinders are due to the Office of Faculty Development and Advancement (FDA) by Friday, October 18, 2019. Please check with your department and/or college P&T staff delegate for internal deadlines and submission requirements. More information regarding the P&T process can be found on the FDA website.
Specialized Faculty Promotions
The 2019-2020 Specialized Faculty Promotion process is also well underway because there has been a big change this year - the timing of the process is now aligned with Promotion and Tenure for tenure-track faculty. The deadline for deans or directors to submit electronic promotion materials (PDF files) to the Office of Faculty Development and Advancement (FDA) through Melissa Crawford is Friday, November 1, 2019. More information about the specialized faculty promotion process can be found on the FDA website.
Academic Integrity: Defining our Culture
In the past academic year, Florida State University has seen a sharp increase in the number of Academic Honor Policy cases reported, likely due to a variety of reasons. It is possible that more faculty are reporting incidents of dishonesty; perhaps we have better technology to detect such cases; and maybe students are finding more ways to cheat and collaborate when they are not authorized to do so. See our current Academic Honor Policy statistics.
Surveys have shown students do not believe that unauthorized collaboration is a violation of the Academic Honor Policy. It is therefore vital that faculty provide clear verbal and written instructions regarding expectations about group vs. individual work. It is also important that faculty communicate academic dishonesty will not be tolerated at FSU. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, including crafting a well-defined course syllabus and following the established Academic Honor Policy.
Technology is helpful for most of us, until it becomes a tool for plagiarism. Be aware of new software platforms such as “Spinbot”, “Paraphrasing Tool” and “Quillbot”. Each of these platforms work like an online thesaurus, but unfortunately, some students are taking published articles and previously-written papers to mask Turinit.com or SafeAssign similarity indices. If you see paragraphs and entire papers that do not make sense, consider the possibility that these tools were used.
For any questions involving academic integrity, including educational presentations, please contact Ms. Ann DelRossi in the Office of Faculty Development at adelrossi@fsu.edu or 850/644-6876.
Student International Travel Policy Updates
We are developing a new Student International Travel policy this Fall, that will replace the current International Experiences policy from 2010. We invite you to visit the FSU Global webpage to review the new proposed draft policy, and provide comments or questions. If you are interested in providing feedback, please do so by October 15th. The key updates to the policy include: expansion and clarification of the policy scope; definition of responsibilities for FSU university units that organize, support, promote, or communicate international opportunities; and clear responsibilities for student travelers. Please feel free to contact Ashley Krutz, International Travel, Safety, and Risk Program Manager in the Office of the Provost, with any questions or feedback: 850-645-2176.
The FSU Faculty Community
A Word from Faculty Senate President Kristine Harper
The Faculty Senate extends a hearty welcome to all of our new and returning faculty members. We hope you have had the summer you wanted, whether you were teaching, writing, researching, mentoring, performing service on campus or off, or getting some well-deserved downtime…or a little of each. [And to our new faculty: we hope your move went well and you have found what you need to start the semester.]
We are looking forward to a busy year in the senate, including finishing up constitutional revisions that we started last year, updating our bylaws, developing better methods to evaluate teaching and learning in our classrooms, and improving technology support for teaching and research. We have several faculty senate committees that will be working on these issues, and we appreciate the great response we got from faculty when filling committee seats during the summer. Faculty governance works best when we all pitch in and take part. Thanks to everyone who volunteered and answered “yes” to our nomination letters. Remember, if you have a concern, please let us know. Send an e-mail to FAC-SenPres@fsu.edu and I’ll get back to you within 24 hours to set up a time to chat.
Faculty Senate meets once/month and all meetings are open. You will find us at Dodd Hall Auditorium on 16 October and 20 November starting at 3:35 pm. The 4 December meeting will take place after President Thrasher’s annual State of the University Address, which will be held at the College of Medicine Auditorium.
We post meeting minutes and agendas on our webpage. We look forward to working on your behalf.
I hope your semester goes well, and we’ll hope we don’t go four-for-four before hurricane season ends.
Dr. Kristine Harper
Faculty Senate President
Professor of History