In recent years, we have collectively crafted an academic plan that includes five design principles that express our vision for the future. These are:
- Assessment
- Engagement
- Inclusive Excellence
- Innovation
- Leadership
Now we want to further define and develop these principles in ways unique to The University of Akron. At the same time, we want to bring them to life so that all who work and learn here can clearly see how their efforts support the principles and ultimately help the University achieve its mission.
Through a competitive nomination and selection process, six Faculty Fellows have been appointed by the Provost to engage in this effort. Five of the Fellows will each focus on a separate Design Principle, and the sixth Fellow will pursue the over-arching concept of Student Success. The Fellows will actively collaborate with key campus constituencies to expand discussion and communication surrounding their chosen focus area, with support from the Institute for Teaching and Learning. The Fellows have the opportunity to plan how they will engage the campus community in understanding the concepts, and potentials, of the Design Principles and Student Success.
We have asked the six Fellows to briefly describe how they plan to approach this work. They do so in their own words below.
ASSESSMENT
Dr. Helen Qammar, Associate Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
“My efforts as a faculty fellow will focus on building a framework for the assessment of general education learning outcomes. Using program assessment plans designed and implemented over the last few years, I will identify programs or courses that currently collect direct evidence for a select set of general education outcomes. A significant aspect of this project will involve necessary conversations and discussions on how best to create a faculty-led institutional assessment process. I hope to identify faculty who are interested in piloting an integrated assessment approach.”
ENGAGEMENT
Dr. Ramona Ortega-Liston, Associate Professor, Department of Public Administration & Urban Studies
“Members of the Greater Akron community and University of Akron faculty and administration are uniquely poised to productively engage themselves on statewide boards and commissions by volunteering to serve with the newly elected Governor of Ohio. Board and commission vacancies may also occur at the national level over the next two years as board members appointed during the Bush administration leave to pursue other interests. I have proposed to engage community leaders by identifying who among them may be interested in serving on a board or commission. I will use my experience in the political process to guide them through state and federal appointment processes and in this way, work toward achieving mutually beneficial goals and objectives.”
INCLUSIVE EXCELLENCE
Dr. John Queener, Associate Professor, Department of Counseling
“I will develop an institution plan to increase diversity among faculty, which is consistent with the principle of Inclusive Excellence and the University’s Diversity Framework. The plan will have three components:
- identifying strengths and weaknesses related to hiring diversity at UA;
- providing training to search committees; and
- evaluating the effectiveness of the training provided to search committees.”
INNOVATION
Dr. Matt Kolodziej, Assistant Professor, School of Art
“As a fellow, I plan to develop short-term programming and to design a structure to facilitate long-term relationships between the fine and applied arts and the sciences. I will be planning lectures, collaborations and events that bring in professionals to discuss visual and theoretical problems that science and art share in the contemporary context. I will be applying for grants both within and beyond the University to fund these endeavors.”
LEADERSHIP
Dr. Rudy Fenwick, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
“My activities as fellow will continue previous efforts to identify and provide opportunities for individual and collective leadership among all segments of the University of Akron community. These efforts include the institutionalization of the Student Success Committee as a permanent University committee, as well as other complementary committees, such as one to oversee the University’s general education requirements. And they include the creation of an inclusive, participatory, transparent and effective forum for university governance, which will engage all University constituencies in order to foster the sharing of their diverse insights and encourage their efforts for the common good.”
STUDENT SUCCESS
Dr. William Lyons, Jr., Associate Professor, Department of Political Science
“My project will build on and continue the work of the Student Success and Retention Task Force as well as the Global Studies Initiative working group and other recent and ongoing initiatives on campus focusing on student success, teaching, and learning. I propose collaborating with an innovative colleague in English Composition, World Civilization, and one other general education course to form a learning community for the spring semester of 2008. This learning community will target our general admits with challenging coursework as recommended by Ken Bain. We will do this by:
- implementing the relevant student-success recommendations from the task force;
- building in cognitive rehearsal through carefully constructed thematic connections across disciplines;
- designing shared assignments that link scholarly work to addressing real world problems;
- embedding study and conflict management skill development into each course's substantive material; and
- organizing a mid-term panel discussion with the four-faculty team and all of our students as well as an end-of-term mini-conference for our students to present their own work.
And finally, the project will include a high-quality assessment plan that identifies and measures student learning outcomes in order to determine the value of efforts like this and identify concrete steps for continuous improvement.”
We hope that the campus community will rally in support of our 2007 Fellows, and help them succeed in their planned projects that will inevitably inform and enable all of us as we strive for personal, professional and institutional success.
