[SC-pod] SC-POD Needs YOU! (Time sensitive request)

Wed Aug 27 11:25:49 EDT 2008

Carolyn,,

I think the goals look great.  

In terms of the collaboration goal, I would appreciate it if SC-POD
could help connect people who are in close physical proximity.  It would
be great to be able to have someone from a nearby small college come
lead a workshop here.  And in return someone here could go lead a
workshop there.  

In terms of brainstorming ideas, would it be possible to build an online
database of profiles of small college faculty development programs?
Social psychology has a website that includes professional profiles of
individuals (one such profile is available at
http://berscheid.socialpsychology.org/).  Perhaps we could create
something similar focused on programs rather than on individuals.  Each
profile could include information about the faculty development
programming offered at that institution as well as providing a
standardized list of characteristics of the school (# of students, # of
full-time faculty, the faculty development personnel employed there,
etc.).

Sal

Sal Meyers

Director of Faculty Development

Professor of Psychology

Simpson College

From: sc-pod-bounces at conncoll.edu [mailto:sc-pod-bounces at conncoll.edu]
On Behalf Of Carolyn B. Oxenford, Ph.D.
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 2:43 PM
To: sc-pod
Subject: [SC-pod] SC-POD Needs YOU! (Time sensitive request)

I hope you have had a wonderful summer and are eager to resume work and
come to Nevada in October.  Your SC-POD steering group has been working
this summer - and now I hope you will help us improve SC-POD's
usefulness to our members.   I look forward to your ideas and insights!
Thanks in advance.

SC-POD Strategic Plan 2008-2009

The Small College Committee was organized to better serve the interests
of POD members from smaller schools.  The committee helps represent the
interests of small college faculty developers within POD and provides
the opportunity to discuss issues related to faculty work at small
colleges.  We believe that institutional context can shape the
approaches and responses to faculty development, and regularly address
such issues as creating effective programming, wearing multiple hats as
faculty developers, and capitalizing on the special cultural benefits of
working at a smaller institution with like-minded colleagues. 

As part of the overall POD strategic planning process, we are beginning
to create a five-year strategic plan; our focus is on improving the
Small College Committee's ability to assist you in your work. The Small
College committee steering team (Carolyn Oxenford, current SC committee
Chair; Michael Reder, past Chair; Linda Beane Katner, Chair elect; Susan
Pliner & Hadley Wood, Conference Co-coordinators) conferred
electronically and discussed our initial thoughts and ideas for this
plan.  We came up with the three broad goals you see below.  

Our next step is to refine these goals and prioritize our activities to
develop a five-year plan.  This is where your input is vital!  We need
your thoughts on the following questions:

*	Are there goals we've overlooked?  Things you would like to see
the Small College Committee work on that don't fit under one of these
headings?  Please let us know!
*	What is of most interest and concern to you right now?  What can
we do that will help you do your job more effectively?  What should our
top priorities be?
*	What are some creative ways for reaching our goals?  Feel free
to brainstorm and send us the results - the more the better!  

Of course, any other comments that don't fit under the categories we've
listed are welcome.  We know this is a really busy time for everyone,
but we would appreciate your input as soon as possible.  Comments
received by September 5th will be most useful (but if you don't get
yours sent until later, they will still be used).  POD has asked us for
a response by September  8th, but we anticipate that this will be an
ongoing process with many  opportunities to contribute. 

Once we have gathered your input and formulated our next phase, we will
post it to the listserv for your continued involvement.  Thanks for your
help and support!

Goals of the Small College Committee

1.	To articulate and represent the small college perspective within
the larger context of POD

This goal involves providing input to other POD committees as they make
decisions, establish policies, etc. so that the needs of smaller schools
are well represented.  Examples:  membership outreach efforts need to be
sure to target organizations that enroll many small colleges.  Grants
and initiatives need to reflect the budgetary concerns of small colleges
(such as grants for small college faculty to collaborate).  Publications
could provide support for smaller schools by advocating for "small
college" rates for publication site licenses. Professional development
could explore shadowing, mentorships or short term fellowships (similar
to ACE fellows) for small college developers. Diversity could support
the needs of smaller schools where achieving diversity in students and
faculty is more challenging.  Currently, small college representation on
the Core Committee and on other committees is incidental.  The strategic
planning process should consider whether a small college representative
should be required on key committees.  

2.	To provide opportunities for small colleges to collaborate, pool
knowledge and share resources

This goal involves facilitating connections between small college peers.
It could include maintaining and developing the SC-POD listserv, making
resources such as the Elluminate web meeting package available to small
college members at a reduced rate or as part of membership, and using
the conference, the website and the listserv as ways for small colleges
to get to know each other and explore possible areas for collaboration.
Examples:  Profiling small college programs and organizational models
used by successful small college programs to help disseminate successful
practices.  Offering meeting times and budget for supporting conference
collaborations.  Using the SC-POD listserv and survey software to gather
information from members. Using the Elluminate package to facilitate
SOTL projects and link faculty and faculty developers from several small
institutions.   

3.	To meet the distinctive challenges of small college faculty
developers 

While no one characteristic defines a small college or the work of small
college faculty developers, most small college developers wear multiple
hats and work within an administrative structure significantly different
than our counterparts at large universities.  At many small colleges,
faculty development professionals are regular faculty members who are
interested in faculty development but come to the job without specific
training or mentors for such work on their own campuses.  Small college
teaching and learning programs have varying amounts of administrative
support and budgets. The faculty development community as a whole
appears to be moving toward a more specialized view of the profession,
however this model is unlikely to be followed at most small colleges for
the foreseeable future.  By forming connections among small college
faculty developers, the Small College Committee can play a vital role in
helping individuals enhance their knowledge and skills in faculty
development through conference presentations, workshops, institutes,
mentoring relationships, and by encouraging a theoretical approach to
small college faculty development.

-- 
Carolyn Oxenford, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Teaching Excellence
Marymount University
Arlington, VA  

________________________________

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