SHAPING FACULTY ROLES IN A TIME OF CHANGE :
Leadership for Student Learning
April 2-4, 2009
San Diego, California
Call for Proposals: Deadline closed on September 10, 2008
AAC&U’s Network for Academic Renewal invites proposals for conference sessions that will engage participants in examining changes in the academic workforce; the forces behind these changes; and the values, core knowledge, and common practices that comprise the work of the faculty regardless of employment status (contingent, tenure track, or tenured).
Please review the entire proposal submission process outlined below and contact us if you have any questions. Once you begin the submission form, you will not be able to save the proposal for submission at another time. We look forward to your proposal and participation.
About the Conference
Conference Themes
Writing a Strong Proposal
Session Formats
How to Submit a Proposal
Resources for Attendees of Your Session
Final Reminders
Dates to Remember
About the Conference
Shaping Faculty Roles in a Time of Change will engage participants in understanding the changes taking place in higher education with regard to teaching, learning, research, service and shared governance; discussing the implications for the faculty (contingent, tenure track and tenured); and articulating a new and more inclusive vision of the professoriate that unites individuals across a range of institutions and professional situations.
Session proposals should address pressing faculty concerns such as the implications of part-time, contract, and tenure status on individual and collective faculty roles; linking teaching with research, professional service, and civic engagement as a logically planned set of activities; and effective preparation for teaching, designing curricula and programs, and assessing student learning.
Proposals might address how faculty members are creating new approaches to community, exercising academic freedom, and sharing in responsibility for institutional mission and governance. Also of central concern are institutional efforts for diversifying the faculty and helping faculty to integrate their professional and the personal lives. Proposals should address how to remove the many barriers—in campus culture and the reward systems—that still impede faculty efforts to develop community partnerships and the scholarship of engagement. What might a new conception of the professoriate—one that intentionally considers these many issues—look like?
Conference Themes
Themes: The bullets that follow each heading are just a few examples of ways your proposal might explore one of these five elements.
Responsibilities for Learning (teaching, curricular designs, and assessment)
- What are the implications of increasingly specialized responsibilities and splintering of roles for current and future faculty?
- As American higher education turns from a focus on faculty—who they are and what they know—to a focus on what students are learning, what changes in professional development need to take place? How can institutions prepare faculty for using assessment to better understand their students and advance learning outcomes?
- How are faculty members linking teaching with research, professional service, civic engagement, and assessment to advance student learning? To advance their own professional development?
- How can the academy successfully institutionalize the scholarship of teaching and learning?
- How can faculty be better prepared to understand the “millennial students” with their digital and visual approaches to learning and their vocational aspirations? To the ways younger and retiring students “make meaning?”
- How is faculty prepared to teach an increasing and unevenly prepared student population? What do students expect and need from faculty?
New Approaches to Community, Academic Freedom, and Shared Governance
- How are institutions preparing faculty for academic leadership and institutional citizenship in the college and university of the future?
- Can an institution with large numbers of contingent and part-time faculty have shared governance; what will it look like?
- How do new faculty members perceive their roles in and responsibilities for the campus community and shared governance? How do they make community and find identity?
- Are the goals of tenure still relevant? If so, how are these goals being achieved in the absence of tenure?
- How will academic freedom (see AAC&U’s Statement on Academic Freedom http://www.aacu.org/about/statements/academic_freedom.cfm) be protected in this era of increasing non-tenure faculty positions? How can we preserve an academic environment characterized by the free pursuit of new knowledge, full exploration of issues of justice, and the upholding of principles of excellence?
Faculty Work and Leadership in the Engaged Campus (involvement in community partnerships and the scholarship of engagement)
- What is the role of higher education in contributing to the public good (social justice and well-being, economic development and environmental quality)?
- What is the scholarship of engagement and how are faculty members contributing to and learning from this endeavor?
- How can the campus prepare and support faculty as they work with community partners to advance both student learning and the public good?
- How are faculty members being prepared to pursue engaged scholarship, community-based research, and service learning?
- What are the rewards for faculty involved in the academic dimensions of the engaged campus? How might the academy’s epistemology and reward systems shift to encourage faculty engagement with community—to connect knowledge to community based action.
Balancing Faculty Roles and Responsibilities (integrating the professional and the personal and creating new approaches to faculty development)
- How do faculty members view the personal in relation to the professional both in their own lives and the lives of their students? How do institutional policies support a healthy balance of personal and professional life?
- How do we encourage, engage, and support faculty to assume leadership roles within our institutions? What are examples of how new faculty members are reshaping the academy?
- As faculty are asked to assume new tasks in areas of assessment, community engagement, service learning, and study abroad, how can they balance these many activities with their work day and personal lives? How does the Academy prepare and reward faculty for generating a coherent learning experience from these activities?
- How can doctoral programs develop a commitment to shared professional purpose and effectively prepare graduates for the realities of today’s Academy?
Moving Toward a New Conception of the Profession
- What changes are taking place in higher education with regard to teaching, learning, research, service, and shared governance? What are the implications of these changes for the faculty?
- If contingent appointments and disaggregated work are irreversible realities, what new models of the professoriate might emerge that unite individuals across common professional aspirations; across disciplinary and interdisciplinary intellectual interests; in pursuit of success in teaching, service and research; and with shared values and attitudes about learning and scholarship?
- Who will provide for coherence and integration—a sense of the whole—in the academy?
- How are institutions diversifying the faculty and focusing on both recruiting and retaining a more diverse faculty, especially underrepresented minority faculty and faculty of color?
- How does the new generation of faculty view and fulfill their responsibilities for teaching and learning, research, and a shared sense of responsibility for the institution as tenure is increasingly replaced with contracts? As full-time positions are replaced with part-time?
Writing a Strong Proposal
The proposal consists of three parts: a short session title, a brief session description (150 words), and a longer abstract. Your proposal should be clear and concise and your session title should accurately reflect your session content. Experts in the field and AAC&U staff will review all proposals. Reviewers will look favorably upon proposals that (1) offer theories, research findings, practical models, and/or strategies that reflect one of the conference themes and have proven effective, (2) are innovative and interactive, and (3) identify the intended audience and goals for the session (including what attendees will gain from going to the session).
Tips
- Consider how your work might be useful to individuals at different types of institutions and/or those serving different student populations.
- Indicate if your session will: (1) combine the work of more than one institution, (2) illustrate perspectives of different organizational roles (e.g., faculty, department chairs, student affairs educators, academic advisors, librarians, students), or (3) focus on a specific audience. We particularly welcome student perspectives on your work and models of collaboration.
- Include facilitators who bring diverse perspectives and life experiences to the topic or issue your proposal addresses. AAC&U is committed to presenting conferences where sessions and participants reflect the pluralism of our campus communities.
- Show how your session will be interactive. In AAC&U Network meetings, participants are actively engaged in discussion and activities during sessions. Please do not plan to read a paper.
- Provide a clear sense of how your session will unfold and be prepared to discuss what worked, what did not, and how you addressed challenges along the way.
- Avoid “show and tell” submissions that have little or no applicability to other institutions.
- Present work that has proven effective and is well beyond the planning stages.
Below is a sample session title and description that clearly states the issue to be explored, provides supporting evidence, and discusses what participants should expect from their attendance. Your abstract should provide greater detail about these aspects of the session.
Searching for Faculty of Color and Sustaining their Presence on Campus
Recent studies have shown that institutional context affects not only searches for faculty of color but also the socialization processes through which these faculty members negotiate their own cultural backgrounds alongside newly forged identities within the academy. In this session, the facilitators will: (a) highlight emerging practices at institutions that successfully recruit and sustain faculty of color; (b) recommend strategies for institutions to increase the presence of faculty of color; and (c) share a set of socialization experiences of linguistic-minority women faculty. Participants will explore implications for creating a “multi-contextual” campus culture that validates the importance of different ways of thinking and learning, and they will share their own institutional experiences and promising strategies related to the recruitment and success of faculty of color.
Session Formats
There are four session formats from which to choose: (1) workshop, (2) basic and applied research information/model/discussion, (3) poster/demonstration, and (4) roundtable discussion. Please select the format that will best facilitate participants’ understanding and potential use of your work. One way to effectively engage participants across the different formats is to have them explore ways to apply your information and resources to their own institutional and professional settings.
Workshop (90 minutes; two or three facilitators; room set in roundtables to support active learning)
Workshops provide participants an opportunity to engage the facilitator and each other in learning about the session topic and applying it to their unique situations. Workshops should begin with a brief framing of an issue, theory, model, or process and include data, benchmarks and challenges, practical examples, and evidence that you and the participants can then use to examine and discuss the topic. If you are sharing a campus-based project, provide an opportunity for workshop participants to apply the concepts to their own situations. For example, if your work takes place at a research university, please facilitate discussion among participants as to how community colleges, liberal arts colleges, and comprehensive institutions might adapt your work to account for institutional differences. You might organize the participants into discussion groups by institution type or stage in the process (novice, intermediate, advanced) of work being addressed. If your work is better suited to a particular type of institution or level of engagement, please make that clear.
Proposals should:
- state clearly the problem or issue that you will address and to which theme it relates
- indicate how your work has effectively addressed that problem or issue
- indicate the outcomes participants should expect from your session and examples of how you will facilitate achievement of those outcomes
- describe the strategies you will use to engage participants in discussing, analyzing, synthesizing, and applying the information you will share
- describe how your work might be applied to a particular or multiple sectors of higher education, i.e. large universities, liberal arts colleges, community colleges; describe the level to which your session is geared (novice, intermediate, advanced)
- include links to relevant Web sites or electronic copies of the materials you will share (electronic copies of materials can be provided later)
- include time for participants to discuss how the work might be used to achieve the stated goals or outcomes
Seminar (Research information/model/discussion sessions) (75 minutes; two or three facilitators; room set in roundtables)
This session should allow 20 minutes to provide research findings or overview of a model, 35 minutes to discuss practical applications; and 20 minutes for participant discussion. Research information or models of institutional reform or assessment can stimulate creative problem-solving discussions. Research session proposals should state the underlying research hypothesis, a brief explanation of the methodology, and a summary of the findings. Practical applications should provide concrete steps for using the research to affect change. Data, findings, and applications should be presented in ways that are accessible to participants and allow them to engage in a discussion about the implications of your findings. Models might be presented visually as well as verbally and include strategies for implementation.
Proposals should:
- state the hypothesis/problem your research addresses or describe the model
- identify the theme that you will address
- describe briefly the methodology and the parameters of the study
- provide visual means of presenting findings and applications (e.g. handouts)
- include time throughout the session for participants to discuss the implications of the findings and applications
Poster/Demonstration Sessions (60 minutes; one or two facilitators; 6 X 3 foot skirted table; electrical connections and other supports provided as available upon request)
Poster/demonstration sessions lend themselves well to combining visual displays of key information with written and verbal presentations and small group interaction to create a more individualized learning experience. These sessions provide an opportunity for you to share your work with the full conference audience and they are a valuable way to initiate conversations with those of similar interest. These sessions can include 3’x 4’ boards to display visual charts, diagrams, pictures, graphs, etc. that demonstrate key findings. They might also present the information through technological means or other types of visual displays that can be set-up on the 6’x3’ table provided.
Proposals should:
- clearly state the problem or issue that your display will address and to which theme it relates
- indicate how your work has effectively addressed that issue
- describe the visual data, display, etc. that you will provide including any special requests for technical assistance
- indicate how the data or information will be useful to a particular or multiple sectors of higher education
- include links to relevant Web sites or electronic copies of the materials you will share (copies of materials can be provided later)
- include students or student perspectives in your presentation where relevant
NOTE: Our ability to provide technical assistance is limited, but if you have a project for which you need such assistance, we are happy to explore the options with you. Poster boards are provided upon request.
Roundtable Discussions (60 minutes; one or two facilitators; roundtable of 10 during continental breakfast; no audio visual)
Roundtables are facilitated discussions among colleagues with a common interest. They provide a valuable forum to network and reflect upon important topics in an informal setting. Roundtable discussions may take one of the following approaches:
- Topic discussion/theoretical construct: The facilitator briefly presents a topic of general interest and uses this opportunity to explore issues relevant among colleagues from a variety of positions and institutions to uncover new ways of thinking about shared interests.
- Case study/practice/strategy: The facilitator prefaces the discussion with a brief overview of her/his work and a handout that includes a longer description, theory, data, models, bibliography, or other resources. She/he may pose or invite a question to stimulate and/or focus the conversation so that others can share their own experience with the issue
Proposals should:
- describe clearly the topic, theory, or practice that you will present for discussion, why it is compelling for those in higher education to address this issue, and to which theme it relates
- indicate your experience in addressing the issue including the benchmarks of success, challenges, and outcomes of your work
- indicate the outcomes participants should expect from the discussion and examples of how you will prompt and sustain conversation to achieve those outcomes
- include links to relevant Web sites or electronic copies of the materials you will share (electronic copies of materials can be provided later)
- include students or student perspectives where relevant
Notification
You should receive an automatic message indicating receipt of your proposal when submitted. If you do not receive this message, we may not have received your proposal. Please send an e-mail to Siah Annand at Annand@aacu.org if you would like to confirm receipt of proposal.
Acceptance
You will receive notification about the status of your proposal by Friday, October 17, 2008.
Registration Fees
All session facilitators at the conference are responsible for the appropriate conference registration fees, travel, and hotel expenses. Please be sure all individuals in your proposal have this information and can be available to present at any time throughout the event. Presentation times range from Thursday, April 2, 2009 beginning at 8:30 p.m. through Saturday, April 4, at 12:00 noon.
Resources for Attendees of Your Session
Conference participants like to have resource materials to help them implement and/or share new ideas when they return to campus. In an effort to conserve natural resources, and increase the potential for active participation in your session, we strongly encourage facilitators to provide us with online resources one month in advance of the conference.
If your proposal pertains to a project, program, course, or other feature for which there is (or will be) descriptive materials available on the Web or electronically, please provide the URL address or e-document with your proposal, (or when they become available before the conference). AAC&U’s Web site will include these links when we post the program. After the conference, all presenters will be asked to provide additional electronic resources to be made make available to conference participants and the larger higher education community through AAC&U’s award winning Website.
Final Reminders
- Please complete all fields including information pertaining to all additional facilitators.
- Please include links to supplemental materials, if available.
- Please remember that by submitting a proposal, you agree to:
- Register and pay conference fees if the proposal is accepted
- Inform your co-facilitators about the proposal’s status and the need for all facilitators to pay the conference registration fees and be available throughout the event to present your work as scheduled.
Dates to Remember
- Wednesday, September 10, 2008: Proposals due to AAC&U
- Friday, October 17, 2008: Proposal acceptance notification
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