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A broader focus
The Chronicle of Higher Education has an interesting article on new orientation programs for faculty at the University of Minnesota and other institutions. This passage is particularly striking:
"The emphasis during my orientation really came down to what I need to do to fulfill my responsibilities to the department," says Kirt H. Wilson, an associate professor in the department of communication studies, who came to Minnesota in 1996. "The old orientation was far less about, What is the university? What are some of its unique characteristics? And why should you be proud to work at this institution?"That kind of feedback moved Minnesota to a major orientation overhaul. Hours scattered here and there now have become a three-day event that covers a wide variety of topics, including teaching and learning, diversity, mentors, governance, conducting research responsibly, and promotion and tenure. The program's mix of large lectures and small group discussions, which began three years ago, is designed to give all new tenured, tenure-track, and contract faculty members a sense of the institution's scope, while helping knit together a universitywide support network of seasoned and junior professors across disciplines. This year's orientation begins on August 25.
The article goes on to note that "at the University of Washington, new scholars can participate in a 'faculty fellows' program, a five-day event that is packed with sessions on many aspects of teaching."
All of this brings to mind a 2006 Chronicle Review piece by Stanley Katz, which began this way:
The new environment for higher education has created a situation in which professorial worlds are multiple, complex, and conflicting. I think I am not simply being nostalgic (though I "grew up" professionally at the end of the earlier world) when I assert that we have lost something along the way. We have lost a sense of commonality as professors, the sense that we are all in this together -- "this" being a dedication to undergraduate teaching and not just specialized research. We have lost a belief in the relevance of teaching undergraduates for the health of our democracy. We have lost confidence that what we do in teaching and research is inherently good, and not primarily a utilitarian occupation. We have lost the conviction that we have a calling, that as professors our duty is to profess.We have also, manifestly, lost our sense of belonging to an ascertainable and manageable community of teacher-professors. Along the way, we have lost our commitment to the particular universities in which we work: We have become superprofessionals, committed to our research disciplines and organizations rather than to local teaching institutions. Of course, all of the commitments and values I have identified exist among today's professors. But they are not the norm.
Obviously, we don't know all the details on these new programs, but these schools appear to deserve credit for addressing the kinds of issues Katz rightly raised. They might also profitably include professional standards in teaching and scholarship, something Washington and Lee University covers in faculty orientation sessions, if they do not do so already.
Posted by Charles Mitchell on August 06, 2009 at August 6, 2009 01:54 PM
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