Tag: international

Protect Your Time

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One of the best parts of Faculty Development is welcoming new tenure-track and lecturer faculty to Chico State. They bring fresh perspectives, interesting experiences, and new life to campus. One of the most important things I share with them is the need to protect their time. Serve on that committee if you want to, take the time to redesign your course, but realize all of the campus commitments take up calendar space that might have been there for taking a walk, having lunch with a friend, or writing a manuscript. I wanted to encourage all of you to be intentional about your commitments. 

This ties in with the application deadline for Fall 2024 Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs). Think of these as opportunities to block off time for something you actually want to get done. Not everything is for everyone, but we think there is something here that matches needs and interests for most of you. We look forward to working with you this semester. 

FLC Opportunities for Fall 2024. All applications are due on 9/3 by 11:59pm.

Advancing Hispanic/Latinx Student Success (Google Doc)
Who: All faculty including lecturers 
Leads: Teresita Curiel and Gloria Lopez
Grant Contact: Sabrina Marquez
Compensation:$1000 (a taxable training and professional development stipend)
Format: Fall In Person
Application – See the full call (Google Doc) for details.

This project is partially funded by a generous U.S. Department of Education Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) grant from PI Ryan Patten, College of BSS.  We are happy to collaborate on this important work.  This FLC will feature connected workshops focused on better understanding Hispanic/Latinx university students and how Chico State can advance their success. Applications are due on 9/3 by 11:59pm.


Collaborative Online International Learning (Google Doc) (COIL)
Who: All faculty including lecturers 
Lead: Dr. Nan Li
Compensation:$500 (a taxable training and professional development stipend)
Format: Fall Online and Synchronous
Application – See the full call (Google Doc) for details.

International Education and Global Engagement (IEGE) is offering faculty an opportunity to participate in a Faculty Learning Community (FLC) this fall to support with implementation of Collaborative Online International Education (COIL) as a component within your course at Chico State. IEGE offers support—training, mentoring, resources, and partner matching—for faculty members who wish to develop a virtual exchange experience with a faculty member(s) abroad, connecting students globally to project-based learning and valuable international opportunities. Applications are due on 9/3 by 11:59pm.


Leadership Development (Google Doc)
Who: Tenure/Tenure-Track and Lecturers currently in/considering leadership roles on campus
Lead: Holly Nevarez
Compensation: $500 (a taxable training and professional development stipend)
Format: Fall In Person
Application – See the full call (Google Doc) for details.

The leadership FLC will introduce leadership styles and strategies. This FLC is designed for people who lead from wherever you are. Perhaps you are not a formal leader on campus, but find yourself leading other staff or students; perhaps you would like to be a formal leader someday and want to start to develop skills; or perhaps you are going to be a department Chair next year and want to start preparing. In any of those scenarios, this FLC is for you. We will talk about staffing, shared governance, facilitating meetings, managing difficult people, work to develop a leadership philosophy and more. Applications are due on 9/3 by 11:59pm.

Quality Learning and Teaching (Google Doc) (QLT)
Who: All faculty including lecturers
Lead: Allison McConnell
Compensation: $500 (a taxable training and professional development stipend)
Format: Fall Online and Primarily Asynchronous
Application – See the full call (Google Doc) for details.

The Quality Learning and Teaching (QLT) Program is an asynchronous, self-paced Canvas course structured around the QLT evaluation rubric. This QLT course is designed to meet core standards in the QLT instrument through the completion of eight modules with associated deliverables that guide you to fully redesign a course (or design a new course). Topics and deliverables focus on backwards design, student engagement, authentic assessment, inclusion and accessibility, and more. This QLT course requires a final course review. While focusing on online learning, QLT provides a framework that is applicable to all modes of instruction. Applications are due on 9/3 by 11:59pm.

Universal Design for Learning (Google Doc) (UDL)
Who: All STEM faculty, including lecturers (CNS and ECSCM)
Lead: Jamie Gunderson
Compensation: $1880.00 (a taxable training and professional development stipend)
Format: Academic Year Online and Synchronous 

Application – See the full call (Google Doc) for details.

The CSU Chico Office of Faculty Development (FDEV) is thrilled to present an NSF-funded Faculty Learning Community (FLC) dedicated to implementing teaching strategies that enhance student learning in STEM disciplines. This FLC invites participants to delve into Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles to design assessments and implement activities that foster inclusion, accessibility, engagement, and student success within their courses. We strongly encourage all STEM faculty to apply. Applications are due on 9/3 by 11:59pm.


Writing Support (Google Doc)
Who: All faculty, including lecturers 
Lead: Chris Fosen
Format: Fall Semester. TBD
Application  – See the full call (Google Doc) for details.

We heard from some folks about their desire for writing support this semester so we are offering this experimental program.  Our goal with this is to help group people up into ad-hoc writing teams that will meet regularly through the fall semester, and provide as much structured support for the groups as they would like. This is not really an application, we will take anyone who is interested, but we are asking folks to complete the sign-up by 9/3 at 11:59pm so we can match people up ASAP.

Zach Justus
Director of Faculty Development
Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences
Google Voice/Text: 530-487-4150

All past Tuesday Tips are curated on the FDEV website.

You Can Listen

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I have been struggling with what to share this week. This is an exciting and stressful time of the year under typical circumstances with commencement and finals just days away. The budget situation combined with the tension on campuses throughout the nation has many of us trying to find the right words. Faculty are often the face of the institution for students. You are the person they ask questions of and look to for guidance. This is incredibly challenging especially since very few of us are trained in international politics, budget projections, or de-escalation. These issues are making their way into our classrooms and offices whether we want them to or not. 

There are resources on campus to help you and your students navigate challenging situations. The Counseling Center exists as does the Employee Assistance Program. However, the thing we can all do regardless of our professional background is the simplest–we can all listen. You can listen to your students who feel alarmed by what is happening in Israel, Gaza and/or campus. You can listen to students who have been subjected to antisemitic or anti-Muslim bigotry. You can listen to your student who does not want this to be the focus of the end of their semester as they try to finish the term or graduate. You can listen to your colleague who is anxious about the budget and what that will mean for their job. You may hear something you need to share with your Department Chair or a different office on campus–cross that bridge when you get to it.

Listening does not mean agreeing and it almost always helps. It can help you understand and it can help someone else feel heard. This is not the first time I have shared this advice in a fraught moment. I want to borrow the closing line I used in 2016. 

No one ever looks back on a decision and says to themselves “I wish I would have understood people less before proceeding.” So ask students how they are doing, let them know your office student hours are open to them, and listen.

Zach Justus
Director of Faculty Development
Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences
Google Voice/Text: 530-487-4150

Design a Sensational Syllabus

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Welcome to the Fall ’18 semester!

I hope this e-mail catches you while you’re developing or revising your syllabi this week. This document can be one of your most effective communication tools. A syllabus sets the tone for your course (Harnish & Bridges, 2011) so be mindful about what tone you wish to set as you create it. Here are three tips to ensure your syllabus effectively communicates what you want it to.

  1. Make it Inclusive  – Scan your syllabi for content that could potentially be exclusive, and thus perhaps inaccessible, to some student groups (e.g. first-gen, low-income, international, certain genders, athletes etc.). Consider a reading list that includes diverse authors. Consider allowing students to purchase previous (and thus cheaper and more accessible) versions of a textbook. Consider allowing students to vote on the sequence of some parts of the curriculum as suggested in the book Why Students Resist Learning. Most importantly, be sure that all sections of your syllabus meet accessibility requirements (see attached tips and contact info for assistance)?
  2.  Introduce Yourself –Sure, office location and e-mail address are important to mention, but consider including a photo of yourself along with a few sentences about your hobbies, where you’re from, something unique about you, etc. Academic achievement is linked to student-teacher connection (Konishi, Hymel, Zumbo, & Li, 2010) so anything you can do to strengthen that connection is a solid investment in your students.
  3. Be Aware of Bloat – Is your syllabus more like a novel? It can be tempting to include every bit of information a student could possibly need along with a series of disclaimers addressing any and all possible scenarios. A syllabus shouldn’t read like a smartphone’s Terms & Conditions that few people ever read. If a syllabus is long enough to discourage reading, then it ceases to be a communication tool. Aim for the sweet spot of including adequate and relevant information without overloading students.

Have a wonderful first week of classes!