A Quick Guide for Difficult Situations

Most of us have experienced tense situations in classrooms. A discussion gets out of hand, a student is experiencing some sort of trauma, or, in extreme situations you think someone might be a threat to themselves or others. Whether you are on Zoom or in a classroom, it is tough to know what to do in real-time. In recognition of this difficult circumstance and the sometimes complicated nature of University support structures, we have developed an easy reference guide for faculty, a “one-door” system for you to “knock” on when you need help. You may have also seen the guide as the Canvas pop-up last week and we are working on placing it in physical classrooms.

We are trying to simplify the process of getting help for students by directing most traffic and alerts to the Campus Assessment Response and Evaluation (CARE) team. This is a group of professionals on campus at the intersection of mental health, physical health, and overall well-being. 

Associate Vice President Juanita Mottley shared this additional context with me for the message this week. 

Thank you for your continued commitment to the well-being of our campus community. We appreciate your diligence in submitting a CARE Report when you have concerns about a student.

Please be aware that we take every report seriously and cannot disclose specific information regarding the actions or outcomes related to the student in question. Rest assured, once a concern is submitted, our multidisciplinary team promptly connects with the student to offer the appropriate support and resources. The student’s participation in these support efforts is voluntary.

Thanks again for your understanding and continued support.

Keep a copy of the guide (PDF) handy. We all have a role to play in supporting our students. Let’s take care of each other and our students. If you need help with a situation in your own life don’t hesitate to contact the Employee Assistance Program.

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.

What Was Missing This Fall?

The end of the year is often a time for reflection. Some of you may be ending the term and thinking about the project that got away–the manuscript you were meaning to finish or a class you want to improve. We hope you will have a look at the preliminary slate of Spring offerings from FDEV and find something that connects to a professional goal in your life. We are going to start fast in the Spring. Applications will be live for most programs on 1/18 with a due date of 1/30 so we wanted to preview the slate for you now. 

Chico Affordable Learning Solutions (CAL$)
Lead: Beth Shook 
Compensation: $500
Format: Asynchronous online

Want to decrease course costs for students? And at the same time provide students high quality and accessible course materials? Participate in an asynchronous Canvas training designed to help faculty identify and evaluate Open Educational Resources (OER) and other free or affordable course materials for your courses. Faculty who complete the online training, including developing a cost-savings plan to be implemented in a Fall 2024 or Spring 2025 course, will earn $500 in taxable income. 

Canvas modules will cover the following topics: OER and why they are important, finding and evaluating OER, Library resources, understanding copyright and Creative Commons licenses, ensuring accessibility, curating and adapting materials for your course, teaching with open resources, and the Zero Cost Course Materials (ZCCM) designation.

Advancing Hispanic/Latinx Student Success
Leads: Yvette Zuniga and Teresita Curiel
Compensation: TBD $500-$1000
Format: TBD

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.

BIPoC Writing Community 
Leads: Stef Baldivia and Gloria Lopez
Compensation: TBD, at least $500
Format: TBD

The purpose of the Black, Indigenous, People of Color Faculty Writing Community (BIPoC-FWC) is to cultivate community and support for a diverse group of faculty to successfully navigate the retention, tenure, and promotion process, by developing scholarly and creative work, while strengthening a network of colleagues at the Chico State campus. The BIPoC-FWC is designed to create a space for BIPoC faculty to share their research ideas and publication goals, while supporting and motivating each other. All self-identified Black, Indigenous, or Faculty of Color, are encouraged to apply. Members will regularly meet in a set location for a total of ten 90-minute sessions and two community building events. During writing sessions, every writer works on their own project, with mutual support offered through fellowship both prior to and following the writing sessions. Faculty will be working in a large cohort led by two peer-mentors, Gloria Lopez and Stef Baldivia. There will be a mandatory kick-off meeting in early spring based on participants availability.

Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Teaching (EDIT)
Leads: Alisa Wade and Allison McConnell
Compensation: $500 for attending the majority of the workshops
Format: FLEX

The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Teaching (EDIT) Series includes six workshops, and is designed to offer faculty an introduction to basic concepts of equity, diversity, inclusion, and how they can be implemented in the classroom in order to create more equitable and accessible learning environments. Each workshop explores–and models–a different facet of student-centered and inclusive teaching through tools, resources, and strategies: positionality in the classroom, antiracist pedagogy, backward design, accessibility of course materials, culturally responsive teaching and the hidden curriculum, and practices of classroom community building. Workshops are each paired with a teaching guide (and other materials) and offer the opportunity for faculty to complete deliverables that they will be able to incorporate into their course(s) moving forward.

Grant Writing Support
In Development
Compensation: TBD

Leadership Development
Lead: Holly Nevarez
Compensation: $500
Format: TBD

The leadership development faculty learning community (FLC) will introduce leadership styles and strategies. This FLC is designed for you 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.

Publish and Flourish
Lead: Chris Fosen
Compensation: $500
Format: One online synchronous FLC and one in-person FLC

The Office of Faculty Development is bringing back faculty learning community (FLC) writing groups for the spring 2024 semester. After a survey was sent out in December 2023 to “Publish and Flourish” and “Write an Article in Twelve Weeks” participants about meeting preferences, we recognized the need for two distinct meeting patterns and goals for FLC participants. Faculty can select either option below:

  • Meeting one hour a week on Zoom for dedicated writing time with minimal interruption, for the purposes of getting words down on paper and providing mutual accountability.
  • Meeting two hours every other week in-person (flex possible) for time to reflect on their writing process, plan out benchmarks for completion, and share drafts in small groups of 2-4. These groups provide accountability and increased understanding of how writing time can mesh with other professional duties.

Participating faculty will receive $500 in taxable income for completing some significant portion of their writing goals, and attending all meetings (through week 13 or 14).

Teaching Climate Change & Resilience (TCCR)
Lead: Mark Stemen
Compensation: $500
Format: Online synchronous and asynchronous
Applications due on 12/15

Faculty participating in the TCCR FLC will learn from experts in the field about the science behind climate change, the solutions available to counter it, the need to incorporate justice into the conversation and the enormous anxiety all of this produces in our students. The five 90-minute sessions spread evenly throughout the semester will be held over Zoom, allowing faculty to form breakout rooms based on discipline for further discussion and curriculum development. In addition to changing their own courses, participating faculty will also become part of the systemwide network of colleagues focused on issues of climate change that formed after the first FLC, and learn how other faculty incorporate those issues across a wide spectrum of curricular disciplines.

Quality Learning and Teaching (QLT)
Lead: Allison McConnell
Compensation: $750
Format: Asynchronous online

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.

Finally, if you find yourself with time and an inclination toward professional development in the next few weeks, remember we have developed a 100% online and asynchronous course to help you redesign your classes in a world of generative AI. We also have our institutional subscription to the NCFDD with a variety of great resources. Or you could just get some rest–up to you!

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

Lecturer Mentoring Program

Dear faculty,

Yesterday I announced in the FDEV Zine the selection of a new mentor, Tiffani Anderson, who will work with FDEV to support lecturers. I want to use this Tuesday Tip to share more details about this new program and to make sure you have all links and information available. First of all, I want to highlight the possibility to schedule an appointment with Tiffani to discuss matters pertaining to lecturers’ questions and support.

Faculty Development has renewed its commitment to targeting resources and support specifically to lectures, because while all lecturers are faculty, their needs, questions, and concerns might differ from those of tenured and tenure-track faculty. The Lecturer Mentoring Program was created in this spirit and I want to offer some tips on how to navigate this page.

Resources

  • On the webpage you find a useful infographic, created by Aaron Draper, that clarifies the type of support different offices can provide.
  • Below the infographic, under Lecturer Council, you find contact information and bios for the lecturer representative in each College. We encourage you to contact your lecturer representative if you have specific questions that pertain to your discipline or Department/College.
  • Orientation offers links to the video recordings and all slides that were shared during the lecturer orientation. These links allow you to re-watch those presentations  and explore the information or access them for the first time if you could not attend the orientation. These are good links for lectures that might not be new but still need to access this information.
  • Resources offers additional links to information that you will need as you join the Chico State faculty community, including accessing the system, important deadlines, etc.

Lecturer Academy

Faculty Development is working with Tiffani Anderson, Aaron Draper, and Erin Horst to plan a full-day lecturer academy on Friday April 29th. The academy will include a series of informational and interactive sessions followed by a reception in the evening. SAVE THE DATE for this important event and we will send more details as we have them available.

We hope that lecturers will take this opportunity to explore the website and to reach out to both Faculty Development and Tiffani Anderson to share your questions!

Take a Break (seriously)

Dear faculty, 

For this week’s Tuesday Tip I could not help sharing this meme. You’ve done it, it is week 16 and everyone is busy with wrapping up the semester, finishing finals, and well…. grading! 

For many of you this was the first semester back on campus after the pandemic. Others spent the semester getting used to the ChicoFlex mode of instruction, exploring the benefits of added flexibility for students. Others continued teaching online, revising your courses to better serve students in the virtual environment. Independently of HOW you have been teaching this semester, I know all faculty have shared challenges in relation to engaging students and offering a renewed sense of community. 

I want to take a moment to reiterate how Faculty Development is here to help you navigate these challenges, and we look forward to continually providing support in the semesters to come. 

Please continue sharing your needs so we can best respond to them, and make sure to find ways to relax during the next few weeks. 

The Office of Faculty development wishes you a wonderful time during the break!