Center for teaching, research formed

By Amy Geiszler-Jones

Faculty looking for fresh ideas and opportunities to collaborate and communicate with other colleagues will now have a central place to find support at WSU.

The newly approved Center for Teaching and Research Excellence will be up and running in 423B Jardine Hall by the time the new academic year rolls around in August. An internal search for a half-time director, who will be a senior, tenured faculty member, is now under way, with applications due by Monday, May 3.

The center is expected to coordinate and develop a host of activities to support teaching and encourage research. Some activities include coordinating workshops and peer discussion groups and housing a resource library.

One aspect of the center that appeals to award-winning longtime teachers Ron Matson and Ro Scudder is that it will sponsor opportunities for faculty from all areas of campus to get together and share ideas.

“We need a place, an identifiable center that people can feel comfortable going to to talk,” said Scudder. She chaired the committee on faculty development and rewards that recommended such a center be formed.

“Some of the things we learned from faculty in conversation and surveys was that they wanted a chance to talk about teaching, they wanted some mentoring, they wanted some new ideas,” she said.

The committee, formed by Vice President for Academic Affairs Bobby Patton, studied the issue of such a center for two years. Members conducted group discussions with 70 faculty and received feedback on 70 surveys. They also studied similar centers at other institutions, learning that all of WSU’s peer institutions except one and the other five Kansas regents’ institutions have such centers.

Matson said he likes the idea of a center where faculty can “just share ideas on common issues,” whether that be ideas on how to teach large or small classes, or incorporate new approaches.

“I see it as an excellent resource,” he said. “I think it will help develop a more active and vital teaching and research environment.”

Scudder also talked about the benefits to faculty, but she sees this as ultimately benefiting students.

A number of things the center will be involved in have already been happening to a certain extent, but in piecemeal fashion. For example, the Office of Academic Affairs has held workshops on teaching and research issues. Emeriti faculty comprising the Academy for Effective Teaching have provided mentors and rewarded good teachers through its annual awards. The council on interdisciplinary activities has started holding events that get faculty from different areas talking about common issues. The center will become a coordinating entity for activities such as those.

Scudder emphasized that the center will be “faculty driven, faculty administered and faculty evaluated. It’s really going to be a faculty center.” Participation will be voluntary.

The estimated budget of $56,500 to operate the center, which includes the half-time director’s salary, will be funded by new money allocated to academic affairs. Office support now dedicated to the Academy for Effective Teaching will be shifted to the center.