Since its establishment at Wichita State University in 1999, the Center for Teaching and Research Excellence has strived to help faculty thrive. William Vanderburgh, the newly appointed CTRE director, plans to see this mission through by making its resources more visible and accessible to faculty.
“I want the center to be used more than it is,” said Vanderburgh. “It’s an effective resource that’s been underutilized.”
Vanderburgh plans to increase the number of faculty events, which consist mostly of seminars and workshops, and to better publicize the events.
Upcoming workshops and seminars include:
- E-learning and WSU
- Eight is Great: An overview of the new version of Blackboard
- Four Habits of Successful Researchers
- Four (more) Habits of Successful Teachers
- Motivating Students
- Online Collaboration
- Using Templates for Online Courses
- Copyright for Teachers
- Instructional Design for Online Courses
- Syllabus Workshop
- Grading for Learning
Dates and details for the events will be released later in the semester.
Past seminars have covered various topics including instruction on syllabus writing and new faculty orientation. The new faculty orientation held this year was held on Aug. 18 and was host to more than 100 new faces at the university. Included in the program was a history of WSU, panel discussions on effective teaching, tenure and promotion and an overview of campus resources.
Jennifer Pearson, an associate professor in the sociology department, attended the orientation. This fall marks her first semester at WSU and as a college instructor, and she found the orientation to be of great importance to new faculty.
“There was a lot of information on resources around campus, which I’ve begun to use already,” Pearson said. “It was just enough information to be able to retain, not too much. Overall, it was very helpful.”
In addition to orientation, Vanderburgh said this year will bring new programs focusing on three areas: providing resources for new teachers, how to effectively construct and teach an online course, and the best practices in college pedagogy to determine what’s working best in the classroom.
Vanderburgh, who is also an associate professor in the philosophy department, encourages research efforts at the university in addition to the creation and oversight of faculty events. He finds the research being conducted by WSU faculty to be extremely beneficial to the university and the community.
“It expands knowledge in general, which is part of what makes us human,” he said. “And it has practical benefits—WSU builds a higher reputation and receives more grants, and a lot of the applied research relates to things going on in the community, such as the aircraft and healthcare industries.”
Vanderburgh’s biggest challenges as director thus far have been creating new programs and expanding existing ones with a limited budget and trying to avoid relying on the way things have been done in the past.
“I want to offer different subjects and help faculty thrive professionally, in their teaching and in their areas of research.”
For more information contact Vanderburgh at 978-3209 or william.vanderburgh@wichita.edu.