Greetings faculty colleagues,
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In the Office of Faculty Affairs we always look forward to the month of February. It signals a time when the new year is well underway, our campus is settling into the rhythm of the semester, and our spring faculty development programming series fully launches!
As you saw in our January OFA Engage newsletter, our new quarterly communique designed to keep you updated on upcoming faculty professional development programming, our professional development engagement opportunities are organized to help meet your needs: Faculty in Conversation, Faculty Workshop Series, and Faculty Leadership Development.
Faculty in Conversation.
Programs offered in our Faculty In Conversation category are designed as small-group interactive learning experiences, fostering interpersonal connections and collective wisdom on specific topics of interest or shared circumstances. These include our Faculty Learning Circles (FLCs), Faculty Writing Circles (FWCs), our Faculty How to at KU programs, The Faculty Collaborative, and the Faculty Idea Exchange. Our spring programming includes:
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Faculty Writing Circle: join us February 11, March 11, and April 15, from 3-5pm in Watson Library. Everyone is welcome for any and all sessions, just sign up here!
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Faculty Learning Circle: “Preparing for Promotion to Full” is designed for faculty preparing for promotion in the next two years and is hosted by Dr. Megan Greene and Dr. Lisa Wolf-Wendel. Learn more here!
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Faculty How to at KU: curious about the new changes U.S. research agencies are requiring around open access? Join us March 9th to discuss the publishing (and financial!) implications of the new mandates for PIs and their grants.
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Faculty How to at KU: updating your Faculty Insight portfolio and looking for best practices and how to use it most effectively? Join us March 30th to get the most out of your digital portfolio!
- The Faculty Collaborative, spring edition: this spring our Collaborative is focused on faculty vitality at “mid-career” and is hosted by Dr. Michael Amlung.
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Faculty Workshop Series.
Programs offered in our Faculty Workshop Series offer “deep dives” into topics that support faculty and faculty leadership in growing their knowledge, skills, and capacities to be successful in their roles. Feedback that we hear from faculty is that they would like concentrated time dedicated to development that both fits within their schedule and helps make their day flow more easily. We heard you and agree! Each of our workshops are one-day-only (or partial-day-only), feature KU faculty and campus experts, and are designed around interactivity, topics that are timely and relevant to your role, and structured opportunities to connect with other KU faculty.
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Our spring Early Career Faculty Foundations day of learning is open to everyone and includes sessions specifically designed to support our faculty’s success early in their career. Join us on February 20th and RSVP here! (lunch and snacks provided!)
- Working with graduate students? Sign up for one of our Graduate Mentoring Workshops, which are created and delivered in partnership with the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs.
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And… registration is now open for our third annual Faculty Development Academies Week! We have an exceptional set of design teams hard at work to deliver engaging and impactful learning, faculty-focused conversations, and topics that you care about. From global engagement to academic leadership, from research and discovery to graduate mentoring… and even a day to write! Click here to learn more and choose the dates and topics that work for you… and we will be excited to see you the week of May 18th!
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Faculty Leadership Development.
The Office of Faculty Affairs offers leadership development for faculty at various career stages. While we encourage you to watch for future announcements as we develop programs and opportunities within this category, we continue supporting faculty currently serving in faculty leadership roles:
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We encourage you to click on any of the programs or visit facultyaffairs.ku.edu to learn more. We look forward to supporting your faculty career this spring and beyond!
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Mary Banwart
Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Development, Mentoring & Growth
Professor, Communication Studies
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Spotlight on Faculty Excellence
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Our Spotlight on Faculty Excellence program, in partnership with KU Athletics and the Office of Research, continued over winter break during KU men's and women's basketball games. See more photos on our recent Instagram posts. We have a few more Spotlights to look forward to this spring!
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Did you know, KU has an office dedicated to policy that serves as a University-wide resource for policy development? The Office of Policy Administration, under the auspices of the Office of Audit, Risk & Compliance, facilitates policy development, review, revision, approval, and publication and is responsible for the maintenance and oversight of the University’s official archives for policy. Visit the following resources for policies, programmatic info, and more:
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Collective bargaining updates |
In collective bargaining sessions this past month, the University and the United Academics of KU (UAKU) have reached tentative agreement on two core proposals: Promotion and Tenure and Evaluations. In total, there have been 58 negotiating sessions, with 154 University proposals/counterproposals, 157 UAKU proposals/counterproposals, and 29 proposals with tentative agreements since collective bargaining began. Updates to spring negotiation sessions will be added to the Collective Bargaining Updates page as soon as they are available.
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Faculty Writing Circle: Spring 2026
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The Office of Faculty Affairs invites you to join together with your colleagues for our spring 2026 Faculty Writing Circle. Whether you are wanting to make progress on a longstanding writing project, conceptualize and plan out a new idea, design materials for a course, or finish a manuscript, our Faculty Writing Circle can help you commit time this spring!
Bring any writing project, a laptop, and a charger – we’ll provide the snacks!
Wednesdays, Feb. 11, March 11, and April 15, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Watson Library, 4th Floor, Graduate Student Study Space
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Faculty Learning Circle: Associate Professors Preparing for Promotion at Mid-Career
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Are you an associate professor planning to go up to full professor in the next 1-2 years? Join the Spring 2026 Faculty Learning Circle offered by the Office of Faculty Affairs! This series is designed as a supportive, practical space for faculty to prepare for their promotion review. Across this FLC’s three 90-minute sessions, which will be facilitated by Lisa Wolf-Wendel and Megan Greene, you will:
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- Get acquainted with the promotion review process
- Develop strategies for building a strong and compelling dossier
- Workshop and refine your research statement in preparation for the external review process
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Thursdays, Feb. 12, March 12, and April 16, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Strong Hall, Room 36
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Early Career Faculty Foundations: Spring Workshop
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Coming this spring, we invite all early career faculty – faculty who are in years one through five of their career – to join us for a day designed specifically for you, to support your career development and professional growth! We have tailored this day with all early career faculty in mind, regardless of their role, as an opportunity to invest in your development. The early career stage is the best time to begin forming the foundation of your career, and we look forward to supporting you through each milestone along the way.
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Friday, Feb. 20, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Kansas Union
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Various Dates: Join the Office of Civil Rights & Title IX for Introduction to Mandatory Reporting and Introduction to Belonging, a two-part training on interpersonal engagement strategies for fostering belonging in the workplace. Find all dates and registration information at this link.
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Thursday, Feb. 5: Office of the Provost’s TGIT from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Hawks Nest on the Kansas Union's first floor. RSVP at this link.
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Monday, Feb. 9: The Office of Civil Rights & Title IX invites you to the next installment of the Belonging @ KU series: “Strengthening Community through Kindness.” This keynote address will feature Dr. Ferial Pearson, an Associate Professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the founder of The Secret Kindness Agents Project. Find more information and the livestream at this link.
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Calls you don't want to miss |
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Monday, March 2: The Office of Faculty Affairs is accepting applications for Big 12 Faculty Fellowships through March 2. The Big 12 Faculty Fellowship Program offers all tenured and tenure-track faculty the opportunity to travel to Big 12 member institutions to exchange ideas and research. Faculty may work on collaborative projects, consult with faculty and students, offer a series of lectures or symposia, acquire new skills, or take advantage of a unique archive or laboratory facility. Visit our Big 12 Faculty Fellowship page to see recent examples of KU faculty fellowship experiences.
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Monday, March 2: The Office of Faculty Affairs is accepting nominations for Keeler Family Intra-University Professorships through March 2. The Keeler program provides one semester free of departmental responsibilities to enable faculty to engage in substantive exchange and interaction with faculty members in another discipline that will result in the development or expansion of ongoing interdisciplinary research and teaching collaboration.
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Monday, March 2: Faculty and academic staff of the University of Kansas are encouraged to submit applications for Sprints Week 2026, a five-day intensive collaboration with KU Libraries that enriches research and teaching projects and provides financial support - a $1,000 stipend - for selected participants. Applications are open now through March 2, with all applicants notified by the end of March.
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Monday, March 9: KU International Affairs is accepting proposals and applications for travel grants that support faculty research and collaboration abroad. Faculty travel grants will support international travel expenses for interdisciplinary, humanistic research projects, as well as academic collaborations in Asia and Latin America. Visit the KUIA travel grant website for more information.
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Lawrence Davidow, clinical assistant professor of pharmacy, has created a YouTube following, not only with students, but also with educators around the U.S. on his Pharmacy Skill Laboratory channel.
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Dates to be aware of and share with students
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Monday, Feb. 9: Last day to withdraw/drop without a “W”, last day to request a Petition to Late Enroll form (full semester classes)
- Monday, Feb. 16: Census Day (20th day of classes), last day to add/swap classes, last day to petition late enrollment, last day for 50% refund
- Tuesday, Feb. 17: Credit/No Credit option begins, 0% refund begins
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Sunday, March 1: Fall 2025 Diplomas available
- Monday, March 2: Credit/No Credit deadline
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All dates above apply to full semester courses. Some deadlines may exclude certain schools and colleges. See the entire Spring 2026 calendar on the Registrar’s website.
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Updates to Collaborator Modal
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Faculty can now more easily distinguish between their own author information and that of their collaborators when entering scholarship details in Activity Manager. The new categories — “Your Information” and “Other Collaborators Information” — provide a clearer way to define and organize authors.
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Faculty are invited to identify undergraduate research courses. Recognizing research courses helps support accreditation data and provide ongoing services for research-focused undergraduate efforts. Visit the Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships website for more information on giving your undergraduate course a research designation via Simple Syllabus.
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KU is among a select group of U.S. colleges and universities receiving the 2026 Carnegie Community Engagement Classification for demonstrating a commitment to partnership and collaboration with the larger community. Such efforts to coordinate the Carnegie Community Engagement classification are led by the Office of Community Impact.
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Last week, KU Information Technology announced that Microsoft Teams will become the sole enterprise-supported web-conference platform for virtual meetings, classes and webinars for the Lawrence and Edwards campuses. Effective June 1, KU IT will no longer provide enterprise licensing or provisioning for Zoom Pro or Zoom Webinar.
KU IT has created resources to help with the transition, which can be found on KU IT’s Zoom to Teams Transition webpage. This page will be updated with information throughout the spring to address common questions and concerns. Units interested in custom or group trainings for meetings on Teams can email training@ku.edu.
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The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression, and genetic information in the university’s programs and activities. Retaliation is also prohibited by university policy. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies and procedures and is the Title IX Coordinator for all KU and KUMC campuses: Associate Vice Chancellor for the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX, civilrights@ku.edu, Room 1082, Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045, 785-864-6414, 711 TTY. Reports can be submitted by contacting the Title IX Coordinator as provided herein or online and complaints can be submitted with the Title IX Coordinator or online.
© The University of Kansas. 2026.
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