Greetings faculty colleagues,

With a commitment to our values of care, community, and equity, the Office of Faculty Affairs strives to serve faculty throughout their entire career. A key element in centering these values is feedback, from you!  

To ensure our initiatives, programming and processes are responsive and effective, the Office of Faculty Affairs is intentionally building opportunities for reflection and feedback into our work. In the committees that we convene and facilitate (e.g. University Committee on Promotion and Tenure, Sabbatical), we hold space for debriefing at the end of the work to reflect on how the committee’s experiences and insights can be used to inform and improve relevant policies and procedures.  

Additionally, I have made it a priority this spring to meet with the deans of every academic unit, a practice I plan on continuing once a semester. These meetings allow time to check in and identify reoccurring topics that may need to be addressed with university level action or unit-specific ideas that call for support or elevation. One of the main themes from the conversations this spring was a need for a university level review of the student survey of teaching to assess its current functionality for instructors and units, and so this will be a priority that Faculty Affairs will gather partners around to address in the next semester.          

Our office is also implementing targeted focus groups to help plan out some of our objectives for the next academic year. Provost Fellow Meagan Patterson and I are facilitating groups around unit needs and best practices related to annual faculty evaluation, which will inform the development of templates and resources. Additionally, Associate Vice Provost Mary Banwart is scheduling new faculty sessions to hear their feedback and suggestions as we expand our new faculty programming to two years.  

Stay tuned for our end of year survey next month, when we ask more broadly for feedback from all faculty on our responsibilities of faculty advancement & recognition, faculty development & growth, and faculty relations & policy in our end of the year survey. We will use this feedback to further inform the upcoming academic year processes and activities. 

However, please know that we welcome feedback all the time, not just through the modalities described above! Please reach out and let us know if you have feedback or suggestions of how we can best serve KU faculty.

Amy Mendenhall 
Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs  
Professor, School of Social Welfare

Do you do consulting work outside of KU? Do you receive compensation from sources other than KU? Do you have ownership or financial interests in an external entity? If you answered yes to any of these questions than you should take time to review the recently revised Commitment of Time, Conflict of Interest, Consulting, and Other Employment | Policy Library (ku.edu) policy. The purposes of this policy are to: (i) educate about situations that generate conflicts; (ii) provide means for faculty and unclassified staff and the university to manage real or apparent conflicts; (iii) promote best interests of students and others whose work depends on faculty direction; and (iv) describe situations that are prohibited. The revised policy clarifies the reporting requirements of the Kansas Board of Regents policy, particularly in the area of time commitment, and incorporates exclusions for reporting certain activities (e.g., service to profession/discipline). 

April 9
2 - 3 p.m.
Kansas Memorial Union, Divine Nine Room

This workshop will feature recently new and experienced faculty discussing time management best practices and how to plan for a productive summer.

KU Faculty Development Academies are day-long intensives, focused on a particular topic, giving faculty time to delve deep and develop a core capacity in a chosen area. Participants are welcome to register for as many dates as they'd like. More details about each day can be found on our website.

Creating Public Impact with Your Research
May 13 from 9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Global Engagement
May 14 from 9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Academic Leadership
May 15 from 9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Graduate Student Mentorship
May 16 from 9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

Writing to Publish
May 17 from 9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.

All Academies days will take place in the Jayhawk Room at the Kansas Memorial Union, with the exception of May 17, which will take place in the 1502 Building conference room and pod spaces. 

Breakfast, lunch and snacks provided for each day. Please register by Monday, May 6.

Follow us on our social media as we release more details of each Academies day throughout the next few weeks!

April 3 (today!)
5:30 p.m.
Kansas Memorial Union, Malott Room

The Office of Faculty Affairs invites you to, “Wouldn’t it be great if … Systematic Screening in Comprehensive, Integrated, Three-tiered (Ci3T) Models of Prevention,” presented by Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of Special Education, Dr. Kathleen Lynne Lane.

Dr. Lane will provide a look back at the journey of this inquiry, sharing work in progress to meet students’ multiple needs efficiently and effectively, while supporting educator’s well-being.  

The Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) invites you to join your colleagues for Rapport. This series supports campus recruitment and retention efforts by opening opportunities for faculty, staff, and affiliates to network and share opportunities for research, professional development, and social engagement. The next Rapport event takes place April 4 from 3:30 - 5:30 p.m. at The Pub in the Jayhawk Welcome Center.

RSVP for upcoming April 4 event.

This year we are “Taking Time” to engage with KU’s faculty, staff and affiliates. April’s theme is Take Time to Celebrate – we’re close to the end of the academic year, let’s celebrate! Cheers to a successful year and everything it took to get us here.

The next TGIT event takes place April 11 from 4-6 p.m. at the Pub in the Jayhawk Welcome Center and will include light snacks, a cash bar, giveaways, and networking. Please register if you would like to attend.

On April 11, join the KU community at the annual University Research Awards ceremony to celebrate outstanding achievements and contributions in research. Honorees will include the most recent recipients of the following awards: Chancellor's Club Research Award, Higuchi-KU Endowment Research Achievement Awards, KU Research Staff & Postdoctoral Achievement Awards, Stephen F. Warren Research Achievement Award and University Scholarly Achievement Awards

All members of the KU community are invited to attend the event, which starts at 7 p.m. at the Jayhawk Welcome Center. Preview the honorees and RSVP on the event page.

The Office of Research, the Bremner Editing Center in the KU School of Journalism and Alix Norris with Tn Consulting LLC is providing a Competitive Subsidiary Documents workshop on Wednesday, April 17 at 10 a.m. This workshop will provide strategies for preparing successful applications for NIH funding. 

Register for this workshop on Zoom.

Take your research and teaching abroad through the Fulbright US Scholar program! Opportunities are available in a variety of disciplines in countries around the world. To learn more, join staff from KU International Affairs and the Institute for International Education for an information and Q&A session.

The info session takes place Monday, April 22 from 11:15-12:15 p.m. in Strong 307 (Institute for International & Global Engagement conference room). Dr. Julie Taylor from IIE and Dr. Rachel Sherman Johnson from KUIA will give a program overview, offer application tips, and highlight key award opportunities. 

The Provost’s Office will hold its annual open meeting via ZOOM on Wednesday, April 24, at 3:00 p.m. for all interested faculty members to discuss preparation and review of Sabbatical Leave applications.

Please submit sabbatical questions in advance via this link. We will also be taking questions during the event, but submitting them in advance will help determine the focus topics. All questions are welcome and encouraged. If you cannot attend the virtual open meeting, a recording will be available for review afterwards.

Faculty members interested in applying for sabbatical leave should consult the policies and procedures concerning sabbatical leaves and attend the Open Meeting.

ZOOM Meeting Information:
https://kansas.zoom.us/j/96924528832
Meeting ID: 969 2452 8832
Passcode: 730657

The Provost’s Office will hold its annual open meeting via ZOOM on Tuesday, April 30, at 3:00 p.m. for departmental and school promotion and tenure committee members, chairpersons, deans, and all interested faculty members, to discuss procedures to be followed in the preparation and review of recommendations for promotion and tenure. Members of the University Committee on Promotion and Tenure will be available to answer questions.

Please submit promotion and/or tenure questions in advance via this link. We will also be taking questions during the event, but submitting them in advance will help determine the focus topics. All questions are welcome and encouraged. If you cannot attend the virtual open meeting, a recording will be available for review afterwards, as well.

Guidelines for completing promotion and tenure materials, and the forms that are submitted, will be updated and posted on the Office of Faculty Affairs Promotion and Tenure webpage, so that they can be reviewed prior to the meeting.

ZOOM Meeting Information:
https://kansas.zoom.us/j/92039514000  
Meeting ID: 920 3951 4000
Passcode: 049749

Although it is April and you may be busy with grades, conferences, and the hustle and bustle that comes with late spring, there is still time to focus on that writing project you hoped to make progress on this semester. It is never too late, and we have just the motivation you need! Check out NCFDD’s 14-day writing challenge to help you focus and develop those key habits that will help you reinvigorate your writing practice. Click on the link below to sign up today! 

NCFDD 14-day writing challenge 

And just a reminder, your KU faculty membership in NCFDD is free to you! KU holds an NCFDD institutional membership as part of our commitment to helping foster faculty success and provide programming that meets you where you are when you need it most. KU’s institutional membership is jointly sponsored by the Office of Faculty Affairs and the Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. 

Christopher Haufler KU Core Innovation Award

Nominations are now open for the 2024 Christopher Haufler KU Core Innovation Award. This award  honors the creative and forward-thinking work of academic departments in developing or transforming outstanding core courses, assessing the KU Core learning outcomes, and disseminating the assessment as models of excellent teaching and learning. The winning department receives $3,000 that may be used to advance their work on teaching, learning, and assessment. 

Find more details about the nomination process, selection criteria, and examples from previous winners here. Nomination materials or questions about the Haufler Award can be sent to kucore@ku.edu. All nominations must be submitted by 5:00pm on April 8, 2024.

Fulbright US-UK Global Challenges Teaching Awards

Applications are now open for the Fulbright US-UK Global Challenges Teaching Awards (GCTA), supported by AAC&U in partnership with the US-UK Fulbright Commission. The awards tackle four specific global challenges – Racial Justice, Inequality, Climate Change, Polarization, and Division – facilitating engagement between students and faculty from around the world (in this case, the US and the United Kingdom). If you are interested or if you have questions about Collaborative Online International Learning, curricular internationalization, or the application process, contact Megan Greene (mgreene@ku.edu), Provost Fellow for Internationalization.

CTE Faculty Fellows

The Center for Teaching Excellence seeks one or more faculty members to serve two-year terms as a Faculty Fellow. A Fellow’s responsibilities are based on the faculty member’s background, interests, and experiences, as well as CTE’s specific needs.

CTE is interested in applicants who can help develop CTE's work in one or more core areas, such as inclusive pedagogies, documenting and evaluating teaching, using assessment and data analytics to improve education, curriculum design and innovation, and interdisciplinary teaching.

For more information on requirements, qualifications, and application process, please contact CTE’s director Andrea Follmer at dea@ku.edu. 

Research-Intensive Course Mini-Grants

KU’s Center for Undergraduate Research is now taking applications for Research-Intensive Course Mini-Grants to support faculty interested in incorporating larger research and creative projects into their undergraduate classes.   

Recipients of Research-Intensive Course Mini-Grants will: 

The complete application questions are viewable via the application link. Please visit the Undergraduate Research website to learn more. Recipients will attend a 1-hour workshop over Zoom at the beginning of August before the fall semester starts (exact date and time TBA). If you have questions or would like to discuss possibilities regarding the grant for your course, please reach out to us at cur@ku.edu. 

The Office of Faculty Affairs congratulates Dr. Kelsie Forbush (Psychology and LifeSpan Institute) on her recent Racial Equity Research, Scholarship & Creative Activity Award! This award, organized through the KU Office of Research, supports researchers as they apply their expertise in pursuit of attaining racial equity.

Forbush will partner with Uzazi Village, a nonprofit organization in Kansas City, to develop a racially inclusive perinatal eating disorder screen to help prevent eating disorders from slipping through the cracks.

See all of the 2023 KU Racial Equity Research, Scholarship & Creative Activity Awardees.

Effective May 1, principal investigators on all new proposals for sponsored activity that involves fieldwork will be strongly encouraged to create a Safe & Inclusive Fieldwork Plan using the KU SAIF Checklist as a template or guide. Although KU investigators will only be prompted to create a SAIF plan when submitting new proposals in Streamlyne, research teams for existing awards involving fieldwork are also strongly encouraged to develop and implement plans. 

The launch of KU Office of Research's Safe & Inclusive Fieldwork (SAIF) web portal includes resources to help you envision, plan and maintain safe and inclusive research environments, particularly for off-campus or off-site work and aligns with emerging national research requirements as well as the Jayhawks Rising priority to build and support healthy and vibrant communities.

Please encourage your first-year and senior students to complete the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) by April 10. The NSSE results provide KU with vital information that shape changes to policies and practices to support the success of all students. Eligible students have received emails directly from NSSE, and a link is also available on their Canvas dashboards. 

Over the next six months, Academic Analytics will update Faculty Insight, our faculty activity management system, to improve the user experience. These changes will make it easier to enter, manage, and share your activities in the tool. As we get closer to the release, AIRE will provide more information on the new features as well as updated training materials.

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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 persons have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies and are the Title IX coordinators for their respective 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 (for the Lawrence, Edwards, Parsons, Yoder, and Topeka campuses); Director, Equal Opportunity Office, Mail Stop 7004, 4330 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Fairway, KS 66205, 913-588-8011, 711 TTY (for the Wichita, Salina, and Kansas City, Kansas medical center campuses).

The University of Kansas is a public institution governed by the Kansas Board of Regents.