Greetings faculty colleagues,

Through our partnerships with offices and faculty experts across campus, the Office of Faculty Affairs continues to develop initiatives around faculty development and growth. Our professional development opportunities are expanding to meet diverse needs throughout the faculty career cycle. On that note, we would like to remind you of the opportunity to participate directly in the planning and delivery of our programming, as we seek two or more faculty members to serve as Program Fellows. These positions will serve an initial term that begins January 1, 2025, and extends through May 2026. Learn more about the goals of this initiative, expectations, and time commitment at this link. Applications are due to Associate Vice Provost Mary Banwart by November 15, 2024. We are excited about the possibilities with the addition of Program Fellows this spring. 

While we work to continually grow our programming in the future, we already have an exciting lineup of opportunities slated for our early career faculty this spring. This fall we have focused our programming on developing mentoring capacities and skills, along with opening up access and providing introductions to resources across campus. In January we kick off our spring series with our first Early Career “Let’s Write” workshop, featuring insights from KU Libraries on writing strategies and the University Press of Kansas on publishing. Most importantly, we’ll create space for community and focused writing.  

Additionally, our New Faculty Spring Orientation is just around the corner, with registration now open. This day-long session will be held online for new faculty who may work outside of the Lawrence and Kansas City areas and also for those who may have missed Fall Orientation. If you know any new or incoming faculty, please encourage them to register! 

We also invite you to regularly check out our Faculty Development and Growth page to see what else is on the horizon this spring. Our “Faculty in Conversation” series will soon feature dates for Faculty Learning Circles, and we have added dates and a registration link for our spring Faculty Writing Circles. And don’t forget to mark your calendars for May 19-23, 2025, when we’ll host our second annual Faculty Development Academies week, partnering with experts around campus to focus on a variety of topics that include research, global engagement across the career, academic leadership development, mentoring, and writing. Registration will open in early spring for this professional development week. 

The Office of Faculty Affairs is in partnership with numerous campus partners and faculty not only in our programming, but all of what we do. We want to express our gratitude for the time, energy, and expertise we have the privilege of drawing from across our campus community. With “community” a core value of Faculty Affairs, we are fortunate that this value is reciprocated throughout and across KU.  

And in the spirit of community, please join us December 11 and 12 as we share our gratitude with all of you during our Faculty Finals Fest! During this come and go event, take time to relax, reset, and enjoy each other’s company before finals week. Check our “Upcoming Events” below for more details, and we hope to see you there! 

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

Nominations for university teaching awards of distinction, are now open. The nomination and selection process will be open until 5:00 p.m. on Monday, February 3, 2025. Departments and schools are encouraged to think broadly and inclusively when considering nominees. 

Please review the following opportunities and nominate: 

Do you engage in professional activities outside of the university? If so, be sure you know the KU and KBOR policies related to commitment of time and conflict of interest.   

To help clarify processes for engaging in and reporting on professional activities outside of KU, guidance on External Activity Requests has been added to our policy resources page. This resource outlines which external activities require completion of the External Activity Request Form, as outlined in the Policy on Commitment of Time and Conflict of Interest. Additionally, frequently asked questions can be found for both submitters and reviewers in this process.  

This fall, the Office of Faculty Affairs welcomed two new student members to the team. Join us in offering them a warm welcome.

Paushali Saha is a PhD student in the Education & Leadership Studies program and serves as a GRA in the Office of Faculty Affairs. Alongside Drs. Amy Mendenhall and Mary Banwart, she is researching best practices in new faculty orientation programming and faculty awards processes to elevate community and social services, in addition to teaching and research recognition.

Alyssa Cangelose is a senior in the William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications and serves as a Communications Specialist in the Office of Faculty Affairs. She assists the office in creating content for social media and events, updating our website, photographing events and contributing to larger communications-related projects.

Our New Faculty Foundations series offers valuable insights into current topics related to the faculty role and provides opportunities to connect with fellow new faculty members over refreshments. These events are open to all faculty within their first several years at KU.

Faculty Annual Evaluations: Capturing your First Semester and Setting Goals for What’s Ahead
Monday, Nov. 18 from 3-4:30 p.m.
Spencer Research Library, North Gallery
Join Vice Provost Mendenhall for a short reception and hors d'oeuvres following the program

Mentoring 101: Best Practices in Undergraduate Student Mentoring
Tuesday, Nov. 19 from 3:00-4:15 p.m.
Sabatini Multicultural Resource Center, Classroom
Join us for a panel discussion featuring award-winning faculty mentors.

"How to at KU": Supercharge your Canvas Course
Tuesday, Jan. 14 from 10:00-11:00 a.m.
Live training over Zoom

Please join us the week before finals to celebrate YOU! 

Dec. 11 & 12 from 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. (come and go)
145 Strong Hall

We appreciate all you do to make KU an amazing place to work and learn. Stop by for some self-care, refreshments, giveaways, and more!

Ready to launch your spring semester of writing? Join us on January 10th for a full day dedicated to all things writing. Snacks and lunch are on us, so you can focus on your writing!

Early Career Faculty Let's Write Workshop
Friday, Jan. 10 from 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. (registration - 8:30 a.m.)
Watson Library, 4th Floor, Graduate Student Study space

The COACHE Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey is a national survey administered by the Harvard Graduate School of Education that assesses faculty views on a wide range of aspects related to academic life at their institution. Last administered at KU in 2022, it will again be administered between February and April of 2025. We encourage your participation to inform the development of programs and policies that support faculty in building rewarding careers.   

Learn more about the 2025 survey, as well as changes informed by the 2022 survey results at this link. 

Provost Bichelmeyer invites KU faculty and staff to Thank Goodness It’s Thursday get-togethers throughout the academic year. TGIT events provide space to enjoy time with colleagues, make new connections and maybe even spark new collaborations. In addition, each event will highlight different services, initiatives and programs from across campus.

If you able, please RSVP and join us for TGIT at the Hawks Nest on the lower level of the Kansas Union from 4:00-6:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 14.

Free drinks and light snacks will be provided.

International Affairs invites you to a special presentation by Melinda Lewis, the 2024 recipient of the International Affairs Advisory Board International Teaching Award. In her talk, she will share how her social work career has prepared her to lead the longstanding international alliance between the KU School of Social Welfare and the University of Costa Rica’s Social Work department, as well as alignments between her domestic and international teaching, the critical importance of a global perspective in social work practice, and how innovations and continued investments in comprehensive internationalization can make a difference for students, faculty, and community partners—around the world. 

Please consider joining us in person for this event which takes place Friday, November 22 from 3:00-4:30 p.m. If you would like to join us via Zoom, please register for the Zoom webinar and see the KU Event Calendar for up to date information.

Faculty Well-being

On many campuses, the mental health and well-being of students is a top priority - but what about faculty and staff? NCFDD will soon be offering a two-part online course to examine faculty and staff well-being and learn about the characteristics and consequences of burnout through the lenses of purpose, compassion, connection, and balance for strategies to directly address faculty well-being. The first session begins November 15, and you may sign up at this link! 

As a reminder, KU is an institutional member of NCFDD, which ensures all KU academic faculty and staff can register for an NCFDD membership at no additional cost. To join the NCFDD community, be sure to sign up here.   

International Faculty Awards

KU International Affairs has extended the nomination deadline for two competitive awards that recognize faculty who engage in internationalization across campus.

Visit the International Affairs website for more information and criteria. Nominations and supporting materials should be submitted via email to whitneydenning@ku.edu no later than midnight on November 13.

Celebration of Books

Did you publish a scholarly or creative work between January and December 2024? If so, the Hall Center would like to recognize your work in our Celebration of Books.

This annual event celebrates the books published by KU faculty in the humanities, arts, and social sciences. This celebration will take place in spring 2025 and will feature a reception and a brief program with a selection of faculty authors discussing their work. The 2025 event, which is open to all, will be scheduled soon.

Submissions for inclusion in the next Celebration of Books are due no later than Friday, December 13, 2024 (Stop Day), to ensure that you title is included in the Humanities for All publication, however, submissions for the program itself will be accepted up to March 1, 2025.

Please submit your titles, along with the names of any additional authors or editors, date of publication, and publisher, to the Hall Center via the Celebration of Books - Submissions Form. Contact hchcom@ku.edu with any questions.

University Scholarly Achievement Award

Each year, the University of Kansas recognizes up to four mid-career faculty members as recipients of a University Scholarly Achievement Award. 

This $10,000 award recognizes a significant scholarly or research contribution, creative work or a series of closely related contributions. This award covers all fields of scholarship, including but not limited to arts, humanities, architecture and design, music, mathematics, natural sciences, engineering, medicine, clinical science, pharmacy, social sciences, social welfare, education, journalism, law, libraries and business.

The Office of the Chancellor is now accepting nominations for the 2025 awards. The deadline for submission of nominations is December 15, 2024. Nominations can be sent to chancellorawards@ku.edu with “Scholarly Achievement Award” in the subject line. 

University Distinguished Professorship Call for Nominations

The Provost invites nominations of candidates for up to two university distinguished professorships. These professorships are unrestricted and may be filled by a distinguished scholar in any field, although special consideration will be given to nominations of faculty from groups, fields, or disciplines that have limited representation among the individuals currently holding named or university distinguished professorships. Departments and schools are encouraged to think broadly and inclusively when considering nominees. A list of the current distinguished professors can be found at this link.

Read the call in its entirety at this link and find additional information on the nomination process on our Distinguished Professorships website.

The nomination process will remain open until Friday, February 21, 2025, at 5:00 p.m.

Associate Professor of Industrial Design, Thomas (Tom) Huang, was recently named interim executive director of the Lawrence Arts Center - congratulations!

Read the Lawrence Times announcement.

Did you know wellness.ku.edu has a repository of searchable wellness resources for on and off campus? 

Take care this fall and see what resources are available to you at this link. 

In concert with the entire Lawrence and Edwards campuses, the KU Office of Research will be closed over winter break as outlined below. In order to be proactive in meeting the research community’s needs, KUOR has established deadlines that will help ensure they are providing necessary services while allowing staff to use the winter break leave they have earned. 

All proposal documents with deadlines between Dec. 25 and Jan. 2 must be to Pre-Award Services by Tuesday, Dec. 17 to provide sufficient time for proposals to be submitted by Dec. 24. KUOR requests 2 – 3 weeks for proposal preparation and 5 days for proposal review, so please let them know if you’re aware of an early January proposal deadline. Please reach out to your Office of Research contact as soon as possible for other general questions regarding December or early January business.

The Center for Teaching Excellence has created a new, limited-series podcast that explores strategies for creating inclusive, respectful and productive discussions in the classroom.

Listen to the podcast and find other crucial conversation resources at this link.

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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.