Greetings faculty colleagues,

At the Office of Faculty Affairs, recognizing faculty excellence is one of our major initiatives and one of the most rewarding aspects of our role. We're continuously working to refine our processes and strengthen collaborations across campus to underscore the significance of faculty recognition. One of our favorite events of the year, the University Teaching Awards, recently celebrated the outstanding instructors of 2024. We take great pride in managing the nomination process for these awards and in sharing the excitement of seeing deserving colleagues honored. If you weren't able to attend the event, you can still enjoy the celebration! The videos of the awardees are now available on KU Marketing’s YouTube channel. And as we look ahead, nominations for next year’s University Teaching Awards are now open and will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Monday, February 3, 2025. We encourage you to nominate a colleague who embodies excellence in teaching. For more details about the awards and the nomination process, please visit this link. 

On a similar note, the call for University Distinguished Professorships is also open, with a deadline of 5 p.m. on Friday, February 21, 2025. 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. You can read the full call at this link and find further information on the nomination process on our Distinguished Professorships page. 

As we approach the end of the semester, we want to take a moment to celebrate you and all the contributions you make to your students, colleagues, and the broader academic community. In the spirit of our core value of "care," we encourage you to prioritize self-care this month. One great way to unwind is by joining us for Faculty Finals Fest on December 11 and 12. This year we’re offering more than just refreshments and giveaways — chair massages will also be available on Wednesday, December 11! Be sure to sign up soon at this link for your chair massage, as spots are limited. We hope to see you there as we show our appreciation for everything you do throughout the year. 

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

As fall shifts to winter, we want to remind you about the University’s inclement weather and procedures policy. This policy outlines when and how a campus location may open late, close early, or close entirely due to inclement weather. This policy also outlines course closures, curtailing other operations, and exceptions. 

Concerned about weather and want to know KU’s decision as soon as possible? Be sure to sign up for campus text alerts! Instructions on how to subscribe to campus notifications can be found on the alerts.ku.edu website.  

The HLC Site Visit is coming up this spring and takes place on March 3-4, 2025. During the visit, the review team will ask KU administrators to pull previous and current syllabi in each modality (online; face-to-face) to assess the degree to which KU adheres to these standards and assumed practices.  It is critical that all syllabi are uploaded to the repository by the 10th day of class (Monday, February 3, 2025) and that they comply with components outlined in KU’s Syllabus Policy. 

One way in which you can create a streamlined process is by creating your syllabi within Simple Syllabus. The internal audit of Fall 2024 syllabi found that syllabi created in Simple Syllabus were 97% to 100% policy compliant. CTE offers syllabus resources that are also available as you plan for the spring semester.  

Through the partnership of the Office of Faculty Affairs, AIRE, and CTE, a Student Survey of Teaching (SST) taskforce launched this fall with faculty representation from across the university. The task force's charge is to complete a comprehensive review of all aspects of the current University Student Survey of Teaching, including questions, response options/scales, process and modality of administration, reporting for instructors and unit leaders, and student experience and response rates. Informed by user feedback, research, best practices for teaching assessment, and system/platform capabilities, the task force is charged with presenting a report that outlines recommendations for improving the SST and with designing an instrument that is user friendly for students, meets the needs for units across the university, and provides data that can be confidently incorporated into assessments of teaching. The task force will work throughout the academic year and submit the recommendation report to the Provost by March 1, 2025. 

For more information on SST and resources, visit AIRE’s Student Surveys of Teaching page and CTE's Using Student Feedback page.

Taskforce members include:

This fall, a cross-disciplinary group of faculty is working to provide feedback on KU’s Faculty Insight, our faculty activity management system. This initiative is essential to developing a more effective tool that supports faculty evaluative and recognition processes. Faculty members involved in this process are committed to attending a training session, updating their own Faculty Insight profile, participating in feedback sessions with AIRE, Faculty Affairs, and other user testers, and providing detailed, constructive feedback via an individual survey from October 2024 to March 2025. 

Upon project completion, a synthesized report will be created and submitted to Faculty Insight’s developer, Academic Analytics, to further enhance the tool. Learn more about Faculty Insight, KU’s faculty activity management tool, at this link. 

FI User Testing Group:

Please join us the week before finals to celebrate YOU! 

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!

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

Wednesday, Dec. 11: Enjoy a free 10-minute chair massage on Wednesday, December 11th. Limited spots available. First come, first serve. Reserve your spot now! 

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, Room 410 (Graduate Student Study Lounge)

The Office of Faculty Affairs invites all Early Career Faculty to join us for our spring "how to" session - Supercharge your Canvas Course. This training is remote, so you can join from anywhere!

Familiar with Canvas, but looking for tips and tricks to elevate your course this spring? Join us in learning how to supercharge your Canvas course, so you and your students can get the most out of your course!

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

Wishing for focused time to jump-start your writing for the semester? Or, perhaps eager to add committed time on your schedule to finish a project? Join colleagues in a supportive space for concentration and focus as we write this spring! Bring any writing project you would like, a laptop, and a charger - we'll provide the snacks.

Spring 2025 Faculty Writing Circles

Watson Library, 4th Floor, Room 410 (Graduate Student Study Lounge)

The Chancellor's Annual Holiday Celebration takes place on Thursday, December 12, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. at the Kansas Union Ballroom. Music will be provided by the School of Music’s Intergenerational Choir, and door prizes will be awarded. If you are driving to the event, please park in the Mississippi Street Garage at 1261 Oread Ave.

Join CTE for the 10th annual Student Learning Symposium on Friday, January 31, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Get ready to explore the exciting connection between assessment and community. Learn more and register at this link. 

Crunch Time Tips

As December begins, our fall semester winds down. And we know that the days feel shorter and time moves oh so much more quickly. NCFDD has a list of 10 reminders for this time of year that we often call “crunch time”. We think these are worth a quick read (we promise it is quick!). From clearly communicating to others that it is crunch time (Tip #1) to making sure every day has a plan (Tip #5), we encourage you to take a quick look to see what strategies you may adopt to help smooth out the final stretch of the semester. (P.S. And, we highly recommend our favorite, Tip #10: End Every Day with Gratitude and a Treat!)  

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.   

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 Teaching Awards

Nominations for university teaching awards 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: 

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 and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Religious Studies department, Samuel Brody is also taking on the role of Faculty Senate President for the current academic year. 

Learn more about Faculty Senate and University Governance at this link.

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