Greetings faculty colleagues,

It’s hard to believe, but we are nearing the halfway point in the spring semester. And with spring annual review processes occurring for faculty, you are likely already thinking about what you have achieved this year and what you hope next year looks like. As you reflect on your achievements over the past year, we encourage you to not only consider your accomplishments in research, teaching, and service, but also areas in which you would like to grow. What are your upcoming goals and how might you attain them? Faculty Affairs has developed annual evaluation tools and guidance, which can be used in combination with your unit policies and procedures, to help you consider your successes and challenges more broadly on our Faculty Evaluations page (see Evaluation Resources), so you can reflect and also look ahead. 

As you begin to plan out your goals for the next year, we encourage you to block out time and reserve the space now for your own professional development during KU’s Faculty Professional Development Week. During the week after finals (May 19-23), units across KU will offer engaging opportunities for you to grow in your professional goals. Complete a component or entire project with KU Libraries during Sprints Week, refresh and reimagine your courses during the Course Design Institute with the Center for Teaching Excellence, or explore innovative ways to bring career-based components into your classroom with the University Career Center during the Career Partners Summer Institute. The Office of Faculty Affairs will also host our annual KU Faculty Development Academies week, where you can take a deep dive into topics such as international engagement, research and innovation, academic leadership and graduate student mentoring. Explore all these opportunities on our KU Faculty Professional Development Week website and throughout this newsletter.  

We know you impact KU and our extended community in big ways, and we appreciate the expertise and determination you bring to your role. As we close in on the midway point in this semester, we hope you are able to take a moment to recharge over spring break. 

With gratitude, 

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

Associate Deans, Chairs and Directors met to engage with campus leaders and each other on Feb. 7 for our semi-annual ADCD Essentials Workshop. See more photos from the workshop on our Instagram feed.

Interruption of the probationary period, sometimes referred to as stopping the tenure clock, may occur for a variety of reasons, including birth, adoption, or foster placement of a child, family or medical leave, or other extenuating circumstances. Each interruption of the probationary period may extend the time to mandatory tenure review for a period of up to one year, with a maximum of two extensions per faculty member. In addition, all faculty members who were in a probationary period or hired in 2020 also receive a one-year extension based on disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic (see Guidance on COVID-19 Disruptions to Faculty Evaluations). More information about the interruption of tenure clock policy is available at this link. 

Join the KU Alumni Association and the Office of the Chancellor for TGIT on March 6. The TGIT event series offers faculty and staff the chance to unwind, connect, and celebrate our Jayhawk community. This year’s theme is “Cultivating Community & Collaboration,” focusing on opportunities that bring us together and recognizing the impactful partnerships that extend beyond KU’s campus.

Drinks, snacks and giveaways will be included, and attendees are encouraged to register in advance at this link.

Red Hot Research brings together scholars from all disciplines, to reveal overlaps and connections across areas of interesting and methodological approaches. Each installment features researchers, speaking for six minutes each. Audience members are encouraged to connect with the speakers (and each other) during breaks. These sessions offer a venue for cross-disciplinary partnering and exploration at KU.

This upcoming Red Hot Research event takes place on Friday, March 6 from 4:00-5:30 p.m. at Watson Library, 3 West and will feature Oleksandra Wallo (Slavic, German, and Eurasian Studies), Marisa Plasencia (Dance), Tiffany González (History), Amal El Haimeur (African and African-American Studies) and Claire Willey-Sthapit (Social Welfare).

In recognition of her exceptional contributions to the internationalization of research and education at the University of Kansas, Terry Koenig, professor of social welfare, will receive this year’s KU International Affairs Advisory Board International Research Award.

Dr. Koenig will accept the award and give a talk on her research on March 11 from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m., in the Kansas Union, Big 12 Room. Please join the presentation on ‘The Long Road Out of Africa: Inclusion and Identity in Como, Italy’. A reception immediately follows.

If you are unable to join us in person, please consider registering for the event webinar.

The KU community is invited to attend a talk by Sudip Parikh, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and executive publisher of the Science family of journals, who will visit KU on Wednesday, March 26 at 10 a.m. in the Burge Union. Parikh will share the science and technology goals identified by the Vision for American Science & Technology Task Force, which he chairs. 

RSVP at this link.

Mark your calendars to attend the 2025 KU Employee Wellness Fair! This event will highlight over 50 internal and external services, providers, programs, and opportunities in all areas of personal wellness (e.g., physical and mental health and wellbeing, financial, social, etc.). It is also an opportunity to network and socialize with your colleagues, enjoy live music, free chair massages, catered food, and dozens of prizes and giveaways.

This year's Faculty Development Academies week takes place May 19-23 and the Office of Faculty Affairs invites you to join us! 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. Days will focus on international partnerships, graduate student mentorship, academic leadership, research, and writing. Join for as many days as you'd like!

More information and registration is now open at this link.

It’s time for a mid-semester check in – and this is a perfect opportunity to pause to reflect on your accomplishments thus far and to revisit your goals for the remainder of the semester ahead. You might ask yourself a series of questions, such as: “What were my goals for the semester, and what progress have I made on each one?” “What feels like a barrier to progress on my current goals?” “What has helped me make the kind of progress I had hoped for (e.g., calendar time-blocking, daily ‘next actions list’ to ensure I am focused, weekly review and planning for the week ahead)?” If you would like some additional tips and advice for making the most of the remainder of the semester, you are not alone! In a recent Monday Motivator, NCFDD identified challenges to staying on track, identified possibilities for what might hold us back, and offered suggestions for making an impact with the time you have left this semester. Be sure to log on to NCFDD’s website to learn more! 

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.   

New faculty members are invited to apply for funding to help build a sustainable research program at KU. The NFRD Award deadline has been extended to Friday, March 14 and foreign travel is now allowable with this award.

You may be eligible for up to $10,000 in New Faculty Research Development (NFRD) Award funding during your first 2 years as a tenure-track faculty or unclassified academic staff member on the Lawrence or Edwards campus. 

Learn more and submit a proposal at this link.

Applications are now being accepted for the Keeler Family Intra-University Professorships, a faculty development program for tenured faculty at mid-career. The purpose of the program is to increase collaboration and synergy across disciplines. Please visit the Keeler Professorship site for all necessary details.

Applications are now being accepted for the Big XII Faculty Fellowship, a faculty development program for tenured and tenure-track faculty. The Big 12 Faculty Fellowship Program offers 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. Please visit the Big XII site for all necessary details.

Applications for both recognitions are due by Monday, March 24, 2025, 5 p.m. Applicants, units/departments, and dean/vice chancellor offices must use the online submission form to submit an application.

Join an interdisciplinary community of faculty who are looking for innovative ways to bring career into the classroom! This 15-hour program will introduce career readiness concepts, explore exemplary practices for integrating career into the classroom, and redesign a key assignment for the upcoming semester. The program takes place May 20-22 with periodic check-ins throughout the summer and a showcase in August. 

Learn more about the Career Partners Summer Institute and apply at this link.

If you would like to be part of a collegial, hands-on program for instructors who want to develop engaging and effective courses, CDI is for you. By the end of CDI, you will have a plan for designing or refining a course you will teach next academic year, as well as a way to document results of your teaching project. CDI is one of CTE’s highest-rated programs. CDI takes place May 20-22.

Learn more about the Course Design Institute and apply at this link.

Nominations for the Office of Faculty Affairs Senior Administrative Fellows Program are now open for the 2025-26 academic year. Senior Administrative Fellows have the opportunity to meet face-to-face and learn from those with administrative roles at KU, develop their personal leadership skills and understanding, and engage with challenges that leaders face in academia. 

The deadline to apply for next year's Senior Administrative Fellows program is April 7, 2025. Please consider applying if you are ready to take the next step in your leadership development at KU. 

More information on the program, application process, and time commitment can be found on our Senior Administrative Fellows page.  

Elise Kirk, Associate Professor of Photography, has work featured in a new exhibit: Strange and Familiar Places, at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City! The exhibit tells stories of people, places and communities to emphasize humanity and runs from February to the end of July 2025.

All dates above apply to full semester courses. Some deadlines may exclude certain schools and colleges. See the entire Spring 2025, Summer 2025 and Fall 2025 calendars on the Registrar’s website.  

Student Surveys of Teaching 2025 Spring Reminders

Below are a few reminders regarding Student Surveys of Teaching for Spring 2025:

Please see AIRE's resource page for additional information at this link.

Panorama for Course Materials

KU IT Education Technology is please to announce the implementation of Panorama, a tool to help you improve the accessibility of your course materials. Panorama replaced Ally as the default Accessibility report tool in your Canvas courses on Feb. 7.

With the upcoming rule changes for Title II of the ADA, now is the time to start reviewing current courses and fixing accessibility errors if you haven’t already been doing so. Panorama will help with these efforts by:

You can get started with this tool here: Panorama for Online Courses. Also, please watch for future training sessions related to this topic provided by IT. Feel free to reach out to the IT Educational Technology team if you have questions at itedtech@ku.edu. 

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