Getting the Mentoring You Need
October 1, 2019, 11:30-1:00pm, Integrative Learning Center, N400
With Joya Misra, UMass Amherst
While some faculty members have formal or informal mentors in their departments – others do not. Even with faculty mentors, many faculty members do not receive the mentoring, feedback, and advice they need. Asking for mentoring can feel difficult, if not impossible. This workshop explores how to solve these problems, get the mentoring you need, and give you more power to negotiate for the career you want to have.
Decision-Making Strategies that Work (With LEAD+)
October 25, 2019, 12:30 – 2:00pm, Integrative Learning Center, N400
James Allan, Itai Sher and Eve Weinbaum, UMass Amherst
Departments are in the business of making many decisions each year, around varied questions such as faculty recruitment, graduate admissions, curricular changes, and space allocation. Many departments have been using the same decision-making strategies for decades, even if they are not effective. When decisions are made in ways that faculty members see as fair and inclusive – department cultures improve. This session provides pointers on how to ensure that different voices are heard in decision-making through consensus-building, as well effective voting models.
Leading for Change: Useful Lessons from Theory, Research, and Practice
November 1, 2019, 12:30 – 2:00pm, Integrative Learning Center, N400
With Ann Austin, Michigan State University, and Mary Deane Sorcinelli, AAU and UMass Amherst
Department chairs, faculty leaders, deans, and others in leadership roles often want to advance change goals related to organizational culture, strategies for recruiting and retaining colleagues, or other important issues. But change can be very hard—especially if it requires people to think or work differently or relinquish well-established habits or processes. This interactive workshop will address how to foster and accomplish major change in higher education, giving you tools that allow you to effectively lead for change.
Making Your Vote Count in Departmental Decision-Making
November 8, 2019, 12:30 – 2:00pm, W. E. B. Du Bois Library, Room 2601
With James Allan, Itai Sher and Eve Weinbaum, UMass Amherst
Departments make many decisions each year, around questions as varied as faculty recruitment, graduate admissions, curricular changes, and space allocation. What are the best ways to make decisions collectively? This session provides pointers on how to ensure that different voices are heard in decision-making through consensus-building strategies, as well as models of voting that can lead to better outcomes.
Building Your Mentoring Networks: Make Every Connection Count
December 12, 2019, 12:30 -2:00pm, Integrative Learning Center, N400
With Mary Deane Sorcinelli, AAU and UMass Amherst
Mentoring matters. In this interactive session, you will identify your professional goals, strengths, and skills that you want to develop; explore mentoring as a medium for helping you meet those goals; “map” your own mentoring networks—what they are and could be, drawing on a range of examples; and discuss best practices for seeking, developing, and cultivating a network of mentors.
Faculty Mentoring: Best Practices (With LEAD+)
January 24, 2020, 12:30 – 2:00pm, Integrative Learning Center, N400
Russel Tessier, Jennifer Lundquist and Nilanjana (Buju) Dasgupta, UMass Amherst
Faculty mentoring has evolved in a variety of ways – with mutual mentoring and team mentoring models gaining ground. This workshop introduces a variety of approaches to building effective mentoring programs and encourages Chairs and Heads to consider new approaches to ensuring that all faculty members in their departments receive the mentoring they need.
Building Equitable Collaboration Networks
February 3, 2020, 12:30-2:00pm, Life Sciences Lab, S330-340
With Julia Melkers, Georgia Tech
While scientists conduct their work in collaborative teams both, locally, nationally, and globally, participation in teams is not necessarily diverse. In some disciplines where women and people of color are severely underrepresented, opportunities to collaboratively engage may experience additional challenges. This workshop builds on existing empirical work to address how academic faculty can more deliberately construct and meaningfully collaborate in ways that are more inclusive and equitable.
Faculty Mentoring: Best Practices
February 7, 2020, 12:30-2:00pm, Life Sciences Lab, S330
With Russell Tessier, Jennifer Lundquist and Nilanjana (Buju) Dasgupta, UMass Amherst
Faculty mentoring has evolved in a variety of ways – with mutual mentoring and team mentoring models gaining ground. This workshop introduces a variety of approaches to effective faculty mentoring programs, providing clear models that can be adopted to different departments and colleges on campus.
The Art of Collaboration (With Office of Faculty and Development)
February 14, 2020, 9:00 – 11:00am, Life Sciences Lab, S330
With Jennifer Normanly, UMass Amherst
Scholarly work and research have become increasingly collaborative. Effective teamwork and collaboration are essential for projects to succeed. In this workshop a panel of faculty members who have successfully engaged in collaborative research discuss various mechanisms for working in effective collaborative teams.
Equity-Minded Faculty Workload Reform
February 27, 2020, 8:45am-10:30am (Part 1) and 10:45am-12:15pm (Part 2), Campus Center, Amherst Room (10th Floor)
With Joya Misra, UMass Amherst and KerryAnn O'Meara, University of Maryland College Park
This is a two-part workshop. You may register for Part 1, Part 2, or both (recommended).
Many faculty members report feeling that workload in their department is unfairly distributed; women and faculty of color may be asked to carry out more than their share of work. This session provides clear, evidence-based practices to create better, fairer workloads for faculty through changing the “choice architecture” for the division of labor in departments. For example, dashboards with transparent displays of work activity data ensure that faculty understand performance expectations, and department Chairs and Heads are not making assignments in the dark. Systems such as rotation of time-intensive roles, performance benchmarks by rank, or differentiated workload can help departments create fairer workload for all faculty.
Part 1 will focus on using faculty workload activity or dashboards to increase transparency.
Part 2 will focus on organizational policies and practices that can be adopted to proactively design toward more equitable workloads and reward systems.
Postponed - ADVANCE Annual Lecture and Reception
March 30, 2020, 4:00-6:00pm, Old Chapel
With Dr. Shirley Malcom, AAAS
Shirley Malcom is Senior Advisor and Director of SEA Change at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general science organization. She works to support transformative change in teaching and learning, research and practice to improve the quality and increase access to education and careers in STEM fields.
Postponed - Strategic Collaboration
April 7, 2020, 12:30-2:00pm, Life Sciences Lab, S330
With Beronda Montgomery, Michigan State University
Strategic collaboration is collaboration across disciplines or across career stages to increase research impact, as well as strategic collaboration for entering new areas (e.g. scientists collaborating with social scientists to stimulate new interdisciplinary research). This workshop also discusses the mentoring needed to engage strategically in collaboration.
Mentoring Faculty Colleagues
May 13, 2020 & May 14, 2020 from 10am-12:15pm, Zoom (4.5 hour workshop over two days)
With Joya Misra, and Jennifer Normanly, UMass Amherst
Mentoring faculty colleagues effectively is key to ensuring retention, a good departmental climate, and faculty success. In this session, based on the National Research Mentoring Network curriculum, we will identify effective strategies for mentoring colleagues through a series of active learning exercises. The training addresses establishing effective communication, working through issues of equity and inclusion, fostering self-efficacy, and promoting balance and networks.
Workshopping Departmental Mentoring Plans, 12:30-1:30pm
Mentoring Colleagues in Times of Change, 1:30-2:00pm
(Presented in collaboration with the Office of Faculty Development)
May 15, 2020 from 12:30-2:00pm, Zoom
With Michelle Budig and Joya Misra, UMass Amherst
Please join us for a short session aimed at faculty members and Chairs/Heads workshopping department mentoring plan. The session will briefly present best principles, offer you a series of prompts to begin writing or revising your department mentoring plan, and provide you with examples of excellent department mentoring plans. Our goal is for you to leave the workshop with a draft or revised mentoring plan to present to your department. We will answer the following questions: How do departmental mentoring plans differ from individualized mentoring plans? What elements need to be in place to receive approval from the Provost's office? What are the best practices in departmental mentoring that lead to retaining faculty and creating positive departmental cultures?
Following the workshop, we will host a conversation on mentoring colleagues during times of change. Many faculty members recognize that the uncertainty of the current moment has been destabilizing, particularly for pre-tenure and NTT faculty members. What are some approaches to share with colleagues to help create a more resilient community?
Recognizing the Impact of COVID-19 in Evaluating Faculty: A Conversation with Provost John McCarthy, Dean Sanjay Raman, and Dean Tricia Serio
June 4, 2020 from 2:00-3:00pm, Zoom
Faculty work has been impacted by COVID-19 in a variety of ways, including moving classes online, and having research programs abruptly interrupted. It is likely that this impact will be felt more powerfully by women, faculty with primary caregiving responsibilities and members of underrepresented groups across campus. This ADVANCE-sponsored session connects faculty with Provost John McCarthy, Dean Sanjay Raman of the College of Engineering, and Dean Tricia Serio of the College of Natural Sciences, to discuss how the institution will take these disruptions into account. This session will address guidance to Personnel Committees and external letter writers, approaches to documenting the impact of COVID-19 on faculty careers, and equity-minded approaches to addressing the impact of COVID-19.
Collaborative Research Seed Grant Information Session
June 15, 2020 from 1:00-2:00pm, Zoom
ADVANCE is pleased to announce a second round of a collaborative research seed grant funding to foster the development of innovative and equitable collaborative research projects among UMass Amherst faculty. A letter of intent is due on September 8th and the full proposal is due on September 15th. Announcement of awards will be made on November 1st and funding will be available Spring 2021. Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to attend this session to learn more about the grant opportunity and how to apply.