Lecturers

CNS acknowledges the many contributions of CNS lecturers and has created services and opportunities to enhance their professional success.

The CNS Lecturers' Council

The CNS Lecturers' Council is a group of lecturers within the college who gather to discuss shared concerns and strategize about solutions and best practices as they relate to Lecturers success and professional development. Each department has a representative serving on the council. Subjects that the Council address include promotion, service expectations, and job responsibilities. In addition, the Council focuses on specific issues such as strategies for mentoring, advising and teaching undergraduates, using various classrooms and technologies, and on line courses. The Council is committed to sharing information and exchanging ideas with all faculty and specifically with the larger workforce of CNS lecturers.

View the CNS Lecturer's Council roster further down this page.

Lecturers' Professional Development Fund

Purpose

The CNS Lecturers’ Professional Development (LPD) Fund awards eligible lecturers funding for activities that contribute to their scholarship and effectiveness as teachers and mentors.

Funding

Lecturers can apply for grants of up to $2,000 each for professional development activities that involve teaching, research, and/or creative endeavors. Examples of appropriate projects include participation at professional meetings or training workshops, graduate student or work study assistance, computer hardware or software, travel required to access resources of other institutions, subscriptions to professional journals, and editorial assistance.  

Awardees:

Fall 2017:
Toby Martin Applegate, Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences
Holly Laws, Psychological & Brain Sciences
Stan Stevens, Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences
Shubha Tewari, Physics
Brokk Toggerson, Physics

Spring 2018:
Sarah Berquist, Stockbridge School of Agriculture
Forrest Bowlick, Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences
David Kastor, Physics
Ho-Sung Kim, Environmental Conservation

Fall 2018:
Chris McDaniel, Chemistry
Lara Al-Hariri, Chemistry
Weiguo Hu, Polymer Science & Engineering

Spring 2019:
Ashley Woodman, Psychological & Brain Sciences
Irene Dujovne, Physics
Caralyn Zehnder, Biology
Elsa Petit, Stockbridge School of Agriculture

Fall 2019:
Alison Bates, Environmental Conservation
Steven Brewer, Biology

Fall 2020:
Deborah McCutchen, CNS Advising Center
Jeff Salacup, Geosciences
Amanda Brown, Stockbridge School of Agriculture

Spring 2021:
Nicole Burton, Stockbridge School of Agriculture
Hyunsun Lee, Mathematics & Statistics
Meghan MacLean, Environmental Conservation

Fall 2021:
Elsa Petit, Stockbridge School of Agriculture
Irene Dujovne, Physics

Spring 2022: 
Lara Al-Hariri, Chemistry
Sravan Surampudi, Chemistry
Shubha Tewari, Physics 

Fall 2022: 
Tim Cook, Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences
Fernando Romero Galvao de Moraes, Building Construction and Technology Program
Seda Salep-Ayca, Department of Earth, Geographic, and Climate Sciences

Spring 2023: 
Sarah Berquist, Stockbridge School of Agriculture
Irene Dujovne, Department of Physics
Elsa Petit, Stockbridge School of Agriculture
Seda Salap-Ayca, Geosciences

Fall 2023:
Ally Hunter, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Spring 2024:
Deborah McCutchen, CNS Advising Center
Elsa Petit, Stockbridge School of Agriculture
Amy Springer, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Brokk Toggerson, Physics

Fall 2024:
Amanda Brown, Stockbridge School of Agriculture
Holly Laws, Psychological & Brain Sciences
Meg Graham MacLean, Environmental Conservation
Deborah Henson, Environmental Conservation

Eligibility

NTT Faculty (Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Senior Lecturer II) with appointments of 50% FTE or more in the College of Natural Sciences at UMass Amherst are eligible to apply. NTT Faculty who have received an award within the previous year are not eligible.

To apply:

• A call for applications, with a link to a Google form, will be emailed to all CNS lecturers each semester. You will be asked to provide an overview of the professional development request that includes the purpose, relevance of the endeavor to the your scholarly development, timeframe, detailed budget request, and an updated C.V. 
• CNS LPD funds can be combined with other sources of funding; please indicate whether you have pursued other sources of funding for this request, such as lab fee pool, departmental request, CTL, MSP funds, etc. 
• Apply by October 2 for projects that will occur during the current academic year.
• Apply by March 1 for projects that will occur either during the remaining academic semester or the following summer.

Award Criteria

Proposals will be reviewed based on the specific relevance to the Lecturers professional development at this time and potential contribution to the University’s mission of teaching and research. All LPD fund recipients will be required to submit a brief 1-2 page report of their professional development request, to the Associate Dean for Graduate, Post Doctoral, and Faculty Development, following the completion of their project.

Lecturer Promotion

CNS Lecturers Promotion Review Committee

The CNS Lecturers Promotion Review Committee (LPRC) is charged with reviewing promotion cases for CNS Lecturers. The LPRC consists of three to five CNS lecturers; the membership may be expanded in years with a large number of promotion cases. Members of the LPRC serve for a period of three years. Members may serve for more than three years, if elected to the committee again.

Nomination and election of the committee is as follows:

• During the Fall semester the CNS Human Resources office (CNS HR) will determine how many LPRC members have ended their term or have resigned from the committee. 
• If new members are needed, CNS HR emails all lecturers in the college to solicit nominations for committee members. Self-nominations are accepted. 
• CNS HR emails all nominated lecturers to determine if they accept the nomination. 
• CNS HR sends out a poll containing finalized nominee names (and their departments) to all lecturers in CNS.
• Once voting is complete, CNS HR will tally the votes. The nominees with the most votes will be contacted by CNS HR to let them know they have been voted into the position and to confirm that they still wish to serve on the LPRC.

Current Members of the LPRC (term end date in parentheses)

Lara Al-Hariri, Chemistry (2024)
Garret Cahill, Mathematic & Statistics (2025)
Amy Springer, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2025)
Jessica Rocheleau, Biology (2025)
Caralyn Zehnder, Biology (2025)

CNS Guidelines for promotion of lecturers can be found here.

Information about promotion can be found on the UMass Amherst Provost’s website.