Announcements

Complimentary Access to National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity

As part of the university’s commitment to improving the campus climate, an institutional membership with the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD) is now available to all faculty, postdoctoral workers and graduate students at no cost. The NCFDD is an independent professional development, training and mentoring community of scholars and students from more than 450 colleges and universities. Its resources are intended to benefit faculty and students of color, as well as all who are in need of general mentoring and looking for support during their career transitions. To activate your membership, visit the NCFDD website. For more information, visit Diversity Matters. 

Logo for National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity


Upcoming Events

September
24
Monday, September 24, 2018 -
2:30PM to 3:45PM
International Scholars Series - Decoding UMass Student Culture

What do your students expect from you and your class? How might these expectations differ from what you experienced as a student, and what you expect from your students as an instructor or lab leader? This interactive discussion will provide you with an opportunity to explore those expectations and help you to brainstorm ways to create supportive relationships that can enhance your students’ learning. More "Decoding UMass Student Culture" info.

September
27
Thursday, September 27, 2018 -
2:30PM to 4:00PM
Diversity & General Education: Writing a Successful Course Proposal for GenEd DU/DG Courses

This session provides information that will assist faculty who need to go through the expedited review process for their existing GenEd course with a DU/DG designation to meet the new General Education Diversity Requirements, and faculty who want to propose a new course seeking a GenEd DU or DG designation. Members of the General Education Council will provide an overview of the expedited review process for current GenEd DU/DG courses. Participants will be introduced to a graphic organizer that can help faculty to visualize how their proposed course will meet the new diversity learning outcomes. Join TEFD Director of Programming for Diversity, Inclusion, & Equity Kirsten Helmer and members of the General Education Council for this informative session.

Full Diversity and General Education
September
28
Friday, September 28, 2018 -
9:00AM to 5:00PM
Scholarly Writing Retreat - September 2018

Please join us for our annual off-site retreat where you can focus on scholarly writing in the company of colleagues and set summer writing goals. Continental breakfast and a catered lunch are provided along with coffee and tea throughout the day. More "Scholarly Writing Retreat" info.

September
28
Friday, September 28, 2018 -
10:00AM to 11:30AM
Contemplative Pedagogy Working Group Meeting

Come join colleagues interested in using contemplative exercises to deepen learning. This meeting will feature a presentation, "From the Griot to Hip Hop: Oral Tradition as Critical Liberatory Praxis in Islamic Black America," by Amer Ahmed, Director of Intercultural Teaching and Faculty Development with the Institute for Teaching Excellence and Faculty Development.

For more information about contemplative pedagogy, please visit our CP page.

 

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Faculty Profile

David Gross Partners with TEFD to Study Teaching
Professor | Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

“Comparing across three different sections of the same course, we did not find statistically significant differences in individual performance, effort, or team performance depending on whether teams were formed by the instructor, by students, or randomly by the learning management system.”

In collaboration with TEFD’s Mei-Yau Shih and Sarah Pociask, David Gross (Biochemistry & Molecular Biology) studied the impact of team formation strategies on student performance and attitudes in one of his team-based courses. They found that instructor-designed teams were more diverse, but that students in these teams performed no better than their peers in self-selected or randomly assigned teams. To find out more, read the full article, which was published in the July 2017 issue of the Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

See Past Faculty Profiles