New Faculty Orientation

Welcome matt on a dock that says, "Welcome Onboard."

New Faculty Orientation (NFO), hosted by the Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence (CAFE), is designed for incoming and recently arrived full-time faculty and postdocs. We know your time is valuable and the start of the semester is hectic. We will do everything we can to ensure that your time at NFO is well spent by keeping the focus on most essential services and topics you need to meet University requirements and support your students. We will continue to be available to you in the weeks after NFO, as will others who are presenting in these sessions, but this event represents an important opportunity for you to connect with others and learn about resources and systems at UAA. Whether you are just arriving in Alaska or have been on board for a few months, your participation in New Faculty Orientation can make a substantial difference for you and your students.

 

New Faculty Orientation sessions occur before Fall semester in August every year. Information regarding specific times for sessions will appear on our schedule once it becomes available. 

NFO sessions are offered in a hybrid format, both in person and on Zoom. Questions about this series may be directed to Program Coordinator Luis Chavez Jr. at lchavezjr@alaska.edu and at 907-786-4644.

During NFO and throughout the year, CAFE provides faculty development programming designed to help you make the best possible use of key resources that support teaching, learning, and student success. Good teaching is valued at UAA, and many members of the UAA community recognize that faculty development is the process by which faculty members go from being “content experts” to highly skilled, reflective educators who rely on evidence-based practices to create transformative teaching and learning experiences. Whether you become involved in one of our faculty learning communities, develop a scholarly teaching project in our Scholarship of Teaching and Learning program (Making Learning Visible), or attend one of the many workshops available to help you develop your teaching skills and strategies, we think you’ll see why so many faculty members participate in the development opportunities. In addition to the programs we offer, we're an exceptionally collaborative center, working with offices and professionals across the institution. If you have a question or need support, don't hesitate to contact us! If we don't have the answer, we'll be happy to guide you toward resources and forms of support located in other offices on campus.

We also offer an onboarding series called Headwaters, which focuses on the development and support of full-time faculty (term and tenure-track) and pre-professoriate postdocs. This series picks up where New Faculty Orientation left off with the purpose of deepening your training as a professional educator, developing your confidence in navigating the culture of higher education, and growing your collegial network. Our goal is to provide you with a brief, weekly, topic-driven check-in session, where you can pose questions, get just-in-time information, and learn to make the best use of the many systems and resources available to you and your students.
 
Beyond New Faculty Orientation and Headwaters, we encourage you to take advantage of the development opportunities available during Fall Teaching Academy. This event will give you a chance to meet colleagues from across the institution as you participate in sessions on evidence-based teaching and learning practices. Learn more about resources for supporting students, building an effective syllabus, making effective use of academic technologies supported at UAA, incorporating powerful, high impact practices into your classes, and dimensions of equitable and inclusive teaching. Please make time to join us for this opportunity and invest in improving your practice as a professional educator. Your participation in sessions of this nature can and should be included in documentation for promotion, tenure, and retention under the category of “evidence of teaching effectiveness.”

 

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Questions?

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.