CFE NEWSLETTER

CFE NEWS AND UPDATES

Dear Colleagues,

It has been quite a year for CFE and MSU. Looking forward, we see many changes on the horizon. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Shihua Brazill, CFE instructional designer, as she begins a new position as the Director of the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship with the rank of Assistant Professor at Southwestern University. We are thankful for her numerous contributions to MSU! Congratulations, Shihua!

The CFE team will be moving to the third floor of the Renne Library this summer as part of our enhanced collaboration with Office of Research Development, the Research Optimization, Analytics, and Data Services unit at the MSU Library, and Research Cyberinfrastructure from UIT. The scholarship support and programs from the CFE will be joining these other offices as part of the Research Alliance whose goal is to connect faculty, staff and students to resources, guidance and infrastructure that enables research creativity and scholarship to improve lives and society. All the CFE team and services will be available in our new space. Please stop by and say hello when you return for the fall semester.

Dean Adams, CFE director, is returning to the College of Arts & Architecture as the next Dean. He says, “My time in the CFE has enriched my life through connections to our incredible faculty, staff and students across MSU. I am thankful for interactions with and the support of so many intriguing people. It has been my privilege to work with the powerful team that is the CFE. Thank you!”

Continuing with the theme of change, generative AI, like ChatGPT, has become a part of our academic lives. As we look to next year, CFE, the MSU Library and other partners are putting together resources, guidance and workshops around how to responsibly incorporate these tools into your classroom to advance student learning and other applications. We welcome your questions and thoughts. Please email [email protected].

We hope you have a great summer! We are here and expect a new director soon, please reach out if we can help at [email protected]

Sincerely,

The CFE Team

Spring 2023 Course Evaluation Reports Release - Monday, May 29

To access your Spring 2023 course evaluation reports on May 29th, please go to your account and make sure the Selected Term is set to Spring 2023.        

Here are some short articles that provide some strategies and tips for contextualizing and interpreting course evaluations. It may also help to get a trusted colleague, friend or relative to review your course evaluations and student comments to provide an outside perspective that is not as emotionally attached to the evaluations. 

*If you cannot access these links, please email Ken Silvestri ([email protected]) and he can provide a PDF version

• How to make the best of bad course evaluations

  This short article provides good advice on how to interpret common criticisms from students and put them into a bigger context.

• Course evaluations as a tool for growth

  This short article offers ideas for using reflection to identify common themes and areas to improve in without having to reread and revisit prior course evaluations.

• My worst student ratings ever

  One faculty’s experience with lower ratings after making a change that did not initially go well and what they learned from this experience.

To discuss your course evaluations with a CFE instructional designer, please email [email protected] to set up an appointment.

Participate in CFE Website Usability Test

Do you want to help us improve the usability of the CFE website? We are looking for volunteers to participate in our usability test. We will ask you to find some information in a new test site and give us feedback about how the experience was. If you have time and want to give your feedback, email us [email protected] and we’ll put you on our list.

UPCOMING CFE EVENTS

If you are located outside of Bozeman and would like to attend a workshop via Webex, please request a link in the comments section and it will be sent to you before the session

Managing Conflict in Academia

Thursday, June 1|| 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM || JABS 103 || Register Here              

iCalcal

Conflict is part of our academic life, whether it be within your department, research group or Center. This workshop discusses the different sources of conflict and provides practical steps to manage it. Participants will get a chance to practice these steps in scenarios and start to develop a comfort with conflict.

Research mentoring for Faculty/Principal Investigators (Part 2)

Tuesday, June 20|| 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM || TBD|| Register Here              

Strong mentorship has been linked to enhanced menteeproductivity, self-efficacy, career satisfaction, and is an important predictor of the academic success of researchers in training. This second session will explore more about mentorship: assessing understanding, fostering independence, promoting professional development, and articulating a mentoring philosophy. While it is encouraged to attend both sessions (see May 16th or 17th session), it isn’t required.

OTHER MSU ANNOUNCEMENTS

NCFDD WEBINARS

Maximizing Your Sabbatical: An Integrated Approach to Purposeful Planning, Reflection, and Re-entry

Tuesday, May 23  at 12:00 PM MST ||  Sign-up here

Through this resource-filled webinar, we will equip faculty, and the academic leaders who support them, with tools and strategies to support successful sabbatical experiences.

Moving from Resistance to Writing

Thursday, June 8 at 12:00 PM MST ||  Sign-up here

In this webinar, you will learn:

• What resistance is and why academic writers experience it in pursuit of work we want and need to complete.
• How to identify what's holding you back from writing and completing your (article, dissertation, book manuscript, grant proposal, etc.).
• The three most common types of writing funk and how to move around them.
• How to create the types community, support and accountability for your writing that will help you to ride through whatever type of writing funk you are currently experiencing.

You will need to log into your National Center for Faculty Diversity and Development (NCFDD) account and then click the link above to access the event. This online resource is available to the MSU community free of charge. Learn more about how to register.

MSU Center for Faculty Excellence
114/116 Montana Hall Montana Hall | Bozeman, MT 59717
http://www.montana.edu/facultyexcellence/ | [email protected]  | 406-994-4555

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