New Focus on Faculty Forum begins this fall, addresses teaching, research, scholarship, creative work

New Focus on Faculty Forum begins this fall, addresses teaching, research, scholarship, creative workSeptember 16, 2008SU News ServicesSUnews@syr.edu

A new forum for faculty fellowship, exchange and discussion will begin this fall with an event scheduled for Oct. 16. The Focus on Faculty Forum will host four events each academic year addressing topics of interest to Syracuse faculty and featuring faculty speakers, panelists and presenters. Topics will focus on teaching as well as on faculty research, scholarship and creative work.

The Focus on Faculty Forum is sponsored by the Office of the Associate Provost for Academic Administration and is coordinated by the director of faculty development.

“Faculty have many demands on their time, but we continue to look for opportunities to learn, to participate in faculty community, and to renew and recharge ourselves,” says Kal Alston, associate provost and professor of education. “I hope that faculty will join their colleagues for these events and will make suggestions of topics for the future.”

The Oct. 16 event, “Interdisciplinary Fellowship on the SU Campus,” will feature members of the Interdisciplinary Research Group (IRG)-a catalyst for interdisciplinary collaboration among artists, scholars and communities. Initiated and supported by the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA), IRG engages students and faculty in creative projects on campus and beyond, while serving as an incubator and springboard for research and curricular initiatives enriched by viewpoints and critical research from diverse disciplines and cultures.

IRG fellowship leader James Rolling, associate professor in the School of Education and chair of the Department of Art Education, and associate professor in VPA’s Department of Industrial and Interactive Design, will provide an overview of this year’s IRG theme, “New Relevance for Arts and Design Practices,” and IRG faculty fellows will share their field-tested research projects and courses, based upon the 2007-08 topic “Art and Community.” IRG fellowship presenters will include Larry Elin, associate professor of television, radio, film and new media in the Newhouse School; Sarah McCoubrey, associate professor of foundation in the School of Art and Design; and Kheli Willets, assistant professor of African American studies and academic director of the Community Folk Art Center.

The second event for the fall semester, “When Faculty Identity Confronts Student Expectation,” is scheduled for Nov. 12 and will feature Meredith Professors Amardo Rodriguez of the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies in VPA and Sari Knopp Biklen of the Cultural Foundations of Education program in the School of Education. The presenters will address faculty identity and the implications of faculty members’ gender, race, class and sexual identity for their teaching. The session will address choices in teaching methods, readings and assignments, as well as expectations that students approach questions and topics from perspectives of difference. A faculty panel will participate, and discussion will follow.

Both events are scheduled for 11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m. in Room 304 of the Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center. A buffet lunch will be provided, and all SU faculty and instructors are welcome to attend; R.S.V.P. to cynieman@syr.edu.

If you would like to propose a topic for a future Forum, contact Bron Adam at beadam@syr.edu.