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UNT Digital Adjunct Faculty Training Academy

UNT Digital Adjunct Academy Initiative Grant: Are you an adjunct faculty member and would you like to help develop a digital adjunct training academy?  An interdisciplinary team of Dorothy Bland, Valarie Bell, Brian Lain, and Ruthanne Thompson will be working on an applied research project with a goal of developing a digital training module for adjunct faculty members that will likely include a badge or certificate system to acknowledge adjunct faculty members' many contributions to UNT. A survey will be conducted in the fall 2019 and focus groups in the coming school year to develop a pilot program for launch in fall 2020.

For more information, please contact Dorothy Bland at Dorothy.Bland@unt.edu.

Online Team-Based Learning Workshop Hosted by UNT's TBL Ambassador

Through the 2018-2019 UNT Team Mentoring Grant program we successfully hosted a one-day workshop on Team-Based Learning (TBL). Participants learned the basics of this flipped-classroom approach and how to design an effective TBL module. However, some of the finer points such as facilitation and how to use TBL online were not able to be covered in this limited amount of time. In order to further grow UNT's TBL Community of Practice, we will once again host a one-day workshop to cover these topics. In February 2020, we will host Dr. Bruce Leonard who will lead us in effective TBL facilitation and how to implement TBL in an online, asynchronous environment. Dr. Leonard has ample hands-on experience in the use of online TBL and has presented at numerous national conferences on the use of online TBL for Nurse Practitioner students to improve learning outcomes.

For more information, please contact Jessica Craig at Jessica.Craig@unt.edu.

UNT Libraries' Mentoring Program Work Group

The UNT Libraries' Mentoring Program is now in its fourth year, and we are excited to have received funding from the UNT Office for Faculty Success!  The focus of the program will be on developing and extending the participants' mentoring networks.  By starting with one-on-one mentoring, participants will work on the skills needed for developing and nourishing professional relationships.  Such skills will be useful in reaching out beyond the scope of the librarian's unit or division, and even beyond UNT Libraries to other university faculty, professional and academic organizations, and other libraries in the world.  Members of the UNT Library Faculty who are new to UNT Libraries and/or academic librarianship are invited to also participate in the New Librarians  Group Mentoring program, where they will be exposed to the professional culture, organization, and expectations of the UNT Libraries.  Current librarians who are considering applying for promotion in the next 1-3 years are invited to participate in the Preparation for Promotion Group Mentoring program, where you they will learn from others the details, realities, and logistics of the promotion process.  Finally, experienced librarians of any rank are invited to participate as mentors to apply your their knowledge and experience at UNT Libraries as a guide for the new librarians or those preparing for promotion.  Mentors will receive training, as well as regular tips and ideas for improving the relationship. 

The OFS Team Mentoring Grant will provide additional support for all participants.  New Librarians will be able to apply up to $250 towards membership in a professional organization, while those participating in Preparation for Promotion may apply up to $200 towards travel or professional organization fees.  There will also be training resources, including reflective librarianship, StrengthsFinder, and general mentorship training.

For more information, please contact Karen R. Harker at Karen.Harker@unt.edu.

English Language Learners - Language Learning Instruments

This grant supports the set up a one-day symposium to bring researchers and educators in relevant disciplines together and discuss how to design and develop effective virtual environments for language teaching, especially for conversational English.   We will invite national and local experts to the symposium to discuss the potential for immersive media to address the needs of the ELLs. We will divide the speakers into content areas and present brief Pecha Kucha style talks (20 slides 20-30 seconds each slide) about their research. The symposium is open to remote presentations from some of the nationals experts we're inviting.  We will also try out existing PC, mobile, VR, AR, and MR language learning tools to support the discussion. The symposium will end with breakout groups to begin interdisciplinary/intercollege collaborative grant proposals.

For more information, please contact Aleshia Hayes at Aleshia.Hayes@unt.edu.

Foster Care Research Network

Our research group (comprised of faculty from Visual Arts and Design, English, Social Work, and Psychology,) seeks to bring an interdisciplinary perspective to the larger national and local issues surrounding foster care. Although foster care is frequently studied as a national issue, the effects of fostering are felt throughout the UNT campus: a number of UNT students are foster care alumni, and UNT faculty serve as mentors, volunteers, and even parents within the foster care community. With these local stakes in mind, our research group is invested in drawing out positive ways that the challenges of foster care can be addressed through research that is informed not only by our expertise as researchers, but also by our firsthand experiences with children, youth, and professionals in the foster care system. Through our mentoring grant, we are working with local social workers, foster parents, and former foster youth to find the intersecting ways that stakeholders in the foster system learn to navigate the system successfully. We are also beginning to identify opportunities to present this research to regional and national audiences.

If you have a personal or professional stake in foster care and would like to join us in an upcoming meeting, please contact Matthew Heard at Matthew.Heard@unt.edu.

Complex PTSD Research Team

UNT's Complex PTSD Research Team (CPRT) is a collaboration of faculty, an alumnus, graduate students, and undergraduate researchers who share a goal of investigating how traumatic events affect survivors differently. We expect that childhood trauma, prolonged trauma, and interpersonal trauma can cause symptoms that are not traditionally associated with an anxiety disorder. That is, while people living with PTSD experience various forms of anxiety symptoms (e.g., intrusive memories, physiological hyperarousal, and avoidance of trauma triggers), the recently recognized Complex PTSD (CPTSD) diagnosis also includes emotional difficulties beyond anxiety and problems with one's sense of self and trust in others (World Health Organization, 2018). While experienced clinicians may understand how some aspects of the causes, course, and effective treatment of CPTSD differ from PTSD, the research on this topic is in its infancy. As a first step, members of the CPRT have recently developed instruments to accurately diagnose CPTSD. Our next steps are possible because of the Team Mentoring Grant awarded to the CPRT. Funds will be used to support a series of projects aimed at enhancing burgeoning scientific and practical knowledge about CPTSD. 

During the 2019-2020 year, our multidisciplinary team will: 1) continue targeted recruitment and screening of diverse survivors of trauma for participation in a multi-phase research project at UNT, 2) expand recruitment efforts to include locations with access to individuals who have a higher likelihood of complex traumatic experiences, 3) provide a multi-tiered mentoring opportunity for junior faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students combining innovative inter-disciplinary approaches, 4) disseminate our initial findings through professional presentation and networking at the International Society for Traumatic Stress (ISTSS) in 2020, and 5) share our findings with the UNT and Denton community in an approachable and informative way through a lecture event. The on-campus CPRT faculty team includes: Patricia “Trish” Kaminski (Associate Professor of Psychology), Anthony Ryals (Assistant Professor of Psychology), Shelley Riggs (Professor of Psychology), and Chad Trulson (Professor, Criminal Justice).

For more information, please contact Patricia "Trish" Kaminski at Patricia.Kaminski@unt.edu.

Non-Tenure Track Faculty Mentoring Network

The purpose of the Non-Tenure Track Faculty Mentoring Network (NTFMN) is to support full-time, non-tenure track faculty at UNT by creating a mentoring community of like-minded, career focused, and personally involved professionals.  During the 2019-2020 academic year, the NTFMN will focus on three support components: 1.) monthly networking events to provide ongoing support and mentoring opportunities. The planned events will provide time for networking and host invited speakers on topics of need identified by the group 2.) a Listserv which will serve as a forum to post questions/information about pedagogy, or information on UNT policies and procedures relating to non-tenure track faculty and 3.) monthly pedagogical journal reading group meetings in which attendees will discuss an identified journal article focused on effective teaching strategies. A calendar of events will be disseminated at the beginning of each semester.  Mentoring team includes Becky Knight (REHB), Brandi Levingston (REHB), Lauren Mathews (ASLP), Leslie Roberts (PADM), Jackie Walker (ENGL).

To learn more, please contact: NTTfacultynetwork@unt.edu.

Equity Advocates Pilot Program

This mentoring grant is to establish a pilot Equity Advocates Program at UNT that leverages the experiences at other peer institutions for developing an Equity Advocates Network. Funds will be used in conjunction with the Women's Faculty Network (WFN) (established 2011) to continue work that has previously been done on an ad hoc basis through Faculty Success for the past five years.  This grant seeks to formalize the process and more fully develop the training and expertise of mentors and advocates who assist others in their professional development. 

Target goals

  1. To establish a network of mentors and advocates to assist marginalized faculty in the tenure and promotion process, annual evaluations, grievance proceedings, and faculty misconduct hearings
  2. To train faculty to become advocates and mentors to assist marginalized faculty in university proceedings including but not limited to those outlined in UNT Policy 06.004 Faculty Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion
  3. To disseminate information about UNT policy and best practices regarding the hiring, retention, and promotion of marginalized faculty
  4. To facilitate a dialogue-driven program that can assess needs of marginalized faculty who need additional support for increasing their professional success
  5. To connect senior faculty to more junior faculty to facilitate broader mentoring and advocacy in the professional development and teaching process

Focus

This mentoring and advocacy network addresses concerns about faculty who may:

  1. Experience marginalization and isolation within their academic unit resulting in an inability to overcome challenges related to their positions within departments and colleges;
  2. Have challenges regarding negotiation and mediation of issues within their department and at the college level;
  3. Require additional support and feedback to successfully prepare their evaluation materials so they clearly articulate their record;
  4. Need to address how deficiencies in the record can be clarified, illuminated, improved, and otherwise addressed to meet the requirements of the faculty member's academic unit;
  5. Want to address concerns about differential treatment with the evaluation and governance review process related to job performance; and
  6. Want to seek guidance about receiving professional recognition for their work consistent with UNT policy.

Structure & Organization

The proposed mentoring and advocacy program will consist of a series of network meetings, activities, and training programs to develop professional expertise and provide feedback about best practices for mentoring and advocacy.  Funding supports faculty volunteers to assist in the development of a communications network among clinical faculty and lecturers, as well as tenure and tenure-track faculty who work to facilitate successful and productive professional development for faculty members seeking assistance across all ranks of full-time faculty.

For more information, please contact Kimi King at Kimi.King@unt.edu.

Women in Science Mentoring Group

Despite an increase in women obtaining PhD degrees within STEM fields, the number of women in STEM faculty positions at research intensive universities remains low. A critical component for success and advancement within STEM academic fields includes success in grant funding. This grant focuses on three objectives: 1) increase the awareness of STEM women faculty research successes; 2) provide intentional programs that facilitate grant proposal efforts that include women within STEM fields; 3) broaden the collaborative efforts by gathering faculty, from within UNT and outside of UNT, to facilitate research grant applications. To accomplish these objectives, we will coordinate or collaborate to provide various opportunities and events that facilitate research grant applications. Additionally, we will host informal roundtable discussions to discuss and address challenges that women in STEM face. Our expected outcomes include 1) providing a mechanism and process for STEM female faculty to meet and discuss research productivity and grant applications, 2) disseminate information specific to the needs of STEM female faculty, 3) increase the grant award applications and publication submissions for our STEM female faculty and 4) increase the awareness of UNT STEM female faculty accomplishments.

For more information, please contact Pamela Padilla at Pamela.Padilla@unt.edu.

Collaborative Piano

Through the generous funding provided by UNT's Faculty Success Mentoring Grant, two of the world's most highly regarded pedagogues and program chairs in the field of collaborative piano, Dr. Jean Barr (Eastman School of Music) and Dr. Alan L. Smith (University of Southern California), will offer week-long residencies at UNT during the 2019-2020 academic year, interacting with students and faculty alike.

Goals of these residencies include: offering direct instruction to current UNT students in private and small group settings; offering mentoring and career advisement to current doctoral students; supporting both current teaching and future creative activity efforts of current faculty by providing critical assessment of current curriculum and faculty teaching assignments; assisting the program coordinator in developing a strategic plan for program expansion; and increasing national awareness of UNT's collaborative piano program by virtue of the presence of the experts on campus both through specific masterclasses that may be live-streamed and through the awareness of our program the experts will gain, and, by extension, disseminate nationally.

For information about public events associated with these residencies, please visit https://collaborativepiano.music.unt.edu/, searching both the Guest Residency and CollabFest tabs.

Members of the team are Dr. Steven Harlos, Professor of Keyboard Studies and Dr. Elvia Puccinelli, Associate Professor, Vocal Studies/Collaborative Piano, as well as Dr. Stephen Dubberly, Associate Professor of Opera, Conducting and Ensembles, Dr. Willem van Schalkwyk, Opera Coach/Lecturer, Conducting and Ensembles, Prof. Robert Frankenberry, Visiting Opera Coach, Conducting and Ensembles, and Dr. Liudmila Georgievskaya, Adjunct Instructor of Piano, Keyboard.

For more information, please contact Elvia Puccinelli at Elvia.Puccinelli@unt.edu.