6.5 Faculty Development [CR]

The institution provides ongoing professional development opportunities for faculty members as teachers, scholars, and practitioners, consistent with the institutional mission.

Judgment

x Compliance o Non-Compliance o Partial Compliance

Narrative

Faculty development opportunities are offered at the University level through the Office of Faculty Affairs, as well as through individual colleges and departments.

Office of Faculty Affairs Programs

The Office of Faculty Affairs administers a number of programs aimed at providing professional development, including orientations, webinars, workshops, grants, sabbaticals, endowed honors, and awards. These include:

· The New Faculty Orientation is one of the ways in which UL Lafayette invests in the success of its faculty at all stages of their careers. The two-day orientation introduces faculty and staff to information, resources, and support available on campus. The orientation is also an opportunity to meet key senior leaders of the University and to hear about their vision for the University. Orientation takes place annually in August, prior to the start of the academic semester.

· A subscription to Academic Impressions provides on-demand access to webinars, publications, and resources, and schedules live webinars relating to teaching and leadership.

· Educational Development Grants are available to faculty to support innovative teaching methods, materials, or instructional technology; to develop new pedagogies or curriculum assessment techniques; or to offer on‐campus workshops that promote student success, student research, and other topics. Grant guidelines specify that the awards range from $500 to $1500, and are allocated on a competitive basis by a University-wide committee that evaluates proposals. Table 6.5 – 1 lists the type and number of educational grants awarded over the last five years.

Table 6.5 – 1: Educational Grants Awarded

Grant type	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	Total Awarded
Course Curriculum	5	4	2	7	2	20
Faculty Development	3	3	4	6	0	16
Instructional Improvement	2	7	3	7	3	22

Research Travel Grants provide funding for faculty to present research at conferences or to travel to meet with funding agencies. During AY2018-2019, $100,000 was awarded for conference travel during the course of four award rounds. Grants are competitive, and faculty applications are reviewed and ranked by the Office of Faculty Affairs and the Associate Deans Council. An additional $20,000 was also available for faculty to meet with a funding agency; for these grants, the deans nominated faculty, and the proposals were reviewed by the Office of Faculty Affairs.

Sabbatical leave is granted to faculty members to support independent study and research. Sabbaticals are available for summer term, or for one or two semesters during the academic year. Faculty members are eligible to apply for one semester of sabbatical leave following three or more consecutive years of service, and two semesters of sabbatical leave following six or more consecutive years of service. Sabbatical leave is generally funded at 75% of a faculty member’s salary, per UL System Policy.

Table 6.5 — 2 shows the number of research travel grants and sabbaticals awarded since 2012.

Table 6.5 — 2: Research Travel Grants and Sabbatical Awards

AY	Research Travel Grants	Sabbatical Awards
2012-2013	N/A	12
2013-2014	N/A	3
2014-2015	110	5
2015-2016	144	6
2016-2017	118	5
2017-2018	129	6
2018-2019	101	5
2019-2020	Not yet available	10

Advising Awards recognize outstanding faculty advisors. The University offers regular advisor training each semester with sessions focused on a variety of advising topics and issues. Effective advising is valued and incentivized: UL Lafayette has funded this award program since 2006. Criteria for the awards include completion of the following:

· A minimum of 20 advisor holds lifted per semester

· A minimum of 65% of advisee student surveys completed

· A statement of advising philosophy

· Advising questionnaire responses

· Participation in required trainings

A Selection Committee of Deans, advisors, faculty members, and students selects 50 superior advisors, each of whom receives a $1,000 stipend, and up to 10 new faculty advisors (one year or less of advising), each of whom receives a $500 stipend, for awards totaling $55,000 annually.

The annual Eminent Scholars Awards recognize superior research, teaching, and service with Distinguished Professor Awards, the Dr. Ray Authement Excellence in Teaching Award, and Leadership Service Awards. Each college selects nominees, and nominations are forwarded to the Office of Faculty Affairs. Committees for each award (consisting of past recipients or other representatives from each college) select respective award recipients, each of whom receives $5,000.

UL Lafayette has 22 Endowed Chairs, of which 18 are currently filled. Each of these is based on a corpus of $1 million. An endowed chair is the highest academic honor that can be bestowed upon a faculty member at UL Lafayette. The recipient of an endowed chair must have a distinguished record of accomplishments in his or her field, as indicated variously by research, publication, external funding, creative endeavors, awards and honors, and leadership positions in professional organizations. Base funding for most endowed chairs has been provided by private donors and a match from the State Board of Regents Support Fund (BORSF). In addition to these BORSF chairs, the University maintains two endowed chairs funded entirely through private sources.

UL Lafayette has 241 Endowed Professorships available, of which 223 are filled for AY2018-2019. The professorships are for distinguished faculty members whose accomplishments advance the reputation of the University as an outstanding research, teaching, and service institution. The University has previously received match funding of 60% from private donors and 40% from the BORSF Endowed Professorship Fund to establish professorships, valued at $100,000 each. Many of these professorships are funded jointly by private donors and the Louisiana BORSF; currently donors provide 80% of the funds, and the BORSF provides 20%. Almost all professorships are awarded competitively; some are used to retain or recruit outstanding faculty members. In both cases, the professorship applicants are selected through a review of both college- and University-level selection committees. The University has designated a few professorships as the Vermilion Professorship (a grouping of 3-5 professorships or the equivalent); these are reserved for faculty whose research, scholarship, or creative endeavors mark them as exceptional among their peers.

A professorship award carries either a supplementary stipend or a discretionary fund, or both, the amounts of which are determined annually based on the investment productivity of the professorship account’s endowment. Beginning with AY2019-2020, new professorships carry a discretionary award for professional development; faculty may seek approval to receive a portion of the award as a summer research salary stipend.

Endowed professorships are awarded for three‐year terms, after which they are opened again for competitive applications. Endowed chair holders are reviewed by the University Professorship and Chair Selection Committee every three years to determine their continuing eligibility.

In addition to the Board of Regents’ support of universities’ endowed professorships and chairs programs, BORSF also provides funds to faculty through competitively awarded enhancement grants and competitively awarded superior graduate scholarships.

Additional programs

The Division of Student Success, the Office of Distance Learning, the Graduate School, the Office of Diversity and Community Engagement, the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, and the Office of Human Resources also offer on-site and online faculty development programs, resources, and training. These include:

Advisor Training. The Academic Success Center offers advisor training through workshops, online delivery, and newsletters. During AY2018-2019, faculty and staff had access to 22 workshops conducted by fellow faculty and staff. Trainings included: new advisor academic advising competency workshops, “Nuts and Bolts of UL,” including information on advising and the UL curriculum with updates from the Registrar and Career Services, information sessions presented by specific Colleges and/or Departments, curriculum specific trainings, and webinars on incorporating successful advising practices. Attendance at two such workshops, or those offered by individual colleges, is one of the requirements for eligibility for the annual Outstanding Advising Awards. During AY2018-2019, some 325 faculty participated in the following advising workshops:

· 6 trainings for New Advisors on Academic Advising, with 67 attendees

· 5 trainings on the "Nuts and Bolts" to include information regarding UL's curriculum and updates from the Registrar and Career Services, with 80 attendees

· 1 training on Diversity on Campus and "Unconscious Bias" by the Director of Campus Diversity, with 28 attendees

· 1 training on the Math curriculum and sequence of courses, with 9 attendees

· 2 advising webinars presented by the National Academic Advising Association (NACADA), with 34 attendees

· 4 College or Departments provided information sessions for their faculty

· 1 Summer 2019 Advisor training, with 80 attendees

Diversity training. The Director of Campus Diversity provides diversity training for academic departments upon request. These include sessions on unconscious bias in hiring searches, a series of campus discussions on challenging issues called Courageous Conversations, and a certificate program in diversity for faculty under development.

Software training. The Office of Computing Support Services provides faculty support on the use of the University’s computing system and, more specifically, on the use of Moodle, the principal course management software used on campus. These training sessions are provided on demand to academic departments or other groups. Additional assistance with instructional technology is provided by the IT Service Desk of Computing Support Services, the Media Center, and college‐level IT managers.

Teaching development. The Office of Faculty Affairs and the Office of Student Affairs partner to sponsor programs and webinars focused on teaching and learning topics. Past events have covered subjects such as student engagement and social media, plagiarism, and active learning. Departments offer continuing development for their faculty through periodic strategic planning sessions, seminars, research workshops, and brown bag lunches. In addition, faculty members in several disciplines maintain their professional status through continuing education activities from external sources.

Individual colleges offer a variety of faculty development and professional engagement activities. For example, the B.I. Moody College of Business Administration sponsors a Tenure-Track Teaching Excellence Series and a Research Series; the Ray P. Authement College of Sciences sponsors a mentoring series for tenure-track faculty; and the College of Education offers an Education Colloquium Series featuring presentations and demonstrations by both faculty and external members of the academy. College and department faculty enhancement budgets include a travel component used to fund faculty attendance and/or presentations at conferences, meetings, and workshops. For AY2018‐2019 travel funds from the University’s operating budget totaled $610,384. In addition, approximately one-third of faculty members have access to discretionary funds through endowed professorships and chairs, and several academic units have UL Lafayette Foundation funds earmarked for faculty development.

Distance learning. The Office of Distance Learning trains each faculty member who will be teaching a hybrid or online course through their ULearn Faculty Certification workshops. Faculty must complete a series of workshops before teaching a distance education course. These workshops are designed to prepare the faculty member to design a high-quality online learning experience. Additionally, the Office of Distance Learning provides faculty development opportunities through online workshops and webinars, as well as in-person workshops. Past events have featured topics such as humanizing online courses, providing accessibility, and incorporating various technologies.

Through these activities, the University provides a full array of professional development opportunities for faculty members as teachers, scholars, and practitioners, consistent with its mission.