Consultations

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For individuals and for groups

The Center for Faculty Development offers confidential, one-on-one or group consultations on learning and teaching, professional development, and research practice.

Consultations are typically most effective face-to-face (either in-person or via Zoom), though we can also do them over the phone or by e-mail if necessary. Our aim is to help faculty find solutions or alternatives with which they are comfortable, since the same approach will not work for all faculty needs.

Below are examples of the kinds of consultation inquiries we receive of the three areas:

Learning and Teaching

  • GROUPS 
    • Revising program learning outcomes
    • Developing program classroom norms 
    • Curriculum mapping to highlight transferable skills development in a program
    • Creating positive learning environments
    • Creating shared grading criteria
  • INDIVIDUALS  
    • Revising the syllabus
    • Changing or redesigning assignments
    • Developing in-class activities
    • Dealing with classroom incivilities
    • Creating grading criteria
    • Encouraging group discussion
    • Enhancing student motivation
    • Making the most of classroom diversity
    • Working with non-native English speakers
    • Providing helpful feedback
    • Finding evidence in the literature to support the work you are doing

    Peer Consultants

    As well as consultants working directly in the Center, we have seven trained Peer Consultants from around the university, all highly respected in their fields, and ready to help you think about your own courses.

    Learn about our Peer Consultants 

 Professional Development

  • GROUPS 
    • Developing departmental norms for productive meetings and balanced workloads
    • Developing faculty governance structures 
  • INDIVIDUALS  
    • Mentoring faculty
    • Career planning
    • Life-work balance
    • The art of worthwhile meetings
    • Enhancing faculty inclusion in decision-making
    • Dealing with difficult faculty
    • Developing faculty governance structures

Research Practice

  • GROUPS 
    • Setting up disciplinary writing groups
  • INDIVIDUALS  
    • Developing and maintaining a writing habit
    • Time management for completing research
    • Targeting journals and publishers
    • Working with editors and responding to reviewers' comments
    • Developing a research agenda
    • Conveying your research agenda to people outside your field

We have also launched FAQNet to enable SU faculty to connect with one another on various topics. FAQNet includes sections devoted to a wide range of specific areas relating to: learning and teaching; research, scholarship, and writing; leadership and administration; professional service; and life-work balance. FAQNet requires you to use your SU ID and login to access colleagues' contact information.

The Center for Faculty Development's work with faculty is:

Formative: The Center takes a collaborative approach to consultations, supporting you in thinking about your teaching and your students’ learning based on the goals you have set for yourself. We offer suggestions and ideas. The Center is completely separate from any summative (judgment-based) evaluation, and is never involved in Rank and Tenure (R&T) or hiring/re-hiring decisions. We do not write letters of recommendation for R&T files or for Chairs.

Confidential: Our conversations – and even the fact that we have met – remain confidential within the Center. Occasionally Center staff discuss these consultations among themselves to be able to track trends in teaching-related issues or to brainstorm good advice or resources to offer you. One exception to our policy: By law, we are required to report any sexual harassment or threat of physical harm to oneself or others.

Voluntary: Faculty come to the Center because they want to, not because they are under duress. If a colleague “strongly suggests” that you consult with the Center for Faculty Development, you are under no obligation to do so. As all our consultations are confidential, colleagues will not be able to find out from us whether you have talked with us.