Orientation and Peer Mentoring Group Schedule

Specific information related to dates and locations will be available on the VUSN calendar, or contact betsy.kennedy@vanderbilt.edu

New Faculty Virtual Orientation May 4, 2020

Orientation Schedule

During the critical transition to an academic teaching role, new VUSN Faculty are offered opportunities to develop excellence as an educator. New faculty orientation occurs once per semester for all new full and part time faculty. The goal is to welcome new faculty and provide initial information regarding systems, processes, and policies at VUSN. The orientation day is organized by the office of the Senior Associate Dean for Administration’s and includes the following topics:

Dean Norman welcome and VUSN overview, including mission and articulation with University and Medical Center
Associate Dean Non-Tenure Track Faculty Affairs & Advancement introductory session on Teaching/Learning at VUSN and academic role expectations
Course Management System (Brightspace) overview, how to get started
Administrative and Operations overview, Key policies, completion of required tasks, etc.
Technology orientation and set up

Peer Group Mentoring Sessions

All new academic faculty can participate in organized, regular, ongoing development sessions. They are considered mandatory for full time faculty and optional for part time faculty. The goal is to develop a peer group of new faculty for socialization and support, a deeper understanding of how VUSN functions, and support them in their development in the academic role (across the domains of teaching, scholarship, and service opportunities/resources). The group meets approximately 1x month for 1-2 hours. Faculty with appointments beginning in spring or summer semester complete orientation as above and join at that point in the schedule and continue until they have completed the year. They also have the opportunity to defer and begin with the fall cohort after an initial discussion with the Assistant Dean for Non-Tenure Track Faculty Affairs & Advancement.

New Faculty Session Schedule 19-20 AY schedule

August - New faculty Onboarding Day (orientation day schedule)
September - First month check in, debrief, surviving the first few weeks
October - Being a Mentee, Developmental Seeking Behaviors
November – VUSN, Organization and Committees, role, functions, current initiatives (various committee chairs)
December – “Make it Stick” book discussion, cognitive science to support evidence-based teaching and learning
January - Professional development on the Non-tenure track (NTC chair)
February - Jumpstarting Scholarship (Ruth Kleinpell, Assistant Dean for Clinical Scholarship), publishing, presenting, scholarly inquiry support
March - Mentoring check in, How to interpret and use student evaluations to improve teaching
April - Field trip to the CFT (Cynthia Brame, CFT) to talk about resources/tools for teaching (Virtual)
May – Teaching during a Pandemic (Virtual)
June - Wrapping up, looking forward, discussion with previous new faculty group from 18-19 (Virtual)

Individual Meetings

New faculty should schedule individual appointments with the The Assistant Dean for NTT Faculty Affairs & Advancement once per semester with the following objectives:

Meeting 1 - Individual goal setting (teaching, scholarship, service) with teaching area guided by NLN Educator Competencies, identification of potential mentors to support teaching, scholarship and service (multiple mentors are identified some in the specialty area, some outside the specialty)
Meeting 2 - Check in on goal progress, what is working well, what is not working well, effective teaching/feedback practices, further opportunities to develop teaching skills targeted at faculty need (lecture, sim, clinical ed., etc.)
Meeting 3 - Goal review and next steps, identifying potential future committee assignments and/or further integration into VUSN in the academic role, opportunities for further development in teaching/learning competencies such as the Junior Faculty Teaching Fellowship