Enrollment in CS courses and programs continues to be high. To meet this increased demand, many Ph.D. granting departments have added or are actively recruiting teaching faculty (typically with academic rank) to their faculty.  This whole-day event will focus on the professional development of teaching-track faculty (professor of practice, instructor, clinical faculty, lecturer, etc.) in Ph.D. granting departments. The event fills a crucial need as many departments have limited experience on how to mentor, evaluate, and promote this new type of faculty.  The sessions will focus on how teaching faculty can strategize their involvement in departmental as well as research activities, different forms of scholarship and leadership activities to pursue, and best practices for success, promotion, and advancement. Junior and mid-career teaching-track faculty will participate in an “unconference” format. By gathering topics of common interest, attendees will self organize to provide peer mentoring and to collect advice for professional development rather than having pre-planned panels or sessions at the discretion of the organizers.

Agenda

• 8:30am (10 min): Introduction to organization and format. Frame the goal is developing 1) networks of people with shared experiences, 2) a shared resource to help others (an FAQ)

• 8:45am (45 min): Four, 10-minute rounds of small group (2-3 people) introductions (name, affiliation, title, roles, responsibilities), brainstorming the topics of most interest for later discussion. Submit breakout topics in real time; organizers will organize such that there are enough breakouts for each to have no more than 4-5 people.

• 9:25am (5 min): Break

• 9:30am (5 min): Announce breakouts and explain format: 1) attendees choose one breakout to attend, 2) repeat introductions, 3) choose a scribe, 3) talk in detail with the other participants about the topic, surfacing key questions, concerns, strategies, and 4) in the last 15 minutes, synthesize the notes by the scribe into key takeaways in shared document

• 9:35am (45 min): Breakouts round 1; reminder to synthesize with 15 min left – Identify the most pressing questions you have related to your breakout for the panelists

• 10:20am (10 min): Break

• 10:30am (45 min): Panel Discussion: Panelists answer questions from participants as a group

• 11:15am (5 min): Break

• 11:20am (70 min): Inverted Panel Discussion: Panelists move to separate tables to focus on specific topics with smaller groups. Participants encouraged to migrate between tables as they see fit.

• 12:30pm (90 min): Meal break

• 2:00pm (55 min): Work in small groups to identify SMART goals based on what participants have learned so far.

• 2:55pm (5 min): Break

• 3:00pm (25 min): Reflection time

• 3:25pm (5 min): Wrap-up: Prompt to go socialize with people they met! Happy hour.

Organizers

• Geoffrey Herman, University of Illinois, glherman@illinois.edu (Chair)
• Logan Paul, Indiana University Bloomington, lopaul@iu.ed
• Borja Sotomayor, University of Chicago, borja@cs.uchicago.edu
• Lisa Yan, University of California, Berkeley, yanlisa@eecs.berkeley.edu
• Jeffrey A. Turkstra, Purdue University, jeff@purdue.edu
• Joshua L. Weese, Kansas State University, weeser@ksu.edu

FAQ

• • Q: How is this event different from similar SIGCSE events?
    A: The proposed event complements existing SIGCSE events targeted at teaching faculty and instructors. More specifically,
    • The New Educators Workshop (offered at SIGCSE 20) is targeted at academic-oriented graduate students, postdocs, and pre-tenure faculty interested in general questions about teaching, job searching for teaching positions, and teaching careers.
    • The Professional Development for Teaching Faculty Pre-Symposium (this event) is targeted at teaching-track faculty in Ph.D. granting departments. The focus is on professional development and career advancement for teaching-track faculty in a research department. The event does not cover teaching, classroom management  practices, or job searching.  Graduate students and post-docs will be considered as space allows.
  • Q: Is there a limit on the number of participants? 
    A: Yes. The maximum number of participants is about 60. Should the number of applications exceed this number, the number of applications accepted from one department will likely be limited.