What is the Institute for Faculty Excellence?

HistoryGraphic of an arrow pointing to the right with circles indicating the timeline of the CTL from 2013 to 2019 to 2022

The Institute for Faculty Excellence (IFE), announced by President Kelly in Spring 2022, is an expansion of the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). The CTL at UWG was established in 2013 with funding from the University System of Georgia. Originally staffed by a Director and Faculty Fellows, the CTL serves as a faculty support unit. A department reorganization in 2019 merged the CTL with the Faculty Development Center (FDC) to include part-time staff and three instructional designers. By Fall 2022, marking the 10 year anniversary of the CTL, the IFE will broaden its purpose further extending faculty support and success beyond teaching and learning.

What is happening to the CTL?

The Center for Teaching and Learning’s support and services will continue to be available within the Institute for Faculty Excellence. We will continue to take questions by phone and email, host workshops, schedule consultations, coordinate learning communities around literature, host Innovations in Pedagogy, and more! The new IFE will serve as a centralized resource to support all areas of an academic career, including teaching, research, scholarly work, special projects, and career and leadership development.

Purpose

Venn diagram presenting the intersection between subunits of the IFE as career and leadership advancement; teaching and learning; and scholarship and grants.

The IFE will serve as a centralized gateway to support all areas of an academic career, including teaching, research, scholarly work, special projects, and career and leadership development. The IFE will place specific emphasis on providing sustainable and robust mentorship programs that foster an inclusive campus culture that prioritizes relevance, competitiveness, and belonging.

The IFE Vision

The Institute for Faculty Excellence will broaden overall faculty’s skill set by promoting:

  • The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) by providing relevant educational development opportunities;
  • Externally funded innovation, research and scholarly activities as well as mentoring the faculty on how to identify and secure external funding; 
  • Proactive and robust faculty mentoring programs that begin the day that faculty are hired at UWG and continue to afford new opportunities for mentored growth throughout their career;
  • Career excellence for faculty by providing career and leadership development mentoring and connect faculty with growth opportunities.

What We Do

  • Design personalized professional development courses for any career level.
  • Curate books and resources on topics related to promotion & tenure and leadership development.
  • Connect faculty with a mentoring network.
  • Discuss any teaching concern.
  • Perform classroom observations and online course reviews.
  • We will help you with course design and assessments.
  • Guide you to get started trying to secure external funding.
  • Guide you through identifying potential funding opportunities.
  • Facilitate training and workshops.
  • We will guide you on how to initiate communication with potential sponsors.
  • We will guide you through protecting intellectual properties.
  • We will accommodate partnerships with public, private, and government entities.
  • We will guide you through building your future research and scholarly enterprises.

What we will not do

  • We will not take referrals.
  • We will not share discussions with others.
  • We will not assume control.