Off the Tenure Track:
Building an Education-Forward Academic Career
Regional Philadelphia Retreat
We invite you to join us for an upcoming regional retreat designed for education-forward faculty across higher education in the Philadelphia area who are full-time but off the tenure-track. Our goal is to bring together faculty for a comprehensive day of insightful talks, engaging discussions, and community-building activities aimed at fostering cross-institutional collaboration and policy pollination. We welcome abstract/session proposals and registration below!
Location: Rutgers Camden Campus Center, Multipurpose Room B (google maps) (Campus Center map - room is on the main level)
Date: Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Time: 10:00 - 6:00 pm
Cost: There is no cost to attend or submit a proposal.
Getting there:
Public Transit: The Camden Campus Center is within a short walking distance to the City Hall stop on the Patco and the Cooper Street stop on the Riverline trains.
Parking: Guests can register their vehicles for parking using THIS form. This will provide parking in lots c1, c2, c3, c14, city lot 15 or city lot 16 without permits (parking map).
Tentative Agenda:
9:00 - 10:00: Continental Breakfast provided.
10:00 - 10:15: Welcome & Opening Remarks by Nathan Fried, Rutgers Camden Biology
10:15 - 11:00: Opening Panel: "Navigating the Non-Tenure Track (NTT) across Philly-area universities."
Moderator: Travis DuBose, Rutgers Camden, English and Communication
Panelist: Robert Emmons, Rutgers Camden, Visual, Media, and Performing Arts
Panelist: Gregory J. Eaton, Rowan University, Department of Biological & Biomedical Sciences.
Panelist: Temple TBA
Panelist: Elizabeth Fournier, University of Delaware, Biden School of Public Policy and Administration
Panelist: Drexel TBA
11:00 - 11:15: Break
11:15 - 12:15: Lunch & Keynote Talk: "Working Towards Change in Higher Education Teaching Practice"
Dr. Jennifer Stanford, Associate Professor, Department of Biology & Co-Director of the Center for the Advancement of STEM Teaching and Learning Excellence (CASTLE)
12:15 - 1:15: Small Talk Sessions on Best Teaching Practices
"Incorporating AI into Teaching: Embracing Chatbots in Higher Education" by Alison Baren at Temple University's Psychology and Neuroscience Department.
"Insight and Context: Facilitating Dialogue and Knowledge Exchange with invited Guests" by Rosalyn Washington at the University of Delaware's Department of Human Development and Family Sciences.
"Alternative Grading in Foundational STEM Courses" by Sara Leshen at Rutgers Camden's Department of Mathematics.
1:15 - 2:00: Workshop/Panel on Launching a Teaching Focused Career & Leveraging the Teaching Postdoc
Nicole Bracci, University of Pennsylvania's PennPORT NIH IRACDA program
Tess Cherlin, University of Pennsylvania's PennPORT NIH IRACDA program
Camila Barrios-Camacho, University of Pennsylvania's PennPORT NIH IRACDA program
Anthony Howcroft, Drexel University's Center for the Advancement in STEM Teaching and Learning Excellence
2:00 - 2:15: Break with afternoon snack.
2:15 - 3:00: Workshop/Panel on Building Community for NTT
Moderator: Cassie Nelson, Assistant Teaching Professor, Rutgers New Brunswick
Panelist: Anne Carr-Schmid, Associate Teaching Professor, Rutgers New Brunswick
Panelist: Tara Cominski, Assistant Teaching Professor, Rutgers New Brunswick
Panelist: Patricia Morton, Associate Professor, Rutgers New Brunswick
3:00 - 4:00: Small Talk Sessions on Building an Education-forward Academic Career
"Five Strategies for Finding Value and Creating Impact in your NTT Position" by Jay Lunden at Temple University's Department of Biology.
"Fostering Mentorship of Non-Tenured Faculty: The Greater Majority in Higher Education" by Dione Sandiford at Rutgers University's School of Nursing.
"How to Get Started (or become more active) in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning" by Haritha Malladi at the University of Delaware's Civil and Environmental Engineering
4:00 - 4:10: Closing Remarks by Tracie Paulson, Rutgers Camden Biology
4:10 - 6:00: Social Hour at Victor's Pub (1 Market St, Camden, NJ 08102 - Google Maps).
Registration & Call for Proposals: Register to save your spot and to submit an abstract/session proposal. We are accepting session proposals and short talks.
Register & Submission Portal: https://forms.gle/yhYQBUNggAwnm4KU7
Call for Proposals is due on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 (CLOSED)
Proposal Decisions sent on Monday, May 6, 2024
Registration closes on Friday, May 24, 2024
About
In 2020, Rutgers Camden full-time non-tenure track faculty formed a working group to discuss policy changes to create a more sustainable and equitable academic system for education-forward faculty who are off the tenure track. Recognizing the modern challenges institutions of higher education have experienced, the group identified that this growing population of faculty are uniquely well-positioned to not just excel at teaching, but also grow curricula, develop and/or lead programs, conduct discipline-based education research, apply for large education-focused grants, and pioneer the education mission of a university. In doing so, they hope to decrease the negative stigma against education-focused faculty, reduce isolation, and develop more resources for thriving in this career path. To this end, they invite all who are interested to a Philadelphia regional retreat to share resources, experiences, and successful strategies to thrive off the tenure track.