In this statement I will strive to address the ways in which I fit our criteria for promotion to full professor. For example, when seeking letter writers, it was difficult to think of someone who could really comment on what it is I do. I have opted-in to our new College of Liberal Arts and Science (CLAS) standards, and those criteria are linked at the bottom of the page for convenience.
This task is made a bit more difficult because I genuinely do not know whether I should be promoted or not. I do not fit the image of the typical full professor candidate. I'm going up for full professor with Matt Boelkins and Pam Wells, both of whom (I feel like) clearly fit the criteria. I am an unusual candidate in that my scholarship does not fit traditional models; I don't publish. (Or haven't yet.) I do, however, disseminate my work with frequency using Web 2.0 tools and direct work with teachers. Both have become a significant means of communication for me, and are strong support in becoming a better teacher and scholar. I have had feedback from students, colleagues, local teachers and teachers from around the world that these materials are beneficial and useful to them. I love my job because I can pursue scholarship in a broadly defined sense, but I always thought that my choices meant never being a full professor. And I was okay with that. Grateful, even, that I work at a rare school with a broad understanding of scholarship.
However, several colleagues, whose opinion I greatly respect, argued with me (successfully) that my work does fit the criteria for full professor; they agree that my contributions on the web constitute significant scholarly work. This is why I bring the matter before all my colleagues for discussion and a vote. I in no way feel that I deserve this because of time served or other non-criteria based reasons. Though I do not publish, I share my work as much as I can, through my blog and other online communities, and through inservices and presentations. I think this fits the spirit of "Scholarly or creative activity that is subject to discipline-appropriate peer review and distributed outside of Grand Valley State University." This portfolio is online for better access to those materials.
What follows are brief summaries of the expanded descriptions linked in the left menu. Much of the support for these is linked from the statements themselves, but other materials that are not online elsewhere are in the Materials pages also linked at left.
Service
Diversity and equity are my principle interests in service. Hampered only by my complete lack of aptitude for administration, I have had terrific opportunities at Grand Valley. For me this has been exemplified by the opportunity to be on the STRIDE committee, and the work that resulted in the Award. Integrative Statement - Service.
Scholarship
Since I haven't published, I describe how I do share my work through an online blog, teacher inservices and presentations. I also describe the work I have done in scholarship of teaching, educational games and technology for teaching and teacher preparation. Integrative Statement - Scholarship.
Teaching
This part of the statement turned into quite a lengthy description of the key ideas in my teaching and how they work themselves out with students. A sort of teaching philosophy with linked examples. I treasure an active classroom (like this example from this summer), where students are engaged in their own learning and reflective about their experiences. Integrative Statement - Teaching.
I appreciate your patience in looking at a peculiar online portfolio, and would be very interested in your feedback, should you wish to share. Thank you.