September 2020 Announcements

• On September 16 and 17, Faculty Affairs staff from the Office of the Provost will provide general information and training on NC State’s post-tenure review process. These events are open to the campus community. The sessions will take place via Zoom (restricted to authenticated NC State users):
  • Wednesday, September 16, 2:30-4:00 p.m. 
  • Thursday, September 17, 3:00-4:30 p.m.

Please contact Dr. Courtney Thornton, Associate Vice Provost for Academic Personnel and Policy, at chthornt@ncsu.edu with any questions.

• The UNC System’s Racial Equity Task Force is seeking your input. Please share your ideas for how we can improve racial equity. Please note that we are committed to broad-based engagement, and comments submitted through this form may be shared in order to gather additional community feedback. This is the Share Your Ideas form, which allows for anonymity for those who feel more comfortable sharing their input in private. The survey will be open until Sept. 30 per the UNC System. 
• The Genetic Engineering and Society Center will host a conversation with Angela Saini on the Legacy of Scientific Racism on October 8 at 5:30 p.m. Saini is a journalist and author of “Superior: The Return of Race Science,” and NC State faculty panelists Blair Kelley and Terri Long. Opening remarks will be made by Provost Warwick Arden. Learn more and register for the Zoom discussion.
• Registration for the Institute for Emerging Issues’ ReCONNECT to Move Forward: A Three-Part Virtual Meeting Series is now open! COVID-19 is changing the way we live, learn, work, and play. Our people and organizations are forced to chart paths through the present and into the future based on confusing and sometimes contradictory information, with consequences that will reshape lives. It’s a daunting challenge and a tremendous opportunity.

This fall, IEI will highlight the people struggling to lead in these troubling times and look for emerging solutions that can meet the moment and position us to move forward into a better future. Similar to IEI’s past convenings, these meetings will create a space for national, state, and local leaders and community members to critically analyze and discuss what is working well and acknowledge what is not. Each meeting will be interactive and will identify behaviors, strategies, or policy ideas that increase equity and inclusion. The goal of these meetings is to develop a set of near- and long-term recommendations that can help us move forward, by better connecting together.

The Institute for Emerging Issues (IEI) has scholarships available for those interested who identify ticket price affordability as a barrier to participation.  The scholarships will provide free admission to the virtual event and will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Learn more and register today!

• Impact on Higher Education and the Future of Work – September 24, 9 a.m.-noon
• A Digitally Inclusive North Carolina – October 15, 9 a.m.-noon
• Mental Health & Well-Being – October 29, 9 a.m.-noon.

COVID-19 Updates:

• At NC State, we’re doing everything we can to protect the Pack as we respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. To make that happen, every member of the community must do their part. This site presents protocols, guidelines and far-ranging information to help promote a safe and supportive environment for students, faculty and staff. Learn more at https://www.ncsu.edu/coronavirus/.

From the Office of Assessment:

• The timeline for assessment reporting has been adjusted for the 2020-2021 academic year. Rather than submitting assessment reports in February, DUPs and DGPs are able to submit their reports in mid-March. This still allows for data collection in the fall term and additional time in early spring to analyze results, discuss findings with your full faculty, and make decisions based on your findings. This adjusted timeline also allows for flexibility, particularly at the beginning of the spring 2021 semester. The new assessment report submission dates are:
  • March 12, 2021: DUPs and DGPs submit assessment reports to department heads in the APA application: go.ncsu.edu/APA
  • May 28, 2021: Department heads review assessment reports
  • June 11, 2021: Department heads submit a summary report to their dean’s designee
  • June 25, 2021: Dean’s designee reviews assessment reports
  • July 9, 2021: Dean’s designee submits a summary report to the Provost’s Office

For questions, please contact Stephany Dunstan or Pierre Gremaud. 

• There are a number of resources available to help faculty with assessment, including online resources, virtual training sessions and workshops, virtual drop-in sessions, and individual consultations. For a list of resources and the calendar of virtual events, please visit: https://provost.ncsu.edu/institutional-quality/assessment/resources/.
• In fall 2020 the Office of Assessment and Accreditation and DASA Assessment partnered to move General Education Competency Assessment online. This semester we are assessing first-year students in the areas of critical thinking, creative thinking, and written communication (known also as Pack Proficiencies).
• Critical and creative thinking are being assessed through a fully online instrument known as the Critical-thinking Assessment Test (CAT). This instrument contains 15 mostly short answer/essay questions. The assessment takes students 45-minutes to 1-hour to complete and is proctored by Assessment staff via Zoom. The data that results from this assessment may be used to support improvements in courses and curricula and better understand first-year students’ critical and creative thinking skills. Faculty who are interested in including their students in this assessment may utilize resulting aggregated data in their annual academic program assessment. Assessment staff will work with faculty to schedule the assessment during class time or during a scheduled time outside of class. Additional information about this assessment is available online from go.ncsu.edu/first-year-assessment.
• Written communication is being assessed through an online scenario-based writing instrument. Assessment staff partnered with faculty in the First-Year Writing Program to administer the assessment to students enrolled in ENG 101. FYWP faculty will score student writing products with a common rubric in November. The common rubric will help faculty identify how students are meeting NC State’s stated student learning outcomes around written communication. The Office of Assessment and Accreditation and DASA Assessment are so appreciative of the continued partnership with FYWP faculty! If you are interested in having students from your program participate in General Education Competency assessment, please contact Samantha Rich.

From DELTA:

• Many NC State faculty, staff and students are once again making the switch to remote teaching and learning as undergraduate courses move online for the remainder of the fall semester. To ease the transition, we’ve compiled some of our tips, tricks and resources to successfully teach online. In this roundup, you will find articles and advice from DELTA’s instructional designers, technology experts, media makers and project managers to help you and your students connect and thrive remotely this fall.

• A new group of faculty members is set to apply Quality Matters (QM) standards to their online courses as part of the Course Quality Program at NC State. In a time when online course quality is critical, this group is dedicating their time and efforts to making improvements to their courses and receiving official QM certification. Meet the new cohort.

• DELTA is excited to announce 29 new and continuing DELTA Grant recipients for the 2020-2021 academic year. We look forward to collaborating with our faculty and campus partners to apply research-based best practices to promote technology-rich learning environments at NC State.
• DELTA is facilitating the Quality Matters (QM) flagship workshop, Applying the Quality Matters Rubric (APPQMR), for faculty and staff Sept. 10 from 1-4:30 p.m. Participants in the virtual workshop will leave with specific recommendations for improving their courses. Register now for the APPQMR workshop.
• DELTA welcomes five new Faculty Fellows for the 2020-2021 cycle. Michelle Bartlett, Lina Battestilli, Elaine Bohórquez, Christine Cranford and Julianne Treme will partner with DELTA to share teaching with technology best practices through a variety of activities.
• Looking for support at your fingertips? The DELTA LearnTech YouTube channel contains a variety of how-to videos on learning technology tools as well as strategies for using those tools effectively. Videos are always being updated, so be sure to subscribe to the channel for alerts. Check out the details.
• We have compiled our tips, tricks and resources for successfully teaching online. In this roundup, you will find articles and advice from DELTA’s instructional designers, technology experts, media makers and project managers to help you and your students connect and thrive remotely this fall. Browse the articles.
• Do you need an answer to a specific question? The DELTA Teaching Resources website offers best practices for teaching with technology, and the search function makes it easy to find the answers you are looking for quickly. Go to the website.
• DELTA is continuing to offer workshops to help you refine your teaching with technology skills in a quick and convenient way. We’ll cover the tools, techniques and strategies you need to effectively teach online. See the list of offerings.

From the Office of Faculty Development:

• The Office of Faculty Development is continuing our popular Conversation Series as a series held in Zoom throughout the fall. For each of the three sessions, faculty will read a relevant article/paper about the topic (optional), receive question prompts, engage in conversation around the topic with other faculty members, and reflect on how the conversation may have changed thinking on the topic. All conversations will be facilitated by Dr. Maria Gallardo Williams, OFD SoTL Faculty Fellow.
  • Session Schedule:
    • The New Face of Student Engagement (October 7, 2020, 11:30 a.m.)
    • Preparing for Spring (November 4, 2020, 11:30 a.m.)

Register Here

• Join us over lunch virtually for whole-group discussions facilitated by staff from DELTA, NC State University Libraries, and OFD. Faculty and teaching graduate students are invited to attend. Bring your questions and ideas to share with colleagues about teaching in these challenging, uncertain times. Meet-ups will occur via Zoom every Thursday from 12:00-1:00 pm during the Fall 2020 semester. Registration is required in order to receive the Zoom meeting details.
• DELTA and the Office of Faculty Development are pleased to announce the purchase of a site license for the ITLC Online Lilly Conference, occurring November 30 – December 4. The NC State site licence provides unlimited free conference registrations for faculty, staff and graduate students using their NC State email addresses. Registration is normally $325 per person. The Lilly conference is focused on enhancing online, onsite and hybrid teaching and learning. Attendees will enjoy five full days of conference programming with both synchronous and asynchronous sessions. Session types include 30- and 60-minute sessions, plenary addresses, roundtable discussions and poster presentations. Tracks include: Assessment classroom technologies, course (re)design, diversity/inclusion, engaging/motivating students, service learning and teaching online. The Call for Proposals is currently open with a deadline of October 1. There is no cost involved in registration. To register for this conference:
  • Go to https://www.itlclillyonline.com/ (close the pop-up, by “x”ing out).
  • In the upper right corner of the website, click Log In
  • Enter your first and last name and NC State email address.
  • Site membership will be approved manually by ITLC Lilly staff (within 24 hours).
  • Once approved, you will receive an email requesting that you set up your profile (Video with instructions for setting up your profile). After setting up your profile, your registration is complete.
  • One week prior to the conference start, you will receive an email reminder of the event. To access programming (synchronously or asynchronously) log in using this same login button, using email and the password you created.

If you have questions about this opportunity or about the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), please contact the Office of Faculty Development at faculty_development@ncsu.edu.

From the Office of Global Engagement:

• Please read our fall 2020 welcome from Bailian Li, senior vice provost for Global Engagement.
• The Office of Global Engagement has formed an advisory council composed of staff members from across the division to examine ways to tackle diversity, equity and inclusion challenges in the realm of international education. The 10-member council convened last week and will get to work quickly on conducting a needs assessment and developing an action plan for all the units within Global Engagement.
• The Global Courtyard is a new outdoor space that can be enjoyed by the NC State community throughout the year. Construction of the space finished in March, but the finishing touches of the Global Courtyard were added shortly before the start of the fall semester – several months after the original completion date because of delays caused by the global pandemic.

From the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity:

• The Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity at NC State University invites applications for the Inaugural Intercultural Development Inventory Initiative! The Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI®) is the premier cross-cultural assessment of intercultural competence that is used by thousands of individuals and organizations to build intercultural competence to achieve international and domestic diversity and inclusion goals and outcomes. Please visit this link to learn about the initiative from the IDI Champion Team: Intercultural Development Initiative (IDI) Pilot Video. Please visit this link to apply for the initiative: Intercultural Development Initiative (IDI) Information and Application Form.
• The Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity is excited to announce the Inclusive Excellence Certificate (IEC). In this thoughtful and empowering program, participants will examine several aspects of diversity and inclusion; as well as gain skills which will increase their effectiveness in creating workplaces and classrooms that exhibit Inclusive Excellence. In order to achieve and earn the IEC, participants must attend four workshops within the academic year. Three of the workshops are required:
  • Unconscious Bias: Insight for Inclusivity 
  • The Fundamentals of Equal Opportunity
  • The Macro of Microaggressions

From the Office of Research and Innovation:

• The Office of Research and Innovation has announced the winners of the 2020 Envisioning Research contest. The contest is a collaborative effort by NC State’s Office of Research and Innovation, the Graduate School, the NC State University Libraries, the Office of Undergraduate Research and University Communications and Marketing. Envisioning Research was open to faculty, staff, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and undergraduates.
• A research team led by an NC State assistant professor won a grant from the University of North Carolina System with a multidisciplinary proposal to develop a platform that can manufacture quantum dot inks using artificial intelligence. The inks are considered high-priority specialty chemicals that can impact North Carolina’s energy, defense and agriculture sectors. 
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has added to joint appointments with universities and nonprofit research institutions by adding NC State to the portfolio. Brian Kritzstein, a PNNL technical and research liaison at the Laboratory for Analytic Sciences (LAS) located on NC State’s Centennial Campus, will now also serve in a joint appointment role reporting to Associate Vice Chancellor for National Security and Special Research Initiatives, Alyson Wilson. Kritzstein will work on developing and scaling the outreach and collaboration opportunities for the LAS in addition to expanding the national laboratory and university outreach efforts on behalf of NC State.
• The Office of Research and Innovation has announced its newest cohort of Fellows. They are identified by their dedication to constant improvement in identifying strategic opportunities, innovation, and enhancements to research administration. ORI Fellows are given access to the highest level of research decision making and planning at the university.
• The Office of Research Commercialization recently redesigned its website. The Office of Research Commercialization (ORC) cultivates an inclusive environment of scientific and entrepreneurial excellence and bridges connections from NC State’s research community to industry and startups by strategically evaluating, protecting and licensing technology.

This post was originally published in Provost's Office News.