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CALL FOR PROPOSALS 2008

The Ninth Annual Midwest Conference on

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

The Ninth Annual Midwest Conference on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning will be held on Friday, April 11, 2008
at Indiana University South Bend.  We are accepting proposals on this year’s theme:

Cultivating Excellence through Mentoring and Collaboration

The keynote speaker, James E. Lang, is Associate Professor in the English Department at Assumption College, author of the book Life on the Tenure Track: Lessons from the First Year, and a featured contributor to The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Proposals for presentations are invited from individuals and groups who have, or are in the process of, implementing a faculty mentoring program within their institution. Proposals addressing, but not limited to, experiences in the following areas will be considered:

• Issues involved in the decision to implement a Faculty Mentoring Program (FMP)
• The process of designing a Faculty Mentoring Program
• Gaining support and approval and incentives for a Faculty Mentoring Program
• The trans-disciplinary nature of Faculty Mentoring Programs
• Moving from one FMP to multiple FMPs
• Sustaining FMPs

The target audience will include:

• Individuals seeking to address issues of teaching, learning, and professional development in a structured and supportive way
• New faculty members and graduate students who plan on becoming faculty members
• Department leaders who wish to increase faculty interest in SoTL activities
• Those curious about Faculty Mentoring Programs in general and who wish to learn more about them

Topics for presentations may include, but are not limited to, Diversity and Teaching, Collaborative Teaching, Evaluation of Faculty, Mentoring Faculty in SoTL, Faculty Morale and Retention, Assessing Mentoring Programs, Networking, and Faculty Learning Communities.

Accepted proposals will require a 30-minute presentation to be followed by a 20-minute Q&A period.

To submit a proposal, please send the following information for each presenter to:
The University Center for Excellence in Teaching, Indiana University South Bend— ucet@iusb.edu  
(Electronic submission only, please)

Please submit the following proposal information for each presentation:

• Title
• Short abstract (2-3 sentences for promotional materials)
• Presentation summary (for review committee, 500-1000 words).  Please discuss how your project relates to the scholarship of teaching and learning.
• The number of 50-minute presentations that can be accepted is limited.  Please indicate whether you would be interested in presenting a poster session in lieu of a presentation.

We will confirm receipt of your proposal via the "reply" email function and submit your proposal (with names removed) to the review committee.  To be considered, the review committee will expect to see clear evidence that the presenters are informed and engaged in the Faculty Mentoring Program process.

Deadline for Proposals: Monday, December 17, 2007       Acceptance Notification:  January 31, 2008

Midwest Regional SoTL Consortium:
Andrews University, Bethel College, Indiana University South Bend,
Holy Cross College, Saint Mary’s College, University of Notre Dame