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WELCOME TO THE ADJUNCT BULLETIN
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Welcome to our second issue of the Adjunct Bulletin,
On Saturday October 14th, the Provost Office sponsored an Adjunct Faculty Breakfast Information Session for all Adjunct Faculty. The breakfast was held from 9:00am, to 12:00pm at the Chicago campus and also was available via Zoom (videoconference). The day began with a light breakfast and networking session and concluded with a series of information session from key leaders within National Louis University. It was a great opportunity to meet University leaders, and provide adjuncts with a space to share their questions and concerns. We received positive feedback from the adjunct faculty members that attended.
The presentations began with the President’s address. Dr. Nivine Megahed thanked the adjunct community for their contributions to NLU’s teaching excellence and shared an update on the University’s strategic priorities. Other presentations included updates and valuable information on Student Support, the Undergraduate College, the National College of Education (NCE), the College of Professional Studies and Advancement(CPSA), Accreditation, and professional development opportunities offered by the Office of Teaching and Learning. You can access the NLU 2020 Strategic Plan site here, https://www.nl.edu/strategicplanningcommons/ .
If you were unable to attend or if you would like to review the recoding or the Adjunct Breakfast Power Point you can access the video here: https://youtu.be/_ShNKVsXShk
The Provost Office administered a satisfaction survey pertaining to the Adjunct Faculty Breakfast Information Session. We would like to hear form those who did not attend to help us plan future adjunct focused events and professional development activities. You can find the survey here.
Thank you to all the Adjunct Faculty and presenters who attended in spite of rainy weather. I look forward to providing future events that will benefit all our adjunct community.
Raquel Garcia M.Ed.
Adjunct Faculty Operations Manager
Provost Office
rgarcia32@nl.edu
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Upcoming Dates
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11/5/17:
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Last day to drop late start classes
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11/15/17:
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December 31st degree date application deadline
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11/23/17
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Thanksgiving Holiday
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11/26/17
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Fall 10-week classes end
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For more dates visit www.nl.edu/academiccalendar.
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News You Can Use
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Faculty Credentialing Initiative Update– Successful Implementation
We are pleased to share that we have met the September 1, 2017 deadline to have all NLU faculty credentialed for the courses they teach. We sincerely appreciate the efforts of our adjunct faculty in securing and providing the documentation in a timely manner to meet this important deadline.
Background
This credentialing initiative began in 2015 when our regional accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission, restated longstanding expectations regarding qualifications of faculty and importance of faculty members having appropriate expertise in the subjects they teach, making more explicit how HLC will review and examine contextual nuances regarding faculty qualifications. The general HLC guidelines which NLU used to identify the minimum credentials for each course in the program are listed below.
- Instructors possess a degree relevant to what they are teaching and at least one level above the level at which they teach, except in terminal degree programs or where equivalent experience is established.
- Institutions hiring faculty based on equivalent experience must define a minimum threshold of experience and an evaluation process used in the appointment process.
- Where a faculty member doesn't hold a master's degree in the specific discipline or subfield they are teaching, they must have a minimum of 18 graduate credits in the discipline or subfield they are teaching.
- Instructors teaching in a graduate program should hold a terminal degree and have a record of research, scholarship, or achievement appropriate for the program.
Moving Forward
When adjunct faculty members are approved to teach specific courses, they are considered to have met the minimum criteria to teach these courses. No supplementary credentials or experience will be required in order to remain approved to teach those courses. This includes any research and scholarship activities outside of the stated criteria for the course. As always, there are curriculum updates in response to the external market and/or accreditation requirements along with changes that support student success. If these curricular changes alter the minimum criteria, faculty approved to teach the affected courses will be notified and re-credentialed accordingly.
Our credentialing efforts are ongoing. We encourage our adjunct community to request additional courses where they are qualified in order to maximize teaching opportunities. Program Chairs can provide the Requirement Matrix for adding courses or contact (insert general adjunct email address here).
If you would like more information or have any questions, please contact Raquel Garcia at Ext. 3857.
From the Human Resources Department:
As you know from Dr. Megahed’s recent email announcement, NLU has once again partnered with Noel Levitz to conduct an employee satisfaction survey. The survey begins today, Monday, November 6 and will remain open through Friday, November 17th. You may access the online survey 24 hours a day from any computer. The survey will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. Please SKIP any items you are unable to answer.
The survey is designed to provide the NLU community with information on:
Your participation is highly important and critical to the survey process. The survey is designed to be completely confidential with no one at NLU ever seeing individual survey responses or written comments. Your views and opinions are important, and this survey is your chance to candidly express those opinions. Thank you for taking the time to participate.
The web-site address for the survey is: National Louis University (CESS) Staff/Faculty Survey
If you have any questions please feel free to contact Human Resources or Chris.Mayers@ruffalonl.com Please contact the HELP desk with any technical difficulties.
Thank you
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Upcoming Events
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Upcoming Events
During the month of February, the Office of Teaching and Learning is sponsoring a series of faculty facilitated discussion forums on post-secondary core teaching practices. The theme this yearis how we learn through teaching – In this series we will dig deeper into the quality of core post-secondary teaching practices and what they reveal about student thinking and learning.
Faculty are invited as individuals or teams to facilitate a forum on insights gained about student thinking as they gather, interpret, and use evidence of student learning in the context of a core teaching practice. Each week will focus on one of three core teaching practices in higher education - facilitating discussions, teamwork, and writing. Forums scheduled in the final week of the month will focus on research on teaching and learning at NLU.
2017-2018 Timeline –
December 1, 2017: Forum proposals are due
December 15, 2017: Schedule of forums is distributed
January 29 – February 23, 2018: Forums are offered
For more information or to submit a proposal, click here, Faculty Forums: Request for Proposals
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Please be aware of an excellent faculty Development opportunity to learn more about NLU’s Hispanic Serving Institution grant, the students it serves, and its contributions to NLU’s social justice mission. The faculty development consists of three eNuggets on culturally responsive practices, which are available here There will also be a brown bag dialogue series in December, January, and April. The brown bag events will be opportunities for dialogue with colleagues across NLU about the topics in the eNuggets, questions/concerns, and ideas for new culturally responsive practices: http://enuggetlearning.com/NLU/tag/1700
They will take place on the following dates from 12:00-1:00 at the Chicago campus in room 4020 and via Zoom:
2017-2018 Timeline –
December 1 – What makes NLU a Hispanic Serving Institution?
January 26 – What is the role of positive campus climate and classrooms in persistence, retention, and graduation?
April 6 – What are culturally responsive practices, and what do they look like in teaching, advising, and coaching at NLU?
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Adjunct Spotlight
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Hello, my name is Deborah Faermark. I am a proud two-time alumna of NLU. I earned my MAT in general education and a CAS in special education. I am currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago receiving my Doctorate in Special Education. For the past seven years, I have taught graduate courses at NLU as an Adjunct Professor and Professional Adjunct Lecturer in the Special Education department. I have also supervised both traditional and alternative licensure students as a University Supervisor and have worked as Field Experience Manager. For the past 2 years, I have served as the Program Coordinator of the Alternative Teacher Licensure program. I will be presenting at this year’s South by Southwest Education Conference.
Presentations
Administrator Supports for Co-teachers in the Inclusive Classroom
TED CEC Annual Conference, Savanah, GA November 2017
Administrator Supports for Co-teachers
South by Southwest (SXSW) Edu Conference, Austin, TX March 2018
Current research states that administrators who espouse a commitment to inclusion can improve inclusive practices, collaboration, and the co-teaching service delivery option. General and special educators are expected to collaborate to support the diverse needs of all learners in the co-taught classroom. I will be presenting results from my pilot study that explored the supports that middle school administrators provided to co-teachers in the inclusive classroom. Data collected from interviews with middle school administrators who directly supervised co-teachers in the content specific inclusive classroom will be presented and discussed. Supports that were found to be effective in promoting successful collaboration, inclusion, and co-teaching will be shared during the presentation.
There is a dearth of the literature on professional development for administrators on inclusive practices. There may be a need for administrators to participate in professional development to improve their understanding of how to implement inclusive practices such as collaboration and the co-teaching service delivery option in their schools (Brinkman & Twiford, 2012; Mackey, 2014). My current research is focusing on exploring how professional development training for administrators on inclusive practices affect the administrators’ ability to support co-teachers in the inclusion classroom. My research has a strong focus on the inclusive practices of collaboration and the co-teaching service delivery option.
If you would like to showcase your work email us a short description of your work by the 15th of the month end of business day to adjunctnews@nl.edu. We look forward to sharing your work with the NLU Community.
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