Initiative for Faculty Success and Equity Workshop

IFSE Workshop Resources

Workshop Descriptions

Effective Communication – a Center for Improvement of Mentored Experience Workshop

Good communication is a key element of any relationship, and a mentoring relationship is no exception. As mentors, it is not enough to say that we know good communication when we see it. Rather, it is critical that mentors reflect upon and identify the specific characteristics of effective communication and take time to practice communication skills. This workshop will focus on development of knowledge and skill as a mentor to:

• Foster open communication with the mentee.
• Address how differences in communication styles, background, position of power, etc., can alter the intent and the perception of what is said and heard.
• Use multiple strategies for improving communication.

Peer coaching mentoring circles

A Peer Coaching Circle (PCC) is a small group of faculty from a similar career stage

who meet regularly to support each other’s personal and professional goals. Qualitative data from national, professional development programs for early career faculty demonstrate that PCCs are a highly impactful form of faculty development. PCCs:

• Provide opportunity for participants to strategize and gain momentum toward achieving their goals and to hold themselves accountable for investing in their own development.
• Support participants in the development of basic coaching skills.
• Facilitate community with other faculty at a similar career stage.
• Help build participants' self-efficacy.

In this workshop we will focus on learning and practicing the framework and features for launching and developing your own impactful PCC experience.

Faculty Coaching – a new approach to supporting faculty

Faculty coaching is a growing approach to supporting faculty throughout the career cycle. This workshop is facilitated by two Penn State professors who are also experienced faculty coaches. They will share more about the coaching approach, its benefits for early and mid-career faculty members, and focus particular attention on the experiences of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). The workshop will center on:

• Why faculty coaching is a growing approach to supporting faculty broadly, many of whom struggle to effectively manage the competing career demands of teaching, research, and service.
• How to support junior and mid-career faculty in maintaining a healthy work/life balance.
• When to begin and advance mentorship through coaching to optimize success metrics in faculty recruitment, advancement, and retention.

Aligning Expectations – a Center for Improvement of Mentored Experience Workshop

A critical element of an effective mentor-mentee relationship is a shared understanding of what each person expects from the relationship. Importantly, expectations change over time so frequent reflection and clear communication about expectations are needed on a regular basis. This workshop will focus on development of knowledge and skill as a mentor to:

• Establish expectations and clearly communicate them to a mentee.
• Design and communicate clear goals for the mentoring relationship.
• Listen to and consider the expectations of their mentee in the mentoring relationship.
• Consider how individual differences may affect the relationship.

Next STEPS Training in Equitable Faculty Search

When hiring for faculty positions, Penn State is competing for the best talent with many other institutions. A well-designed recruitment process intentionally blunts existing biases and helps all job candidates portray themselves in the most favorable light, while also putting Penn State’s best foot forward as a supportive work environment. This workshop outlines best practices for the entire hiring process, from composing a job advertisement to following up after a job offer is made. Faculty who will be serving on a faculty search committee this year and are interested in participating in the Next STEPS Training in Equitable Faculty Search should send an email to ssri-info@psu.edu.

Speakers

Facilitator for morning and lunch conversation

Jennifer Hamer, Professor of African American Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies; Interim Associate Vice Provost and Senior Faculty Mentor, Office for Educational Equity; Director, Midcareer Faculty Advancement Program.

Ray Block, Brown-McCourtney Career Development Professor in the McCourtney Institute and Associate Professor of Political Science and African American Studies

Morning conversation

Jeanine Staples-Dixon, Professor of Literacy and Language, African American Studies, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (she, her)
She focuses on dismantling supremacist patriarchies through research, teaching, and coaching. As a sociocultural literacist, Dr. Staples works to understand personal and public voices and stories to solve personal and public problems. She does this by researching the evolutionary nature and function of literacies and texts through the discourses of narrative research. Her work exposes impetuses for various personal and social ills such as racism, sexism, and ableism.

Theresa Vescio, Professor of Psychology (she, her, they, them)
Research Interests: gender, power, status, hegemonic masculinity, intersectionality, white supremacy, status quo maintenance. Terri Vescio’s research seeks to understand the factors that facilitate and temper the expression of sexism, racism, and heterosexism. Within that context, Terri is interested in the interplay between the stereotypic behaviors of powerful people and the consequences that those behaviors have for the emotions, motivation, and performance of low power women, gay men, and people of color. She also studies the role of hegemonic masculinity (as a personal identity and cultural ideology) in the maintenance of the status quo via political preferences, use and acceptance of sexual violence, preferences to dominate women, acceptance of violence against people of color. For more information, please see the work of the Gender, Power, and Privilege lab (vesciolab.com).

Stephen Wilson, Professor of Psychology (he, him, his)
Professor Wilson focuses on substance use and other types of behavior that negatively affect health. His research combines theories and methods from the fields of psychology and neuroscience. One major emphasis is cigarette smoking, which is a form of substance use that is particularly harmful and costly. Current projects in this area are largely organized around three interrelated questions: First, what causes people to fail when they try to quit smoking (or to forgo quitting in the first place)? Second, how do certain individual differences (e.g., sex, personality traits) make people more or less successful at quitting smoking? Third, what are the best strategies to teach people to make them more successful when trying to quit smoking? Although much of the research focuses on cigarette smoking, the research is applicable to drug addiction and other behaviors that have a negative impact on health and has recently been expanded to explore overeating and overweight/obesity.

Lunch time conversation

Clarence Lang, Susan Welch Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts

Tracy Langkilde, Verne M. Willamon Dean, Eberly College of Science

Kimberly Lawless, Dean, College of Education

Craig Newschaffer, Raymond E. and Erin Stuart Schultz Dean, College of Health and Human Development

Agenda