Mission ~ History ~ Orientation ~ Facilities
Who the Center Serves ~ Programs ~ Advocacy
Expertise ~ Projects ~ Contact Info

Mission

The Center mission is to support the faculty in their scholarship and professional work: teaching, research and creative activity, and service. The long-term aim of the Center is to facilitate building a community of scholars. This entails making opportunities for professional development to all faculty members and supporting programmatic change to institutionalize elements of faculty professional development.

The Faculty Professional Development Center (FPDC) had its beginnings in the collaborative efforts of the Faculty Professional Development Study Committee (FPDSC), a body initiated by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), developed with the Administration, and put forth in the contract agreement signed in April, 1993. In their report, based on two and one-half years of study, the committee drew attention to the many and diverse forms of support for faculty professional development in existence at Kent State University, most notably the University Research Council (URC) and the University Teaching Council (UTC). The report contained suggestions for strengthening some of these efforts, for making all efforts more broadly known and available, and for creating other opportunities as needed. The committee offered a conceptual framework for faculty professional development and recommended the creation of the Center. The report was presented to the President and to the Faculty Senate for discussion. President Cartwright and Senate Chair Robert Johnson created a planning committee to provide detailed recommendations on housing, staff, budget and reporting. In February of 1997 the planning committee submitted its report. By late August 1998 a director was appointed and in September the Center and its staff began formal operations.

The Center offers an invitation and an opportunity to be supported in growing professionally. Our orientation is career-long development and the enhancement of scholarship.

The Center is comprised of a director, assistant director, secretary, receptionist, and two new media support staff who conduct seminars and workshops in support of faculty professional development (fpd). Our physical location is in Moulton Hall on the Kent State University Kent Campus and includes the:

• Director’s office: 209 Moulton Hall
• Studio, Resource Center and lounge: 217 Moulton
• Electronic Laboratory
• Moulton Scholars' Offices - faculty members housed per semester in Moulton Hall for special projects and use of technology resources and support staff.

Faculty, Graduate Students, Administrators, & the University Community. The Center with the Faculty Professional Development Council works in support of the mission by studying and recommending policies for the operation of the Center, programming for faculty development, and articulation with other faculty development initiatives at the University, and providing leadership for working groups associated with the Center.

The Center has four main areas of service to:

• connect, network, and support continuity in opportunities for professional and staff development.
• communicate opportunities for professional and staff development.
• provide advocacy and support for professional development as members work with individual colleagues, committees, and groups to enhance opportunities for long and short-term growth.
• offer expertise and consultation related to specific areas of scholarship and professional work.

The Center sponsors and co-sponsors various workshops, seminars, forums, and conferences throughout the year. Multimedia and electronic technology,  colleague, staff, and curriculum development, reappointment, tenure and promotion workshops and others are among the topics offered.

The Center calls attention to the implications and influences of professional work and functioning of groups and of policy making on fpd. For example, the University Research Council and the University Teaching Council, for example, support the scholarship of research and teaching (and curriculum development). Their work on behalf of scholarship through networking and communication raises awareness of professional development dimensions of work and policies. For example, "How might scholarship be strengthened (PD enhanced) through the processes we use in deliberation over grant proposals?" Council members can give written feedback and offer workshops on proposal writing.

Forums, workshops, speakers, written and electronic publications each enhance fpd by offering expertise to those who want it. The Center, through its constituency and on-going data collection, locates expertise and makes it available. Individual and group consultation to support and encourage scholarship is provided. 

These are designed with others for various purposes. The Center supports Grant-work in conjunction with RAGS, the URC, and UTC in the forms of conceptualizing projects, proposal writing, and working through and across units. The Faculty Refresh computer programs for example, provides an opportunity for Center staff to work with faculty members to facilitate the use of new technology for scholarship (teaching, research, creative activity). Center staff help faculty members conceptualize, design, and use new media and technology within disciplinary contexts. For example, what does this new technology mean:

• to my (and our) teaching and learning (research, creative activity)?
• for curriculum and program development?
• for faculty – student roles and relationships?
• for faculty – faculty roles and relationships?

Mary Louise Holly, Director
Judith E. Jones, Assistant Director
Jody Khlem, Senior Secretary
Albert Ingram, Faculty Associate
Jason Piatt, Studio Educational Consultant
Faculty Professional Development Center
Kent State University – 217 Moulton Hall
Kent, OH 44242-0001
E-mail: fpdc@kent.edu
Phone: 330-672-2992
Fax: 330-672-3815

FPDC Council Members

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