Welcome to the University Teaching Council (UTC) at Kent State University. The faculty of Kent State University is well prepared and committed to providing Kent State’s second century of high quality lifelong learning.

In partnership with the Faculty Professional Development Center (fpdc), the UTC supports teaching and curriculum development to engage faculty and students in the learning process and provide excellence in scholarship.

OVERVIEW

• NAME OF GROUP: University Teaching Council
• CLASSIFICATION: University Council
• REPORTS TO: Provost

Mission: The Council shall support and facilitate the teaching mission of the University by studying and recommending policies to enrich and enhance teaching and curriculum development, recommending priorities for support of teaching and curriculum development, recommending faculty teaching development awards, collecting information on teaching and curriculum development, and publicizing teaching and curriculum development of the University.

Began: December 1993

Composition: Because of the many and varied aspects of teaching at Kent State University, it is important to assure broad representation on the UTC.  The Council shall consist of sixteen (16) faculty members representing various scholarly areas of the University (e.g. physical and natural sciences, social and behavioral sciences, humanities, arts, and the professional schools.) and one emerita/us faculty member representing retired faculty. Of these sixteen faculty, twelve (12) shall be full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty members and four (4) shall be full-time non-tenure track.   At least one Regional campus faculty shall be included in the Council membership.  The Provost or designee and the Director of the Faculty Professional Development Center (FPDC) shall be ex officio, non-voting members.  The UTC shall also include one undergraduate and one graduate student representative as ex officio non-voting members. Other non-voting members may include the conference chair and liaisons from Libraries and Media Services, the Faculty Professional Development Center, and/or other relevant units.

Term: The term of membership shall be three (3) years, beginning on August 15 of the year of appointment.  No member may be appointed for more that two full terms in succession.  Part-time and student members shall be appointed annually.

Means of Appoinment: Appointments are made by the Provost from a list of candidates nominated by the Faculty Senate Committee on Committees.  Student members will be selected by the Undergraduate Student Senate and the Graduate Student Senate.

Alternatives: Four (4) faculty alternates shall be appointed each year.  An alternate shall be appointed by the Chair to fill the remainder of the term for a member withdrawing from the Council.

Call: The Council shall convene at the call of the Provost or designee in September of each academic year.

Chairperson: The Chair-elect shall be elected from the faculty members by the Council at the second meeting of the academic year and shall assume the duties of the chairperson the following year, after the fall Teaching Conference.    The outgoing Chairperson shall submit annually a written summary report of the Council’s work to the Faculty Senate by mid-November.

Current Chair: Anne Morrison, EHHS, Kent Campus (amorriso@kent.edu)

Funding categories:

Teaching Conference Grant (TCG) (limit: $500 domestic, $800 international):
to attend pedagogical conferences and workshops
to give pedagogical papers
to gather materials not available in Kent

Teaching Development Grant (TDG): (limit: $1000/year)
to purchase materials (e.g., software)
to work on teaching or curricular innovation

Summer Teaching Development Grants (STDG):
to work on teaching and/or curricular development ($3,250 for 5-week; $6,500 for 10-week)

Workshop Grants (WG): ($2,000 limit)
to bring in an outside expert to conduct a workshop on teaching pedagogy for a
department/school/campus

Celebration of Teaching  -- annual fall universitywide conference on the scholarship of teaching -- nationally known keynote speakers; presentation of papers on the scholarship of teaching; invitations to other Northeast Ohio institution poster displays from funded projects; round table discussions on key pedagogical issues; information booths on university teaching projects, publications display and sales; Glenn Frank Lecture; presentation of teaching awards and reception

Contact the Faculty Professional Development Center (330-672-2992), the chair Anne Morrison (amorriso@kent.edu) (330-672-1747) , or the UTC Web site: http://dept.kent.edu/utc/.