September 29, 2005
By Valerie Orleans

Since Tony Rimmer, professor of communications, accepted a three-year appointment as director of the Faculty Development Center, he has spent a great deal of time away from his desk.

“My job right now is to meet with others to see if the center is meeting their needs and discover how we can be of more assistance,” he says. “I’ve been very fortunate because my predecessors — Ellen Junn, Jack Bedell, Sandra Sutphen and Rhonda Allen — did an excellent job over the years. I’m simply building upon the groundwork that has already been established.”

Much of the focus of the Faculty Development Center has been on providing training for new technologies and software. While this training is still a cornerstone of the center, Rimmer would like to see an increased focus on assisting faculty with teaching and research skills, perhaps by sharing best practices.

“Back in the early ’90s, the campus began to invest in computer systems because the goal was to have the campus completely wired and all faculty and staff on the same basic platform,” Rimmer says. “We had wonderful systems and programs, but everyone was on different platforms. Naturally, it created a lot of confusion. Also, many faculty members weren’t comfortable with the new systems, and there weren’t established programs to help them.”

As the university moved toward developing a standardized platform (and one that could be updated regularly), attention was shifting to helping faculty members learn how to best utilize the new tools available to them. The Faculty Development Center was set up to deliver on this goal.

“If you look at the programs the center offers, you can see it’s primarily driven by technology,” says Rimmer. “We did this because faculty, while being well-versed in their areas of expertise, often needed assistance with new technology. Also, because programs are upgraded so frequently, faculty members sometimes needed assistance with new or upgraded programs.

“I’m concerned for our part-timers,” the veteran professor says. “They are experts in their field, but when they’re hired for a class, they don’t always understand how our systems operate. And, since they’re often working in the evenings, there may be nobody around to help them. I would like to see more part-timers take advantage of these programs. And I’m going to try and extend our hours so we can better help them.”

Senior faculty are another group Rimmer, a member of the teaching faculty since 1987, would like to reach.

“Technology has its frustrating side, and change can sometimes seem to be change for change’s sake,” Rimmer admits. “But when upgrades are available, you want to take advantage of them.”

But more important for Rimmer is the experience that senior faculty have in teaching and research.

“We are looking at ways of re-energizing senior faculty and trying to reconnect with them so their great teaching and research experience can be more readily shared with their colleagues.”

In addition to educational programs, the Faculty Development Center offers “mini grants” each year. Usually in the neighborhood of $500 to $1,000, the grants are helpful in allowing faculty members to receive some assistance for programs involving faculty/student collaboration, international travel and research. This year’s deadline for applications is 5 p.m., Monday, Oct. 17.

The Faculty Development Center also is in charge of new faculty orientation, faculty day and a variety of wide-ranging programs such as the monthly support program for department chairs.

In the future, Rimmer hopes to partner with other campus programs to provide additional outreach efforts.

“Right now, I’m meeting with people and asking what they need,” he explains. “Based on what I’m told, we’ll try to develop programs to meet some of those needs.”

What are the most frequent requests the center receives?

“Most people want more information on the Blackboard program,” he says. “The momentum to put class curriculum and information on Blackboard is going to increase, and new Blackboard programs are being acquired and developed, as the university increases its commitment to the program. So I’d encourage those who aren’t using this program to look into it and integrate it into their teaching.”

« back to News Front