The Exciting Things Faculty Do
One of the great joys of being a provost is seeing, or hearing about, faculty in action. In the last few weeks, I have done this with particular energy, made that much more rewarding given our being fully back on campus. Here are a few representative highlights from each academic unit:
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Being invited by Dr. Christopher Herbert to end a tough week with belly laughs at the student musical, I Love You, Your Perfect, Now Change (CAHSS);
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Seeing Neil Grimes yet again put together valuable resources for me and others about the broader issues facing higher education, and most recently, ways to better live out our Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) responsibilities (Library);
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Watching Dr. Liz Brown and Dr. David Fuentes in their new roles as Co-Directors of the Center for Teaching Excellence hit the ground running and with infectious enthusiasm for good teaching at WP (COE);
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Seeing Dr. Kiho Lim’s Cybersecurity Lab become operational thanks to Cares Act capital funding, and seeing a demonstration by Dr. Jeung Woon Lee of the new Anatomage Table that has the potential to revolutionize the teaching of anatomy and physiology at WP, both on campus and remotely (COSH); and
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Engaging Honors College directors on their passion for Honors students and feeling the infectious enthusiasm they have for nurturing talent and research opportunity.
A university thrives when its faculty are able to unleash their creativity and love for one’s discipline. Thank you, colleagues, for making WP a special place for faculty contribution.
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Academic News
Late Start Underway. The late start initiative has been a valuable means of (1) enabling students to enroll at the University for whatever reason they could not at the start of the semester, and (2) enabling students to build a full schedule who otherwise were not able to do so. Across 10 courses, there are 385 enrollments — with most classes near or at capacity. Thank you to the faculty who are participating in this experiment, and for the insights you are gleaning, and will continue to gain, on how we might improve it going forward.
WP Online Update. Our Fall 2 undergraduate soft start is at 61 students, surpassing the goal of 50 enrolled students. The two top programs for enrollment to this point are psychology and management. At the graduate level, and with the RN to BSN program, programs that have now been underway since last year, Fall 2 had a goal of 100 new students, and those enrollments currently stand at 159. Fall 2 starts November 1.
The Criticality of a Lean Spring 2022 Schedule. Thank you to deans and chairs who are working diligently with faculty to build as lean a spring semester schedule as possible. This has meant as a general rule having face-to-face lecture sections set at 40 and online asynchronous classes set at 30. Deans have specific discretion to adjust, although it is important to point out that among the lower capped course sections this fall, 75 percent of them came in with lower than cap enrollments. It is much better to add sections later if needed than cancel sections in which students have already enrolled. This task represents a critical resource stewardship effort given the size of this variable cost for instructional deployment. Note that faculty can now also take advantage of a reduced spring teaching load by teaching Winter Term or Summer I on load.
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13. The number of undergraduate courses in Fall 2020 in which roughly 25 percent of all the grades below C are found.
984 and 29 percent. The number of grades below C in these 13 courses (168 sections) and the average percentage of the class that had such a grade.
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For this month’s quotable, I offer an extraordinarily insightful piece on the psychological forces involved in getting students to ask for help—in this case, to come to faculty office hours. It comes from a weekly message from the Character Lab run by Angela Duckworth, a MacArthur Genius winner who has given a top 25 of all time most-watched TED Talk.
Fear Factor: Overcoming the Awkwardness of Asking for Help
The quietest part of my day used to be my office hours, when students could meet with me without an appointment. Why? Because no one would show up for them. I clearly advertised the time I would be available, door open, ready to answer any questions. I extolled the benefits of asking for help. And I told my students what a valuable resource their professors were, that we wanted to help them be successful in their classes.
But I still sat there alone. None of it worked. Students already know it would benefit them to get help. But asking for help feels awkward, uncomfortable, and embarrassing. When we aren’t in their shoes—faced with the immediate prospect of asking someone—we tend to forget just how powerful those anxieties can be. Telling someone what they have to gain from seeking help doesn’t work when they are more focused on what they have to lose.
That’s why research shows it’s more effective to address the underlying anxiety of asking for help than to focus on the practical benefits of doing so. Students need to feel like they aren’t the only ones struggling. They need to believe they won’t be judged negatively for getting extra support.
That’s also why, in my own teaching, I both formalize and normalize help-seeking by requiring all students to come in for office hours at least once. No one feels singled out, and students get practice taking advantage of available resources—and seeing their peers do the same.
Don’t think that knowing help is available is the same as knowing it’s okay to use it.
Do remember how hard it can be to admit you need help. Share a story about a time when you overcame the hesitation to say you needed support. And ask your student how they feel when a friend asks them for a favor—are they happy to lend a hand? Tell them that’s how their faculty feel when students ask for time outside of class: grateful that they can make a difference.
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The Provost’s Office is Meg, Lissette, Claudia T., Claudia C., Jonathan, Kara, Sandy, and Josh. You can reach us at 973.720.2122 • provost@wpunj.edu
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