New Faculty Learning Community

Each year, we invite all new College of Engineering assistant professors to join our new faculty community. Essentially a cohort group, it’s designed to help you rapidly integrate into scholarship and learning at Purdue and build a sense of community with your fellow newcomers.

The community gets started in the fall with a welcome reception and continues throughout the academic year with a series of lunches and programs. Meetings are informal, and you’re encouraged to ask questions of the expert panelists we bring in to speak. We poll community members for topics of interest, and past sessions have included everything from promotion and tenure to recruiting graduate students for research and navigating relationships with senior faculty.

While anecdotal evidence for the program has been positive and enthusiastic, we wanted to support these findings with social science research.  Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Klod Kokini, collaborated with Patrice Buzzanell, Distinguished Professor Emerita in the Brian Lamb School of Communication, and doctoral students in the same school to investigate the participation, perceptions, and outcomes of the NFLCs.

The research findings were presented in June 2016, at the National Conference of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) in New Orleans. Survey results indicated that the most highly ranked benefits of NFLC included providing opportunities to connect with other new faculty, fostering a sense of community, and learning professional development strategies.  Interviews further revealed NFLC offered a welcoming space for advice seeking, networking, and informal mentoring, and served as a symbol of leadership support for faculty success.  In personal interviews, one assistant professor said:  “There were connections made.  I visited one of the faculty labs in bio-medical engineering based on similar interests that would not have come out of other avenues.”  Another faculty member indicated that: “Participation made senior faculty more accessible … I felt like it was easier to approach some of these more senior people.”

Graduate Students: Recruiting, Managing & Developing

Audeen Fentiman, Associate Dean for Graduate Education & Interdisciplinary Programs
ARMS 3001
September 26, 2017 - 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Developing Research Programs

Melba Crawford, Associate Dean for Research
ARMS 3041/ Dunville Room
November 13, 2017 - 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Navigating Relationships with Senior Faculty

Colleagues
ARMS 3041/ Dunville Room
December 12, 2017 - 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Conversations with Last Year's New Faculty

Colleagues
ARMS 3041/ Dunville Room
January 17, 2018 - 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Culture & Climate

Klod Kokini and Kathleen Howell, Associate Deans for Academic Affairs
ARMS 3041/ Dunville Room
March 23, 2018 - 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Promotion & Tenure

Klod Kokini and Kathleen Howell, Associate Deans for Academic Affairs
ARMS 3041/ Dunville Room
April 17, 2018 - 11:30 am – 1:00 pm