UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Registration is now open for the “Initiative for Faculty Success and Equity Workshop” to be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 17, at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center.
The workshop — sponsored by the Social Science Research Institute (SSRI), the Office of the Vice President for Research’s Interdisciplinary Research Institutes, and the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity — will offer information, build knowledge and provide practical skills on how to better center equity and inclusion in the search process and career development with a focus on Penn State tenure-line faculty.
The full-day event will include a hybrid (in person and livestreamed) morning session open to all Penn State faculty, as well as in-person workshops in the afternoon, which will require registration. Lunch will be provided for all in-person participants and the day will wrap up with a networking event.
This workshop is a part of the SSRI Initiative for Faculty Success and Equity (IFSE) and aligns with President Neeli Bendapudi’s recently outlined goals of diversifying the faculty and creating more robust communities of support for faculty of all backgrounds. The event will also partner with Mentoring Models for Faculty Success, a working group of faculty members committed to creating opportunities to share mentoring practices on Penn State’s campuses.
According to Deborah Ehrenthal, director of SSRI, the purpose of this event is to pilot a workshop designed to provide knowledge and skills that will support faculty engaged in OSVPR Interdisciplinary Research Institute tenure-line faculty searches and ongoing faculty development.
“Our goals are to provide training in equitable and inclusive search processes to faculty who will lead OSVPR Interdisciplinary Institute cofunded tenure-line faculty searches as well as other faculty searches at any Penn State campus. The workshop will also help support faculty development, with particular focus on early career tenure-line experiences.”
Joyce Yen, director of the University of Washington ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change, will be the event’s morning keynote speaker.
“We are excited to have Dr. Yen talk about research that informs effective mentoring practice with a focus on how to meet the needs of a diverse faculty to promote their success,” said Wendy Hanna-Rose, IFSE workshop co-organizer.
The morning will also include a faculty panel discussion led by Jenny Hamer, interim associate provost and senior faculty mentor for educational equity, director of the Midcareer Faculty Advancement Program, and professor of African American studies and women's, gender, and sexuality studies.
The afternoon session will include hands-on workshops designed to build competency and skill in mentoring and the conduct of equitable faculty searches. Topics will include effective communication, personal coaching, peer coaching mentoring circles, Next STEPS search committee training, and aligning expectations between mentors and mentees.
Faculty who will be serving on a faculty search committee this year and are interested in participating in the Next STEPS Training in Equitable Faculty Search should send an email to ssri-info@psu.edu.
Workshops will be led by Joyce Yen; Ray Block, Brown-McCourtney Career Development Professor and associate professor of political science and African American studies; Jeanine Staples, professor of literacy and language, African American studies, and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies; and others trained and experienced in supporting career development. The Eberly College of Science Next Steps Committee will lead a workshop designed to provide faculty on search committees best practices in conducting an inclusive search.
For more information about the event and to register, visit this link.