UCDALI News
University of Colorado Denver Association of Lecturers and Instructors
If you are a CU Denver Lecturer, Instructor, or Clinical Teaching Faculty, then you are one of us!
For more information click here: UCDALI Webpage
|
|
|
What is in a Name?
UCDALI's Spring Event
We are holding our spring event on April 5th from 11:30 - 1:30
for more information please see: "What is in a name?"
|
|
|
Did someone say FREE PARKING?!
We want to hear from you!
Please take a few minutes to complete our UCDALI Faculty Survey 2018, and get entered into the Parking Pass drawing.
|
|
Professional Development Grant Opportunity
The University of Colorado Denver College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CU Denver CLAS) has provided funds to continue grants for the professional development of non-tenure track faculty (NTTF—Lecturers, Instructors, Senior Instructors, & Clinical Teaching Track Faculty) within CU Denver CLAS. In recognition of the importance for all faculty members to stay current in their fields through professional development, these grants will enhance the recipients’ contributions to the university’s mission as appropriate to their positions.
The fund will award 6 grants of $500.00 each to the most worthy proposals for professional development by NTTF. Application deadline for 2018 grants is 5:00 pm March 26 2018.
For eligibility, procedures, contact information, and application, please see the UCDALI webpage
|
|
|
|
Please Comment on the Regents Law Revisions!
Faculty and shared governance issues are pretty much the opposite of fun and sexy. Yet they remain of fundamental, vital importance to many of the day-to-day aspects of our work here at the university. UCDALI has taken an active part in the Regents Law revisions currently underway and our Spring Event on April 5th at the Auraria Library will highlight conversations and discussion on what that means for us as instructors and lecturers on the CU Denver campus. Right now, they are working on Article 5, perhaps the single most important part of the Law for us as faculty. Academic freedom, our rights of participation and our status on this university are defined in this article and your input is critical. We are disappointed to report that the improvements suggested in the first draft regarding our status on this campus and others in the CU System have been dropped from this second draft. This is the final round for comments from faculty before the draft moves back to revision committee for finalization. We strongly urge that you take a few minutes to review and comment—for example “5.C.3 Instructional, Research, and Clinical Faculty Appointments” on Line 273 is especially important for us.
For the latest draft, go here.
For the site, please see: https://www.cu.edu/regents/rlpreview
Feel free to forward your comments to any of us at UCDALI’s Executive Committee or here’s the feedback form link here.
Don’t procrastinate! The deadline for comments is Monday, April 9 th!
|
|
|
Faculty Featurette: Dr. Thorsten Spehn
This month we had the privilege of interviewing Dr. Thorsten Spehn from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He is an Associate Professor C/T and Director of the Political Science Graduate Program.
|
|
|
|
What initially drew you into the political science as a career?
I am German but grew up in Karachi, Pakistan during the 1970s and 80s. Those were unstable times. I remember when the military took over and the main newspaper was half-empty—all these white spaces—because it had been censored.
|
|
Throughout my time in Pakistan, I had to be aware of the political climate with schools being closed during times of trouble. Shockwaves traveled throughout the Middle East after the Iranian revolution in 1979. The American High School I went to was shut down for three months. I remember when my Mom came to tell me. Those were among the experiences that made me realize how important politics is to people. We take our political stability for granted but that can change quickly when political processes unfold. I wanted to understand them better and then, make other people aware of them also.
Besides teaching, what other activities do you engage in for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Department of Political Science?
I was the Director of the Graduate Program in Political Science between 2009 and 2017. This involved advising, recruiting and providing information for interested students. Lots of paperwork but very rewarding because of the mentoring components involved. I have done my share of committee work: Academic Standards, Educational Policies and Curriculum, Advisory Committee for the CTT just during the last few years. I also supervised a TA exchange program between the University of Denver and UCD Pol Sci: I would select and mentor a PhD candidate in one of my classes and, if qualified, that candidate would teach his/her own class at UCD, complementing our course offerings. I find mentoring extremely rewarding. But teaching is my passion and, like you and many other NTT colleagues, I teach many students which creates the financial base to support the research of our tenure-track colleagues.
|
|
Non-Tenure Track Faculty in Research and the News
|
|
|
|
Non-Tenure Track Faculty in the News
"What’s a Fair Wage for Adjuncts?"
by Audrey Williams June
The Chronicle of Higher Education, 12/2017
“The current pay rate is "insulting to adjunct faculty and not commensurate with their experience," said Barbara Bowen, president of the Professional Staff Congress, which represents 30,000 faculty and staff members at CUNY. Increasing the pay for adjuncts, who teach more than half of the courses in the nation’s largest urban university system, would, she said, send an important message to students and the part-time faculty.”
|
|
|
|
Non-Tenure Track Faculty in the Research
"A Full-Time Dilemma: Examining the Experiences of Part-Time Faculty"
Kimmel, Krista M.; Fairchild, Jennifer L.
Journal of Effective Teaching, v17 n1 p52-65 2017
“Part-time faculty now account for more than half of all faculty in American colleges and universities. In this exploratory study, the authors employ a qualitative approach to examine the perspectives of part-time faculty members at a public, regional institution. We identify several significant themes related to the experiences of part-time faculty members, including teaching evaluation; student-centered instruction; instructors' use of technology in the classroom; and disconnection from the university.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
