Professional Development

The following pages contain important information and useful links about opportunities for professional development, including summaries of instruction, research, evaluation, and tenure policies. This information can be found at the Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs.

Faculty Handbook

The Faculty Handbook is a compilation of UofM policies and procedures, organizational structure, instructional materials, and other useful information for new or current faculty.

Faculty development resources are available to all faculty to help each meet their maximum potential and to acquire new skills, technologies, and bodies of knowledge in a society that is rapidly changing. In the area of teaching, sources of faculty development provide information on course development, instructional techniques and technologies, pedagogical strategies that promote learning, and effective methods of collaboration with student teaching assistants. In the area of scholarship, sources of faculty development assist the faculty in enhancing the quantity and quality of written publications, conference presentations, proposals for external funding, performances, and creative products. In the area of outreach and service, sources of faculty development assist the faculty in contributing to departments, colleges, universities, communities, and professions.

The department chair, in consultation with faculty within the department, is responsible for making suggestions on how to improve teaching, scholarly productivity, outreach and service. In academic units without departments, the dean will consult with faculty in the academic unit and will be responsible for making suggestions for faculty improvement. Each academic unit and department will devise mechanisms to ensure that faculty have opportunities for professional development.

Teaching Resources

The Office of the Provost provides useful resources that support faculty to create classroom environments that facilitate student engagement and success.

Tap into our extensive Library resources, and note the Faculty Resources page, where you can request a library instruction session and learn about course reserves, Canvas Library Modules, and interlibrary loan, as well as other helpful connections.

Syllabi suggestions are available for use by all SPH faculty. Please contact Ilias Kavouras, PhD, Assistant Dean of Academic and Student Affairs and Professor, kavouras@memphis.edu, for a copy of the SPH syllabi template. The link outlines university and school policies about academic integrity, classroom behavior, equity, inclusion and accommodations, mental health, personal or academic challenges including food and housing insecurity, personal relationships, and Title IX.

Book adoption for the University of Memphis Bookstore is managed by Barnes & Noble and offers an Adoption and Insight Portal (AIP) tool for researching, adopting and sharing insights about textbooks and course materials. This portal helps Faculty and Department Administrators research and adopt course materials in one convenient place, with 24/7 support. Follow the link to explore the program and contact the store manager Emily Swisher (Email: eswisher@bncollege.com Phone: 901.678.2011) with questions.

UM3D’s pedagogical support and instructional technology training enhance courses and programs at the University of Memphis. They provide individual consultations, departmental trainings, and on-going professional development opportunities for faculty center around the design, development, and delivery (the 3Ds) of high-quality courses.

CANVAS is the web-based learning management system, or LMS. All of UofM’s current learning technologies integrate with Canvas, including Banner Student Information System, Microsoft Office 365 and Teams, Qualtrics, Turnitin, and Zoom. Canvas provides enhanced reporting of metrics at the student, course, program, degree, and institutional level. Canvas Studio allows faculty and students to quickly record and caption video. Please be sure to use the Canvas Checklist to prepare for the new semester.

Professional Development Resources on Cultural Responsivity provides an opportunity for the campus community to share resources towards building greater cultural responsiveness. Share resources that you find valuable and see what others have shared.

Learning Curve provides faculty and staff training opportunities and is accessible through log in only.

umTECH is the link to university IT services. Here you will find the information you need to reset your password, learn more about the DUO app, and explore the school’s VPN, video conferencing system, Microsoft Teams usage, Lab Hours, and OneDrive cloud storage services.

Operational Hours for the Service Desk

Call the ITS Service Desk Call Center (901.678.8888) any day of the week and weekend! (Excluding Some Holidays)

• Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 8:00 pm CDT
• Saturday, 10:00 am - 2:00 pm CDT
• Sunday, 1:00 pm - 5:00 pm CDT
• ITS Service Desk Walk-in Hours (AD 100) Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm CDT

You can contact the Service Desk for assistance with technical login difficulties or other issues. Incoming calls after hours will be handled by voicemail services. If you require assistance after 8:00 pm CDT, please leave a message or submit a service request. You can also email umtech@memphis.edu with a description of your issue, and a service request will automatically be created.

Instructional Policies

SPH has well-formulation instructional policies to guide faculty into successful class management. This information is drawn from the Faculty Handbook Section 3.2: Faculty Instructional Policies.

Textbooks And Faculty-Authored Educational Materials

The selection of textbooks is a departmental function. Faculty members submit orders for books and supplies required in their classes through the university bookstore. When requesting student acquisition of course resources, faculty should consider course content accessibility issues such as cost, format, platform, and availability. Course resources should be available for student use in a common area, such as the University Libraries' reserve rooms or electronic reserves system, with disability-related accessibility for all users at all times, on all devices.

Student Behavioral Expectations And Responsibilities

The Student Code of Rights and Responsibilities, which is maintained on the university website, describes policies and procedures related to expectations and responsibilities for students.

Academic Advising

The university is committed to quality academic advising to foster student growth and development. Faculty advisors have the following responsibilities:

• Maintain up-to-date files on advisees;
• Provide information about course offerings, departmental policies, degree requirements, study habits, grade point averages, graduate study opportunities, and career choices;
• Prepare an accessible advising schedule which includes flexible times for individual sessions;
• Encourage advisees to review their progress toward degree completion.
• Connect Advisees with accurate information to further their studies, including guidance, timelines, and up to date access to Graduate School Forms.

Advising assistance is available from the academic unit advisor, degree analysis, and on the university website.

Advising Student Organizations

Faculty members are asked to serve as advisors to honorary, leadership, and recognition societies, professional organizations, social fraternities and sororities, and special interest groups. Faculty advisors are expected to maintain records and sign for the expenditures from student activity fees.

Confidentiality Of Student Records

The university complies with the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (also called FERPA or the Buckley Amendment), which protects the confidentiality of personally identifiable educational records of students and former students. The full guidelines are available of the university website.

Grading

Faculty members are responsible for documenting students' standing in classes throughout the semester. Faculty should post grades as instructed on the Registrar's website. Grades are available to students within two to three days after they are reported to the Registrar's Office. Please check with the Registrar's Office before furnishing anyone with a written certification of final grades.

Class Attendance And Grading

Students may not attend classes unless they are enrolled. Faculty are responsible for ensuring that the students appear on the official class roster. The procedures for handling extenuating circumstances that limit a student’s ability to attend class are described in the university policy.

Faculty Availability

Academic units or departments shall post guidelines to ensure that faculty establish, communicate, and maintain reasonable opportunities and access for student-faculty interaction outside the classroom. At a minimum, faculty members shall provide opportunities and access consistent with the mode of instruction and commensurate with the number of credit hours of the course offering.

Faculty Absences

If a faculty member has an anticipated absence from a class, they will notify the department chair of the absence in advance and provide a plan to ensure there is no reduction in student learning. The department chair may reject the plan and implement an alternative plan. If the absence is unanticipated, the faculty member will notify the department chair as soon as possible and upon their return develop a plan to ensure that there will not be a reduction in student learning.

Inclement Weather And Emergency Closings

When inclement weather or other emergency situations make driving hazardous, university officials may curtail all operations until conditions improve. Unless and until an official closing announcement is issued, faculty members are expected to hold classes as usual. Please utilize the Everbridge app to stay current with weather and emergency updates.

Veteran And Athlete Progress Reporting

The university is required to submit to the Veterans Administration information regarding class attendance and participation of veterans and dependents receiving benefits. The Center for Athletic Academic Services asks faculty for progress reports of athletes in their classes.

Examinations

The schedule of final examinations for each term is maintained on the university website. Examinations are to start promptly at the designated times and may not extend beyond the period indicated (two hours for the fall and spring semesters, ninety minutes for the summer terms).

Disability Resources For Students

Disability Resources for Students (DRS) collaborates with the campus community to design an inclusive and accessible environment for students with disabilities. Faculty should refer any student requesting accommodation to DRS to ensure professional standards are applied to the development of accommodation plans. The faculty will then receive notification of accommodation, if applicable, for that student. Faculty may also log in to the DRS Online Faculty portal to see student accommodation plans.

Research, Scholarship, and Creative Works

Please take a look at the following links to the excellent research resources available through the University.

• Research Computing provides infrastructure, support, storage, and education for ongoing research.
• Research Support Services is the hub for research resources at the university.
• The Division of Research & Innovation walks you through the Research Proposal Lifecycle. Please familiarize yourself with the System Overview, including Cayuse (virtual trainings at the link).

The following summary of policy information is drawn from the Faculty Handbook Section 3.3. Please get acquainted with this material.

Research Misconduct

Consistent with federal regulations, the university is the primary agent for the prevention, detection, and investigation of research misconduct by faculty, staff, and students. The university strives to ensure the integrity of research, protection of the rights of faculty, staff, and students involved in research, the rights of research subjects, and the protection and rights of the public. The university observes local requirements related to federal research funding and other external funding sources.

Intellectual Property

The university's policy on Intellectual Property is applicable to all faculty, administrators, staff, students, and other individuals employed by or enrolled in the university. It is the responsibility of these individuals to acquaint themselves with this policy.

Safeguarding Research In Progress

It is the responsibility of the individual faculty member to take the necessary steps to protect research in progress.

Regulatory Issues

Federal and state regulatory agencies, granting agencies, and other funding sources promulgate regulations, standards, and related requirements that have the potential to impact laboratory research activities. The standing committees at the university which oversee compliance of many of these requirements can be found on the university website.

Disclosure Of Financial Interest Related To Sponsored Research

University employees responsible for the design, conduct, or reporting of a sponsored project at the university must disclose significant personal financial interests related to the Investigator’s institutional responsibilities. When the university determines that such an interest might be affected by the sponsored project, the university will take steps to manage or eliminate the conflict of interest.

Certification Of Effort

As a condition of receiving federal funding, institutions must maintain an accurate system for reporting the percentage of effort that employees devote to federally sponsored projects. Compliance with the Certification of Effort policy protects the university against penalties and funding disallowance due to inaccurate, incomplete, or untimely effort reporting.