Thursday, May 21, 2015

Call for Speakers - University of North Texas Law Conference (March 21-22, 2016 in Denton, TX)

Neat Opportunity from the University of North Texas 

Save the Date!

The 20th annual UNT Texas Higher Education Law Conference will be held March 21-22 in Denton, Texas, on the campus of the University of North Texas. Easter is the Sunday after conference week, and most Spring Breaks are concluded.

We are reading and in many cases acting upon your feedback from the recent 2015 conference. Some announcements about that are forthcoming.

We will begin this summer and fall to focus intensively on the 2016 program, but don't let that stop you from suggesting topics and speakers NOW.  Send to me at Marc.Cutright@unt.edu<mailto:Marc.Cutright@unt.edu> .

Thanks for your continuing interest and support.

PS  About $20,000 in scholarship aid from the conference will be committed this week to roughly 35-40 students.  You make that possible. Thank you.

Marc Cutright, EdD
Associate Professor of Higher Education
Director of the Higher Education Development Initiative
Fulbright Scholar to Uganda 2013-14
University of North Texas
1155 Union Circle #310829
Denton, TX 76203-5017

904-369-7875 (office)

Sincerely - @drjtedwardsTSU

Thursday, May 14, 2015

55 Higher Education and Social Media Ideas! #55HigherEd from the SxSWEdu Conference!




In March, I was very fortunate to attend the SxSWEdu conference in Austin, TX. I attended sessions hosted by the TAMU system, the Gates Foundation, and several university colleagues from other institutions. This year marks my second year of attendance and I have to tout that this is the best year so far!


This year, we presented a session titled, "#55HigherEd Ideas and Resources" and we had participants from high schools, community colleges, universities, foundations, and associations. The ideas presented in the session were recorded via Twitter and via a Google Document!


Here's our tagboard from the session (the tweets): http://tgb.io/55HigherEd/219916


Here are my notes from the audience members attending the session!


1 - Reaching Current Undergraduate Students via Social Media

- Create a hashtag for recruiting students and engaging other departments to communicate with them.
- Place your twitter handle on your email signature line.
- Create professional groups for like-minded students on Facebook.


2 - Recruiting and Retaining Faculty and Staff on Social Media

- Create secondary social media posts of positions to recruit faculty and staff (without publishing on higher education.)
- Focus on faculty and staff members's secondary interests (what they like to do outside of the typical workday).
- Post a video about the staff environment and the benefits/ How they match 401Ks. Two weeks off during Christmas break.
- Utilize Flickr accounts, seeing the attire of the workplace.
- Focus on Faculty Student Success Stories - Faculty will have a different focus.


3 - Student Engagement and Social Media


- Post Lists Focused on Your Community (i.e. - Things to do in Alpine - Going out to the Sul Ross Campaign (students and their parents)).
- Form a Twitter Debate - Two teams. Limited numbers of tweets.Number of favorites within a certain time frame.


4 - University Recruitment and Social Media


- Create Buzzfeed-like videos focused on your university. For example, the top 10 reasons why you should join the teacher education program.
- Connect with Community Colleges via the University Account


5 - The University Classroom and Social Media


- Insert a Twitter Widget on Blackboard
- Creating Instagram account for your department.
- Remember to be more proactive with social media listening.
- Have a social media policy on your syllabus.
- Create expectations of social media posts. Twitter and instagram. Tagboard. Giving students a visual for students and other.
- Post student group projects to LinkedIn. Becoming references to one another.
- Have Pop-Up Sessions from One Class Session to the Next - Group work and generating ideas. Great for problem based learning. Ideas would come through and everyone would have everyone's idea. Other classes could add to that.


6 - University Marketing on Social Media

- Push for a social page on the website to list all of the university's social media accounts.
- Engage the internal departments.
- Ask students how they discovered your university.
- Practice social media listening. Create a search focused on your college or university's name.
- Find student social media ambassadors for your university. They will be the ambassadors to start the #besomebody


Next Year!


When the call for sessions is available, I will definitely submit another session (Vote for the @TSMRI Session)! This was one of the best conferences this year and I hope that I will continue to connect with my colleagues from other institutions and foundations throughout the year.


In June, we will start our #55HigherEd chat on Wednesdays in June at 8pm on Twitter! Join us! 

Sincerely - @drjtedwardsTSU

Thursday, May 7, 2015

A List of Faculty Issues in Higher Education: A Great Resource for University Administrators and Faculty


As a tenured-faculty member, I am always excited about mentoring new faculty (especially women and new faculty of color). This mentoring relationship is always great for me because I had such wonderful mentors (both faculty and staff) when persisting through the tenure-track process.

This mentoring relationship is very important for tenure-track and tenured faculty who are seeking to become a full-professor. (This is another journey through which I am persisting right now.) Tenure-track and tenured-faculty (especially women and faculty of color) encounter along the journey towards their goals:

Here are some of the current issues and resources for individuals tied to faculty affairs roles at universities and colleges in the United States:

Current Issues focused on Faculty Affairs:

- The growing number of women and people of color in faculty positions.
- Faculty and work-life balance.
- Stopping the tenure clock for faculty who are pregnant or who are new or adoptive mothers (or fathers).
- Faculty retirement and retirement plans.
- Faculty workplace flexibility.
- Faculty involvement on universities committees and work groups.
- Faculty compensation and merit pay.
- Faculty workload (balancing researching, teaching and service).
- Part-time and adjunct faculty workload.
- Faculty Orientation
- Faculty Training 
- Faculty and External Fundraising and Grantsmanship Activities
- Faculty Recognition
- Faculty Recruitment and Retention
- Faculty Workplace Satisfaction

Faculty Affairs Resources:


Please feel free to tweet, share, and comment below! Let me know if I missed something from the list!

Sincerely,

J. Edwards
@drjtedwards