Faculty academy to write book on student success

Providing instruction to help first-year and transfer students succeed academically is the focus of the Top 40 Academy, formed in collaboration with the Center for Teaching and Learning.

This new academy is comprised of 34 faculty members who teach many of the University’s general education and introductory courses students take in their first year. The goal of the academy is for participants to write an instructional guide for colleagues to illustrate how teaching connects to broader student success initiatives, including the Prospect for Success program, aimed at academically engaging new students, and the New Student Induction program, which defines qualities, such as commitment to success and curiosity, exhibited by successful students.

“The Top 40 Faculty Academy is a way experienced faculty can share their expertise on factors that influence student success to impact the academic expectations of incoming freshmen,” said Heather McCullough, associate director for the Center for Teaching and Learning. “The academy members will base the chapters on a set of expectations about collegiate learning developed by a larger group of faculty. This set of expectations defines qualities such as commitment to success, intellectual curiosity and cultural awareness that are essential concepts for students.”

Through a series of meetings that began earlier this year, academy faculty members have developed chapter topics that address specific teaching practices that can be employed to help students, and they have begun to write chapter introductions. Academy faculty will review colleagues’ work as they continue writing their chapters.

The final work is expected for publication in May 2015.