New Faculty Program 2020-21
Congratulations on joining the faculty at The Ohio State University! The Office of Academic Affairs is eager to help you launch your teaching, research and service as a Buckeye. Although the university will return to campus for the fall semester, New Faculty Orientation (NFO) will be held virtually in accordance with current university health and safety guidelines.
This university-level orientation is meant for all newly hired faculty of all ranks and tracks. This event complements any orientation programming offered by your unit, and you are highly encouraged to engage in both.
About the New Faculty Program
Ohio State’s New Faculty Program consists of a two-day orientation and a monthly topical workshop series. All new faculty are welcome at every event, though registration is required. The Office of Academic Affairs will regularly communicate these opportunities via email.
New Faculty Program is designed to prepare all new faculty to confidently begin or continue their work in line with the university’s mission:
- Creating and discovering knowledge to improve the well-being of our state, regional, national and global communities;
- Educating students through a comprehensive array of distinguished academic programs;
- Preparing a diverse student body to be leaders and engaged citizens;
- Fostering a culture of engagement and service.
Ohio State is a large university, with countless resources available to new faculty – too many to pass along in a two-day orientation. For that reason, the New Faculty Program has been divided into an orientation to provide a practical jumpstart and a workshop series to examine some big topics more closely.
New Faculty Workshop Series
The New Faculty Workshop Series dives deeper into topics relevant to new faculty. These monthly sessions offer faculty a chance to focus on individual aspects of faculty life through interaction with leaders and experts from across campus.
The workshops will be hosted on CarmenZoom. Links will be provided via email to registered participants in advance of the workshop.
| Date | Topic |
|---|---|
| Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020 2 to 3:30 p.m. |
Free Speech and Academic Freedom Session Recording (Coming Soon) Presentation Slides (PDF) |
| Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2020 2 to 3:30 p.m. |
Managing Difficult Conversations |
| Thursday, Nov. 12, 2020 3 to 4:30 p.m. |
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion |
| Friday, Jan. 8, 2021 1 to 3 p.m. |
Preparing for Promotion and Tenure |
| Wednesday, February 10, 2021 2 to 3:30 p.m. |
Mentoring, Part 1: Engagement, Mentoring and Supervising Staff and Students |
| Wednesday, March 10, 2021 2 to 3:30 p.m. |
Mentoring, Part 2: Finding and Engaging with a Faculty Mentor |
| Wednesday, April 14, 2021 2 to 3:30 p.m. |
Thoughts from the Faculty: Keys for a Successful Second Year and Beyond |
Note: The New Faculty Workshop Series does not focus on teaching. The Office of Academic Affairs encourages you to engage with the Drake Institute’s comprehensive calendar of teaching workshops, which are open to all faculty.
January New Faculty Welcome
January 8, 2021
Faculty who missed New Faculty Orientation in August or have recently joined Ohio State are invited to attend New Faculty Welcome.
New Faculty Orientation
August 19-20, 2020
This year, orientation consisted of both synchronous and asynchronous components in reflection of our unique circumstances. Given the magnitude of the change our entire community is experiencing, orientation is more critical than ever.
New Faculty Orientation utilized CarmenZoom for synchronous sessions. Links to session recordings and materials are found on the agenda pages linked below.
Pre-Orientation
The Office of Academic Affairs has prepared a set of informative asynchronous materials for your review prior to our synchronous events on Aug. 19 and 20. This content includes welcomes from university leadership, important messages about public safety, health and well-being, and an overview of teaching and learning.
Day 1 - Wednesday, August 19
On Day 1, you will learn about Ohio State and the resources available to you. The agenda includes a specific focus on the realities of living through a pandemic as a new faculty member here. You’ll also hear from fellow faculty who’ve been in your shoes during a set of panels to help you launch your first year.
Day 2 - Thursday, August 20
Ohio State has set out to become as highly regarded for teaching and learning as it is for research. Accordingly, NFO Day 2 is focused on your role as a teacher. Presented by the Michael V. Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning in collaboration with the Office of Academic Affairs, the second day features a wide variety of topics such as inclusive teaching, lab/field and clinical instruction, active learning, the Carmen learning management system and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
All new tenure-track, clinical/teaching/practice, research, and associated faculty from all Ohio State campuses are encouraged and welcome to attend New Faculty Orientation. This includes those new to the faculty role and those new to Ohio State.
Although not required, all new tenure-track, clinical/teaching/practice, research, and associated faculty from all Ohio State campuses are strongly encouraged to attend New Faculty Orientation.
Materials from New Faculty Orientation are available by accessing the Pre-Orientation, Day 1 Agenda and Day 2 Agenda links above. These links will be updated following orientation to include presentations from the event.
The Office of Academic Affairs will provide live captions for the synchronous Zoom sessions and closed captions for asynchronous video content. If you require other accommodations such as interpretation to participate in these events, please contact the OAA Digital Accessibility Coordinator at admin-oaadac@osu.edu or indicate your needs during registration. Requests made 10 days prior to the event will generally allow seamless access, but the university will make every effort to meet requests made after this date.
An email will be sent to all registered participants in the week prior to New Faculty Orientation with information on how to log into the session. The Zoom meeting rooms for both days will require a passcode. This passcode will be the same for all rooms and will be distributed via email to all registered participants.
New faculty should reach out to their department chair (or dean/director of regional campuses) for with questions about department and college orientations.
We will work as quickly as possible to have books ordered and shipped to the address you provided during registration. Please contact facultyaffairs@osu.edu with any questions.
OAA’s New Faculty Orientation provides an overview of resources available to all new faculty across the university. College and department orientations will give new faculty more unit-specific and procedural information.
The New Faculty Workshop Series will occur monthly from September through April (with the exception of December) and cover topics relevant to new faculty. However, these topics will not focus on teaching. The Drake Institute workshops focus primarily on teaching and instructional practices. New faculty are encouraged to take advantage of both sets of workshops.
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted campus life in many ways. The university created the following online resources to help students, faculty and staff continue their work.
- Safe and Healthy Buckeyes (return to campus)
- Keep Teaching (faculty)
- Keep Researching (researchers)
- Keep Learning (students)
- Keep Working (staff)
- COVID-19 Wellness Resources (stress and anxiety)
The Office of Academic Affairs is principally responsible for New Faculty Orientation although the event comes together through the invaluable work of many different offices, chiefly the Michael V. Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning. OAA thanks the members of the NFO steering committee for their work in planning this year’s event, including:
- Helen Malone
Vice Provost for Academic Policy and Faculty Resources
Office of Academic Affairs - Kay Halasek
Director, Michael V. Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning - Tracy Kitchel
Associate Dean for Faculty and Staff Affairs, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences - Carmen Quatman
Assistant Professor—Clinical, Orthopaedic Surgery, College of Medicine - Binaya Subedi
Assistant Dean, Newark Campus
Associate Professor, Comparative Studies, College of Arts and Sciences - Jan Neiger
Assistant Vice Provost, Office of Academic Affairs - John Strawn
Digital Communications Strateglist, Office of Academic Affairs - Megan Fogel
Instructional Designer, Office of Distance Education and eLearning - Jody Poth
Program Director, Programs and Partnerships, Office of Academic Affairs - Jason Homan
Program Coordinator, Events and Programs, Office of Academic Affairs - Jo’Vanna Zanders
Executive Assistant, Office of Academic Affairs - Laura Cotton
Program Coordinator, Drake Institute