Board of Trustees honors Distinguished University Professor Judit E. Puskas

At the August Board of Trustees meeting, Distinguished University Professor Judit E. Puskas was celebrated for her outstanding contributions and presented with a medallion and plaque honoring her award. Distinguished University Professor is the highest faculty honor at The Ohio State University.

Puskas, a member of the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering on the CFAES Wooster Campus, joined Ohio State in 2019, continuing a prolific industry and academic career in rubber technology. A world-renowned polymer expert, Puskas’ impact on her field and her students is broadly recognized.

Faculty/Instructor Resources and Support

The Office of Academic Affairs is sharing resources and support to assist all Ohio State faculty and instructors during the autumn semester, including guidance around navigating freedom of expression, academic freedom and civic engagement during the election season. You can also learn more about religious accommodations and the Election Day asynchronous learning pilot, among other topics. The collection of resources, policies and updates will evolve as the semester progresses and new support is provided.

Faculty Affairs Leadership Podcast: Stephen Quaye

In the first episode of Season 2, Stephen Quaye, associate dean for excellence in graduate and postdoctoral training in the Graduate School, joins the podcast for a discussion on "Leading the Future: Trends, Challenges, and Innovations in Higher Education Leadership."

Nominations open for faculty awards

Our faculty members do amazing things. Their achievements reflect the passion and expertise they bring to their fields and the excellence that distinguishes an Ohio State education. Nominations are now open for a number of highly prestigious university-level faculty awards that recognize those achievements, including (due dates in parentheses):

• Distinguished University Professor (Jan. 31)
• Provost's Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Lecturer (Oct. 4)
• Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching (Oct. 4)
• President and Provost's Award for Distinguished Faculty Service (Oct. 11)

Faculty events kick off semester

In 2024, Ohio State welcomed more than 500 new faculty, including tenure-track, clinical/teaching/research track, research track and associated faculty. In the week leading up to the start of autumn semester, the team in Faculty Affairs worked hard to welcome and support new and current faculty through multiple programs, including the Promotion and Tenure Achievement Conference, New Faculty Orientation and the New Chairs Program Retreat.

Dual Careers and Faculty Relocation earns national praise

Taking a proactive approach to create a supportive environment for prospective faculty members and their partners and families — led by Sarah Conley, assistant vice provost for dual careers and faculty relocation in the Office of Academic Affairs — has resulted in our Columbus campus earning a No. 4 national ranking of “partner-friendly” hiring practices by top-tier research universities.

New website and more from the Drake Institute

The Michael V. Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning has launched its newly updated website. The new site offers a fresh, modern look and an enhanced user experience, where you can explore its comprehensive resources, innovative teaching tools and upcoming events with ease.

The Drake Institute is also expanding programs and services for innovative teaching with digital technologies. Additionally, the institute will coordinate administrative updates of the Teaching and Learning Resource Center, a cross-unit collaboration that curates articles and announcements for Ohio State educators. The goal is to ensure continuation of support for instructors teaching in programs that are not fully online as they integrate technology across delivery modalities.

OAA Faculty Affairs Approval Request

The Office of Faculty Affairs has launched a new digital resource in support of all required requests for review and approval from OAA Faculty Affairs. The OAA Faculty Affairs Approval Request process will help accurately capture, track and process all requests needing OAA review and approval. This process provides increased visibility and control over the review, tracking and approval of requests submitted to OAA Faculty Affairs. It will also help expedite the reviews and responses for all submitted requests.

Listen. Learn. Discuss.

Listen. Learn. Discuss. is a new initiative designed with input from faculty, staff and students that creates a centralized resource for Buckeyes to develop skills that promote respectful dialogue. At the same time, the initiative will provide opportunities for engagement to put those skills to use. Ohio State is committed to building an environment of trust — one that fosters productive discussions on challenging topics even, and especially, when we disagree. You can learn more at listen-learn-discuss.osu.edu

Telling Your Story online workshop

All faculty preparing their dossier for promotion and tenure review are invited to register for the online Telling Your Story workshop. Access to the Canvas course is provided through the registration (NOTE: please include your name.# so that we can automatically give you access to the course). You can review the virtual presentation (22 min.) to have a sense of the type of materials and exercises this workshop offers to help attendees build their professional narratives.

You do not need to be going up for promotion next year to benefit from this workshop. Everyone planning to write a promotional dossier in the future is welcome. All participants will learn how to create a compelling professional narrative, including presenting interdisciplinary work to different audiences, and clearly identify themselves as their story's central character.

Some feedback from recent attendees of the workshop:

“Very helpful, the suggestions are much different from what we hear from the faculty in the department.”

“Very relatable! Every probationary faculty should attend. We should offer something similar for P&T committees.”