Dear New Faculty Member,

We are so happy that you will be joining us at Truman State University! We hope that you will enjoy your commitment here, and grow to love our campus. To help you make this transition successfully, your department will partner you with a mentor who is waiting to help you. Dr. Patricia Burton from the Department of Philosophy and Religion has also been chosen to take part as the new faculty orientation Paraclete, one who comes alongside. In addition, we invite you to participate in programs The Center for Teaching and Learning designs specifically for new faculty.

Your first opportunity will be New Faculty Orientation on August 19 and 20. On the schedule you can see that we focus the first day on getting to know what kind of place this is, and what kind of people are here. The first day concludes with a reception for you, your guest, and your faculty mentor hosted by President Dixon. This will be held at the University Residence, 706 S. Halliburton, at 5:30 pm.

You'll see in the schedule that the second day of New Faculty Orientation will emphasize a syllabus workshop. We have found that completing syllabi is uppermost in the minds of new faculty, and we will be attempting to support your efforts by rounding up in one space all the resources you need to plan the high quality courses expected at Truman. Our website currently has some good helps here.

This semester we will be offering additional New Faculty events throughout the fall. More details will be available at New Faculty Orientation but preliminary information is available here. We anticipate that these extended sessions will give you an opportunity to meet socially, and to receive information about other facets of the university when you are no longer quite so pre-occupied with starting class.

In addition to these events, from time-to-time throughout the academic year you will receive 'desktop' suggestions for conversations you may want to have with your department-assigned mentor. Each mentor/new faculty pair will receive coordinated e- mails based upon a chapter in the book we present to you, Advice For New Faculty by Robert Boice. These e-mails are designed to prompt an encounter in which you would discuss a practice that Dr. Boice found to be a significant discriminator between those new faculty who went on to be successful and those new faculty who weren't. Podcasts based on key chapters in this book are available here if you can’t wait until receiving the book to get started.

Consider asking your mentor if you may observe in one of his or her classes. It can be very helpful to ask your mentor to observe one of your own teaching efforts as well. Nothing sets a new instructor's mind at ease as much as a trusted mentor being able to advise him or her from direct experience, using concrete examples of what that instructor is actually doing in class. I would urge you to schedule this observation exchange early in the semester, before any habits are irrevocable.

In order to take full advantage of the sessions planned for orientation you will need to have completed your paperwork processing through Human Resources. I highly recommend that you contact our Human Resources office immediately [660-785-4031 or hrstaff@truman.edu]. This chart details additional tasks that are best accomplished prior to New Faculty Orientation.

We welcome you to your new position at Truman State University. Please know that everyone wishes to help you be successful. Please don’t hesitate to contact me at 660-785-4301, ctl@truman.edu, or come by the Center for Teaching and Learning in the Library, suite 204. I am really looking forward to meeting you, and working with you throughout your career here.

Sincerely,


Julie Lochbaum, Ph.D.
Director