One of the most important roles for any faculty member (both tenure-track and non-tenure-track) is serving the campus community. Faculty play a major role in shaping the students' lives through their interactions with them, as well as helping fulfill the campus research mission. Many faculty serve on various committees through faculty senate, participate in campus functions (e.g. commencement), and advise students in their departments.

The Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence has a few additional ways that faculty can serve by directly working with CAFE. Any campus service work should be documented in myVITA for purposes of promotion and tenure.

Educational Mini-Grant Award Committee

Since 2011, the educational research mini-grant program has promoted the scholarship of teaching and learning through funding projects that systematically examine pedagogical practices. The program is designed to help instructors tackle a teaching and learning issue in which a specific, measurable research question is examined to bring about improved student learning, retention, or academic success for all students.

The purpose of the educational research mini-grant program is to provide funding for instructors to explore specific research questions about teaching and student learning, and to promote a culture of the scholarship of teaching and learning.

This committee will review proposals for the mini-grant and judge their merit on the established criteria for the grant. This committee meets only once to determine the recipients of the grant.

Innovation in Teaching and Learning Conference (ITLC) Committee

Selecting the presentations at the Innovation in Teaching and Learning Conference (ITLC).

Teaching Observations and Partners

Teaching Partners is a voluntary, confidential opportunity for instructors who want to enhance their teaching through peer observation and feedback. Trained faculty mentors and instructional designers meet with interested instructors in a pre-observation meeting, observation of a class session, and post-observation follow-up meeting. Individualized feedback is provided in a collegial atmosphere based on questions or concerns identified by the instructor being observed. All observations will issue feedback based on instructor knowledge, organization, skills and techniques, communication, and student performance. The program is built on principles of respect, collegiality, and mutual sharing that benefit both parties.