2012-2015 Core Committee Self-Nomination Statements

Name: Mary Wright
Title: Associate Research Scientist & Director of Assessment, Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT)
Institution: University of Michigan

I have been involved in faculty development for over a decade, first in graduate student development and more recently, in assessment and evaluation. I attended my first POD Conference ten years ago (in 2001), and the session topics and attendees' generosity of spirit greatly resonated with me, heavily contributing to my decision to pursue a career in educational development. I am grateful for the opportunities that POD has provided for my professional growth since that time. For the past two years, I have been Chair of POD's Graduate and Professional Student Development Committee, and now I seek to deepen my service to the organization that has been so formative to my career.

At the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching (CRLT) at the University of Michigan, I currently lead the work on Evaluation and Assessment and have the title of Associate Research Scientist and Director of Assessment. In this capacity, my work spans instructional and organizational development. I collaborate with U-M's faculty and academic units on assessment of student learning, evaluation of educational initiatives, and the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). I also am involved with CRLT's Preparing Future Faculty initiatives and coordination of the center's own evaluation practice. My research and teaching interests include teaching cultures, graduate student professional development, and qualitative research and evaluation methods. My book about how departments can build teaching cultures, Always at Odds?, was published in 2008 by SUNY Press, and I have authored/co-authored several chapters in CRLT's new book about running a teaching center, Advancing the Culture of Teaching on Campus (Stylus, 2011).

There are four key components to my current work that would be valuable for a leadership role in POD:

(1) At CRLT, I work collaboratively with departments, schools and colleges on developing and enhancing their academic plans. Given that the Core Committee is also undertaking a process of strategic planning, I believe that my experience in this area would be an asset.

(2) I have served as Chair of POD's Graduate and Professional Student Development (GPSD) Committee for the past two years. As part of the Core Committee, I would be able to create linkages between the important work of the GPSD Committee and the POD leadership.

(3) Although I have worked for many years at a large research university, I am fortunate that my career has afforded me opportunities to collaborate with faculty and teaching center directors at nearby liberal arts colleges and master's institutions. Outside CRLT, I also have served as an external evaluator for several NSF ADVANCE grants, which has also allowed me another valuable window into faculty development practices at other institutions. Thus, I bring a perspective about the important role of institutional context and culture in thinking about how Core might lead faculty development work.

(4) I have been engaged in several international collaborations, including workshops and sustained individual mentoring about faculty development, with faculty and administrators from China, Uganda and Japan. These experiences will be useful as POD grows its international membership and program content.

Over the next three years, I see two fruitful directions for the POD Network:

(1) POD resources (e.g., conference sessions, website resources) should be developed to assist those who are thinking about a career in educational development, as well as those who are newly making the transition from other academic careers. We come to faculty/graduate student development from many different paths, and as noted in Creating the Future of Faculty Development (Sorcinelli, Austin, Eddy & Beach, 2005), we are essentially a profession that is largely comprised of beginners. Greater attention to outreach and "pipeline" development, as well as support of new developers, will help grow and sustain our field.

(2) Through keynotes at POD Conferences, resources posted on the POD website, and facilitation of discussions through the subcommittees, the POD Network should foster discussion about best practices for evaluation, sharing of key findings, and refinement of initiatives. Given funding and accountability pressures, faculty development centers have increasing demands to "demonstrate results," particularly on student learning. Yet, what evaluation practices have most implications for our work (i.e., consequential validity) and what are most feasible, given the extent of our workloads? POD can play an important role in promotion of discussions around evaluation of faculty development activities.

I look forward serving on POD's Core Committee for the 2012-2015 term.