Academic Affairs

Submitted by: Jennifer Brewer, jbrewer1@uca.edu on 09/16/2025

Ready to take your teaching to the next level?

The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Academic Leadership (CETAL) is pleased to announce the 2025-2026 Faculty Development Grant program.

These grants are designed to support faculty in their efforts to enhance teaching effectiveness and develop innovative curricula. We invite you to apply for funding to support your engagement in professional development activities focused on instructional design, content, or pedagogy.

For more information on the grant guidelines, eligibility requirements, and to access the application materials, please visit our website.

Don’t miss out – the first application deadline is September 30th!

We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to invest in your professional growth and enrich the learning experience for our students.

https://uca.edu/cetal/facultygrants/

Submitted by: Leah Horton, lhorton@uca.edu on 09/15/2025

If you have been asked to serve as a mentor for an Honors Capstone Project and would like more information, please consider attending the Q&A for Prospective Honors Capstone Mentors on September 30 during X-period. You can attend in person (Schichtl 115) or on Zoom. Please use this link to register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdewzPlbDxv_LBU-brhFwhQj8MtTZZqdcDqwZps0V0MczEVzw/viewform?usp=send_form

 

Submitted by: Jennifer Brewer, jbrewer1@uca.edu on 09/14/2025

The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Academic Leadership (CETAL), in collaboration with Student Success Services, is excited to continue the Faculty for Successful Students campaign. This initiative equips faculty with simple, practical strategies to support students in developing habits that foster their academic success–particularly among first-year students.

This week’s Faculty for Successful Students focus is: Clarify Performance Expectations.

This theme aligns with the student campaign emphasis: DO the Work (on Time)

Clarifying performance expectations helps students understand what is required for success, reducing confusion and anxiety. It provides clear guidelines for achieving high standards, leading to better performance and academic outcomes.

Faculty Tips to Reinforce Success
Here are a few simple ways you can encourage these habits in your classes:

• Talk openly with students about how consistent work habits impact both performance and stress levels.
• Set transparent policies on late work and explain the rationale behind them.
• Encourage students to seek support early—before deadlines hit—by highlighting campus resources like Peer Success Coaching.
• Review syllabus and LMS use (again). Reach out to students who have already missed an assignment submission to make a plan for getting back on track.
• Reveal any remaining hidden curriculum issues that you have noticed students are not aware of (e.g., taking notes during a lecture, preparing questions for discussion, etc.).
• Use rubrics (and explore using the rubric tool in Blackboard) to communicate to students what successful performance will look like on an assignment and what factors will contribute to their success. When possible, encourage students to use the rubric to self-assess their work and identify and address any shortcomings before submitting it for a grade.

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Bear Bites Invitation:
We also invite you to join us for Bear Bites: Meaningful Student Feedback on Thursday, September 18, at 12:15 p.m. in Torreyson West 319. This lunch program will highlight practical ways to provide feedback that supports student success while keeping your workload manageable.

👉 Register for this Bear Bites event!

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Resources for You:

• Faculty for Successful Students Webpage
• Faculty Slides for Classroom Use

Together, we can help students strengthen the skills and behaviors that make them successful at UCA. Thank you for supporting this important initiative!

https://uca.edu/cetal/faculty-for-successful-students/

Submitted by: Bailey Fairbanks, bfairbanks@uca.edu on 09/12/2025

Dear Students,
Through The Washington Center’s Academic Internship Program, you’ll embark on a career-launching experience that will help you stand out from the crowd.The program combines personalized career coaching, hands-on internship experience, professional development and access to a dynamic network of peers and professionals in Washington, D.C. Plus, you’ll be able to earn academic credit through your home campus.If you’re thinking about joining TWC for an upcoming summer or semester, don’t miss our information session on 9/16 at x-period (1:40-2:30) in Irby 216.Hope to have you join the information session! If you cannot make the information session, do not worry! Come and meet or email Dr. Fairbanks (bfairbanks@uca.edu) for more information.

https://twc.edu/

Submitted by: Stacy O’Brien, sobrien4@uca.edu on 09/11/2025

We’re excited to share a new resource that we think you’ll find valuable as we navigate the evolving landscape of artificial intelligence in higher education. The instructional designers at CETAL have launched a new “AI for Education” web page that serves as a centralized hub for practical guidance, tools, and resources related to AI use in academic settings.

This new page consolidates important information to help you thoughtfully integrate AI into your teaching and coursework, including:
Guidelines for creating living AI use policies tailored to your pedagogical philosophy
Decision trees and frameworks for incorporating AI into assignments
Strategies for developing AI-resistant assignments and assessments
Ready-to-use classroom activities for discussing AI ethics and implications
Curated collections of useful prompts and educational AI tools
Information about leading AI in education thought leaders and their work
An extensive reading list featuring current publications on AI in higher education

Whether you’re just beginning to explore AI’s role in education or looking to refine your existing approach, this resource was developed to support you in making informed decisions about AI use in your courses. We encourage you to bookmark this page for quick reference and explore the various tools and frameworks available.

We’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions for future additions as we continue to expand and refine this resource based on the evolving needs of UCA faculty.

https://uca.edu/cetal/ai-in-education/