Academic Advising — facilitated by Beth Rey (rey@rowan.edu), Associate Director, University Advising Services

Academic advisors provide proactive, academic support to students from entrance through graduation. Advisors assist students with exploration of career and personal goals, academic interests, and much more. They also regularly make referrals to other offices and departments for additional services and support. Thus, the role of an academic advisor is robust. The Academic Advising PLC will meet monthly and provides a supportive opportunity to engage in current advising literature discussions, share best practices and seek support, discuss advising approaches and more! The advising PLC is open to anyone interested. From those just starting out to those experienced and seasoned, all are welcome. 

Cross-Institutional Collaboration to Remove Barriers for Transfer Students in STEM Majors – facilitated by Jason Heindl (heindl@rowan.edu), Associate Professor, Biological and Biomedical Sciences

We welcome all faculty and staff in the Rowan community to join the HHMI IMPACT STEM Transfer PLC as we collaborate to implement solutions that remove barriers to transfer and create equitable and inclusive transfer experiences for students from diverse backgrounds throughout their educational experiences.

Our goals for this PLC are:

• Build a community of faculty, staff, and administrators committed to inclusive practices in STEM education.
• Focus on removing barriers to baccalaureate degree attainment for community college students.
• Collaborate with colleagues across Rowan and from our community college partners to colleagues to remove barriers to transfer for STEM students.

Delving into Individual Development Plans (IDPs): Developing Toolkits for Excellence in Graduate Student Training and Professional Development – facilitated by Tabbetha Dobbins (dobbins@rowan.edu), Dean, School of Graduate Studies and Stephanie Lezotte (lezotte@rowan.edu), Assistant Dean, School of Graduate Studies 

Do you mentor graduate research? Do you serve on graduate committees? Are you a member of the graduate education support structure (i.e., library, advising, administration)?

If you answered YES—then this PLC is for you! Join us as we build a community of practice focused on excellence in graduate student training and professional development. Together, we will explore the use of Individual Development Plans (IDPs), Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs), and strategies for guiding students to the resources they need to achieve their goals. By building upon last year’s PLC’s Excellence in Graduate Student Mentorship guide, this PLC will equip Rowan’s graduate education community with a practical and comprehensive toolkit for fostering meaningful student training and professional growth.

The number of international faculty members/employees across Rowan campuses continues to increase and this PLC helps to bring them together. Our PLC provides a place for international faculty to discuss issues individual faculty members/employees might face and organizes a spa to offer support. We work together to understand how Rowan's communications and policies do and do not apply to these faculty members so that we can reduce added stress and feelings of isolation, especially if faculty members/employees had to leave most of their social support system behind in their home country. If you identify as an international faculty member or employee, we encourage you to join us. All faculty and staff are welcome, including those who do not identify as international but value cultural exchange, mutual support, and collegial connection.

Peer Observations to Support Professional Growth – facilitated by Rob Wieman (wieman@rowan.edu), Associate Professor & Chair, Content Area Teacher Education

Peer observations have the potential to support us as we work to improve our teaching, but we have found that observations do not always up to their promise of professional growth. The process of observing or being observed is incredibly varied and often disconnected from the problems that we struggle with as teachers – engagement, motivation, effectively supporting the kind of deep learning that we want for our students.

These core beliefs undergird our PLC:

• Teaching is difficult and complex work.
• Engaging in analyzing teaching and learning can help us improve instruction
• Observations that access this kind of analysis do not happen naturally – they require structure and expertise.

In this PLC, we will examine existing models for peer observations, study how we can improve our own observation and feedback skills, and develop tools to help Rowan all faculty engage in observations that result in professional growth and instructional improvement. 

Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL) — facilitated by Lisa Abrams (abramsl@rowan.edu), Assistant Professor, Psychology

The Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL) is a scholarly approach to teaching that uses research to answer questions about teaching and learning and to address problems educators observe in the classroom. This PLC invites you to explore how SoTL fits into your current teaching practice and/or research agenda. This group is for anyone who is interested in learning about how they can incorporate SoTL into their work and start to engage in systematic inquiry of student learning. PLC members will spend the Fall 2024 semester learning and brainstorming about SoTL. In the Spring 2025 semester, each participant will apply their new SoTL knowledge to make progress toward a small SoTL project of their own.

Academic Advising — facilitated by Beth Rey (rey@rowan.edu), Associate Director, University Advising Services

Academic advisors provide proactive, academic support to students from entrance through graduation. Advisors assist students with exploration of career and personal goals, academic interests, and much more. They also regularly make referrals to other offices and departments for additional services and support. Thus, the role of an academic advisor is robust. The Academic Advising PLC will meet monthly and provides a supportive opportunity to engage in current advising literature discussions, share best practices and seek support, discuss advising approaches and more! The advising PLC is open to anyone interested. From those just starting to those experienced and seasoned, all are welcome.

Cross-Institutional Collaboration to Remove Barriers for Transfer Students in STEM Majors — facilitated Cristine Mason (masonc@rowan.edu), Undergraduate Advisor, Rowan University Glassboro Campus and Edem Tettah (etetteh@rcbc.edu), Dean of STEM, Academics, Rowan College of Burlington County

We welcome everyone in the larger Rowan community to join the HHMI IMPACT STEM Transfer Cluster (Rowan University, Rowan College of Burlington County, Rowan College of South Jersey- Cumberland, and Rowan College of South Jersey-Gloucester) as we collaborate to identify and implement solutions to remove barriers and create equitable and inclusive transfer experiences for students from diverse backgrounds throughout their educational experiences. Our goals for this PLC are to: 1) Create connections among our RU & RC faculty and staff; 2) Focus on specific STEM and STEM transfer student issues to inform the creation of supports and removal barriers; 3) Find ways to increase the number of students who transfer into STEM majors.

Excellence in Graduate Student Research Mentoring — facilitated by Tabbetha Dobbins (dobbins@rowan.edu), Dean, School of Graduate Studies and Stephanie Lezotte (lezotte@rowan.edu), Assistant Dean, School of Graduate Studies

Do you mentor graduate student research? Do you serve on graduate committee? Are you a member of graduate education support structure (e.g., library, advisors, etc.)? If you answered YES-- then this PLC is for you! We will work together to explore the literature and develop a concise and clear list of best practices for graduate student research mentors. Research mentorship is a key part of the experience of the graduate student. However, very little time is dedicated to helping faculty members to develop as excellent mentors. This PLC will serve to fill this gap in knowledge, understanding, and values surrounding graduate education for our faculty mentors.

Junior Faculty Mentoring PLC — facilitated by Mahbubur Meenar (meenar@rowan.edu), Associate Professor, Geography, Planning, and Sustainability

This PLC will function as a collective support group to help junior faculty through the challenges their early years at Rowan through network building across the Rowan community. Potential topics include: 1) Teaching – active-learning strategies, student interaction, engaging students; 2) Research – how to stay on top of research, how to secure grants; 3) Work and life balance – tips how to be good at teaching, research, and service, but still have time for family; and 4) Tenure & Recontracting – where to find information.

Maneuvering the Academic Workplace as an International Faculty Member/Employees in the USA — facilitated by Nina Krey (krey@rowan.edu), Associate Professor, Marketing and Business Information Systems and Mikkel Dack (dack@rowan.edu), Assistant Professor, History.

The number of international faculty members/employees across Rowan campuses continues to increase and this PLC helps to bring them together. Our PLC provides a place for international faculty to discuss issues individual faculty members/employees might face and organizes a spa to offer support. We work together to understand how Rowan's communications and policies do and do not apply to these faculty members so that we can reduce added stress and feelings of isolation, especially if faculty members/employees had to leave most of their social support system behind in their home country. If you identify as an international faculty member/employee please join us.

Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL) — facilitated by Lisa Abrams (abramsl@rowan.edu), Assistant Professor, Psychology and Jill Perry (perry@rowan.edu), Associate Professor, Content Area Teacher Education

The Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL) is a scholarly approach to teaching that uses research to answer questions about teaching and learning and to address problems educators observe in the classroom. This PLC invites you to explore how SoTL fits into your current teaching practice and/or research agenda. This group is for anyone who is interested in learning about how they can incorporate SoTL into their work and start to engage in systematic inquiry of student learning. PLC members will spend the Fall 2023 semester learning and brainstorming about SoTL with the goal of producing a resource for others who are interested in learning about SoTL. In the Spring 2024 semester, each participant will apply their new SoTL knowledge to make progress toward a small SoTL project of their own.