Annual Reports

Annual Report 2020 - 2021

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Workshop Participation – 2020-2021

GOAL 3.3: Foster a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement and individual growth

Number of Participants by College

Summary

CFE held a total of 83 workshops with 1,825 attendees. 
We welcomed Instructional Designer, Dr. Shihua Brazill to the team. Dr. Brazill specialized in Universal Design Learning and Accessibility.

Programs

Teaching and Advising

• GOAL 1.1: Broaden access for underrepresented populations and increase academic success for all students through excellence in undergraduate education.
• GOAL 1.3: Implement evidence-based high quality, high impact teaching and learning practices for every student

4 Instructional Innovation Grants were awarded to 7 individuals.

David Claudio was given Academic Advising Award for faculty to recognize his significant contributions to academic advising. This award closely follows the National Academic Advising Association’s core values and criteria for national outstanding advising.

Hannah DelCurto-Wyffels was awarded the Teaching Innovation Award, designed to honor faculty who have incorporated outstanding innovative teaching practices into their classes at Montana State University.

Maria Velazquez was awarded the President's Excellence in Teaching Award to recognize excellent teachers who have made exemplary contributions to instruction and student learning at Montana State University. 

Susanne Cowan was given the President's Award for Excellence in Service Learning recognizing her work in helping students apply their academic skills and knowledge to address the genuine needs of a community organization. 

Research & Scholarship

• GOAL 2.1: Enhance the significance and impact of scholarship
• GOAL 2.2: Expand interdisciplinary scholarship
• GOAL 2.3: Strengthen institutional reputation in scholarship

Faculty Excellence Grants are awarded two times this year with a total of 36 awards. 2021-2022 Grant Recipients

9 faculty, staff and postdocs participated in the fall Grant-Writing Bootcamp.

The Women in STEM Faculty Learning Community met 5 times throughout both the Fall and Spring semesters with 52 participants.

15 grants were submitted (3 NSF Career proposals) by faculty who received assistance from the Research Resources Coordinator. 

Collaborations

The Center has continued its many collaborations and added new partnerships focused on faculty excellence. Most frequent collaborations involved:

Office of the Vice President for Research, Economic Development and Graduate Education: We continued the strong connection with the Office of Sponsored Programs with the Research Coordinator attending OSP’s weekly meetings and coordinating on grant submissions. The Research Coordinator also began meeting regularly with the Associate Vice President for Research Development, Dr. Elizabeth Shanahan. In FY20/21, the partnership has grown to include supporting VPREDGE efforts to promote interdisciplinary collaborations and grant submissions. CFE has also created a close collaboration with the Dean of the Graduate School working on Research Group Excellence, graduate student communications and Graduate Teaching Assistant training and mentor training for faculty.

• GOAL 1.2: Expand high-quality graduate education
• GOAL 2.2: Expand interdisciplinary scholarship

Office of Diversity and Inclusion: The ODI and CFE collaborated on several workshops this year including a two-part series to incorporate Racial Justice into teaching as well as “what you want your students to know” sessions. We are collaborating to create a civil, supportive and respectful environment where difference and diversity are sources of strength.

Library: CFE, the Library and REDGE are working together to create the “Alliance for Research Engagement and Impact (AREI)” that amplifies the impact of MSU research by coordinating services through the full cycle of research and scholarly communication. It supports the ongoing evolution of research infrastructure at MSU and responds to the 21st century needs of researchers, the university, and funding agencies.

Other notable collaborations involved:

• Office of the Provost & Academic Affairs
• Office of Planning & Analysis
• Academic Technology & Outreach
• University Studies/Academic Advising Center
• Writing Center
• Disability Services
• Leadership Institute
• Facilities/ Campus Planning, Design & Construction

Committees

Teaching Excellence Action Committee: Worked to improve faculty teaching by allocating funds for faculty development projects; support assessment and outcomes on campus by sponsoring teaching improvement activities; support attendance at instructional development workshops which provide the potential to impact teaching methods on campus

Research Capacity Team: The RC Team met monthly to focus on supporting MSU faculty in their scholarship and interdisciplinary research teams. At the request of President Cruzado, the Team worked on recommendations to bring to University Council that will support MSU’s Strategic Goal: GOAL 2.2: Expand interdisciplinary scholarship. The Team has reviewed information around interdisciplinary scholarship (IDS) from multiple data sources, including previous MSU reports, best practices from other universities, discussions with graduate students and MSU faculty feedback from a 2019 survey, as well as feedback from individuals currently engaging in IDS at MSU. Based on these data, the RCT has developed some key considerations and recommendations with regard to expanding IDS.

Service Learning Committee: The Service Learning Committee meets regularly and offered a training about how to implement service learning in one’s class as a high quality high impact practice (HQ HIP). In 2020, Professor Marvin Lansverk was selected as one of three faculty from the MSU community as a Montana University System Regents Teaching Scholar to lead a faculty learning community (FLC) exploring service learning at MSU.