Past Initiatives
- Notre Dame Faculty Experience Survey 2013–14
- Provost’s Initiative on Building Intellectual Community
- Provost’s Initiative on Engaging the Community
- Provost’s Initiative on Diversifying the Curriculum
- Provost’s Initiative on Grand-Challenge Courses
- Provost’s Learning Initiative
- Provost’s Initiative on Team Teaching
- Undergraduate Learning & Formation Initiative
Notre Dame Faculty Experience Survey 2013–14
In 2013, the University of Notre Dame partnered with several peer universities to conduct a Faculty Experience Survey. This study was intended to assess institutional climate, work load, work/life balance, the tenure/promotion process, mentoring, research and scholarship infrastructure, and benefits.
Survey responses were collected by the Office of Strategic Planning & Institutional Research (OSPIR) of the University of Notre Dame on behalf of the multi-institutional consortium. Provost Burish then appointed a blue ribbon committee of Notre Dame faculty, chaired by Professor Katherine Spiess, to examine the results. To protect the anonymity of individual survey participants, only aggregated data was analyzed and reported.
The blue ribbon committee has since completed its work and submitted a detailed report, available below, with important observations and recommendations that will allow us better to understand and to improve the faculty experience at Notre Dame. Also below, you will find an earlier, preliminary presentation of the survey’s raw data.
*Note: A Notre Dame NetID and password are required to view the following materials.
- Blue Ribbon Committee Report on the Faculty Experience Survey (4.3 mb PDF)
- Notre Dame Faculty Experience Survey 2013–14: A Preliminary Look (246 kb PDF)
Provost’s Initiative on Building Intellectual Community
The Provost’s Initiative on Building Intellectual Community was designed to assist faculty members in engaging with colleagues in other departments, colleges, and schools about important topics outside one’s discipline. While many of these conversations occur regularly across campus, this program provided modest funding to support more formal and structured exchanges in the hope that the intellectual community would be strengthened and new ideas or initiatives would be developed.
Provost’s Initiative on Engaging the Community
The Provost’s Initiative on Engaging the Community encouraged faculty members to develop innovative ways to share their research, scholarship, and other creative endeavors with members of the local and regional community.
Provost’s Initiative on Diversifying the Curriculum
To flourish in an increasingly complex and global world, students must have greater understanding, awareness, and appreciation of gender, racial/ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic diversity. The Provost's Initiative on Diversifying the Curriculum was designed to assist faculty members in creating or redesigning courses to incorporate or address diversity issues.
Provost’s Initiative on Grand-Challenge Courses
Because of their considerable complexity, many of the important challenges and issues facing contemporary societies require a multidisciplinary approach and broad perspective if we are to understand and ultimately resolve them. The Provost's Initiative on Grand-Challenge Courses encouraged faculty members to provide our undergraduate students with an opportunity to address these grand challenges through a team-taught, multidisciplinary course.
Request for Proposals and Application Procedures, 2011-2012 (61.4 kb PDF)
Provost’s Learning Initiative
In order to meet the opportunities of the future and amplify Notre Dame’s leadership role in creating the future of education (on campus, with partners, and for the world), the Office of the Provost launched the Provost’s Learning Initiative, a multi-year project focused on creating, understanding, and sustaining transformational learning experiences.
The Provost’s Learning Initiative was advised by a faculty steering committee and enabled by the close collaboration of the Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning, the Hesburgh Libraries, the Office of Digital Learning, the OIT Learning Platforms team, and other faculty support units. The initiative solicited proposals for high-impact learning projects and nominations for the inaugural cohort of the Kaneb Center Course Design Academy while also offering pilot grants for instructional software and sponsoring a speaker series.
Provost’s Initiative on Team Teaching
The intention here was to encourage and facilitate the creation and offering of new interdisciplinary courses team-taught by two or more faculty from two or more colleges/schools. Proposals were accepted for courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Application Procedures for Fall 2010 Courses (22.6 kb PDF)
Undergraduate Learning & Formation Initiative
This initiative concerned the creation of a statement that articulates a vision for undergraduate learning and formation at Notre Dame. The University has long been deeply committed to providing an exceptional undergraduate educational experience that is enriched by Catholic intellectual, religious, and cultural traditions. Notwithstanding, as of several years ago, the University had not articulated in any comprehensive or distinctive way what it seeks to instill in its undergraduates. In an effort to address this matter, the provost asked a group of faculty, administrators, and students to generate—in consultation with the University community—a statement of Notre Dame’s core vision for undergraduate learning and formation. The aim was for the statement to encapsulate the breadth of ways in which the University seeks to cultivate undergraduate students as whole persons with attention to their intellectual, spiritual, ethical, and social development. Academic Council officially approved Notre Dame's Vision for Undergraduate Education in March 2009.
Letter to Faculty Announcing Undergraduate Learning and Formation Initiative (19.7 kb PDF)
Vision Statement Approved by Academic Council (Meeting Minutes) (21.3 kb PDF)
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Carl Ackermann | Finance |
| Sunny K. Boyd | Biological Sciences |
| Rev. John Conley, C.S.C. | Rector Siegfried Hall |
| Lawrence Cunningham | Theology |
| Stephen Fallon | Program of Liberal Studies |
| Ann Firth | Associate Vice President, Student Affairs |
| Agustin Fuentes | Anthropology |
| Carol Hendrickson | Student |
| Christopher Kolda | Physics |
| Rev. William M. Lies, C.S.C. | Center for Social Concerns |
| Scott Malpass | Vice President and Chief Investment Officer |
| Valerie L. Sayers | English |
| Siiri Scott | Film, Television, & Theatre |
| Stephen E. Silliman | Civil Engineering and Geological Sciences |
| John Stamper | Architecture |
| Billy Sullivan | Student |
| Priscilla Wong | Campus Ministry |