OFA Events Calendar

Faculty Awards Workshop

Recognize and acknowledge excellent faculty members in your department for their outstanding academic accomplishments by nominating them for UMD & USM Faculty Awards. Learn about the criteria and nomination processes, including dossier expectations and helpful tips to put forth a stellar nomination packet. Also discuss how to build momentum from other faculty awards at the college, campus, and University System of Maryland levels, and learn how to incorporate elements of these nominations into your submissions.

This event is open only to faculty and staff at the University of Maryland. If you require accommodations, please email us or call 301.405.6803. Note only authenticated users can join; please register with your UMD email address.

APT Workshop: Networking Session for APT Coordinators

Join us for a networking session designed specifically for APT coordinators. This session will bring together peers from across units and colleges to exchange ideas, discuss review processes, ask questions, and build valuable connections. Participants will have the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the APT process and gain insights from experienced coordinators.

The session will be facilitated by Umai Habibah, Program Manager.

This event is open only to faculty and staff at the University of Maryland. If you require accommodations, please email us or call 301.405.6803.

Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Lecture: Love Is What We Aim for: Focusing on the Future We Want to See

Professor Jing Lin, Department of Counseling, Higher Education and Special Education

This lecture is the first of seven Distinguished Scholar-Teacher (DST) Lectures occurring this Fall. These public presentations feature topics related to the research interests of the award recipients.

RSVPs are requested: Register to Attend

APT Workshop: Chairs and Administrators

This workshop is designed for those who chair or will serve on a Promotion and Tenure/Promotion committee, as well as administrators who oversee the APT process in their units.

In particular, the workshop discusses considerations at the Departmental, College, and University levels, and emphasizes APT policy and guidelines; foundational aspects of dossier preparation and deliberations; and other critical aspects of APT matters. The workshop will also introduce and discuss any revisions to the University’s APT Guidelines. Discussion and questions throughout the workshop are welcomed and encouraged.

This event is open only to faculty and staff at the University of Maryland. If you require accommodations, please email us or call 301.405.6803.

Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Lecture: A Brain in Flux: Neural Mechanisms of Auditory Aging and the Promise of Plasticity

Professor Samira Anderson, Department of Hearing & Speech Sciences

This lecture is the second of seven Distinguished Scholar-Teacher (DST) Lectures occurring this Fall. These public presentations feature topics related to the research interests of the award recipients.

ADVANCE Workshop: Evidence-Based Approaches to Faculty Mentoring

This workshop will focus on approaches or strategies for faculty mentoring and speakers will engage in an interactive discussion of how different approaches can be integrated in mentoring models for faculty.

Speakers:

"Equity-Minded Mentoring" Kimberly Griffin, Ph.D., Dean, College of Education, University of Maryland College Park

"Trauma-Informed Mentoring" Amanda Bailey, Ph.D., Professor of English, University of Maryland College Park

"What Coaching Teaches Us About Mentoring" Monette Austin Bailey & Monique Stevens, Consultants, Center for Leadership & Organizational Change, University of Maryland College Park

The Potential of K-12 School and University Partnerships: An Example from the UMD Campus

Partnerships between K-12 schools and the university campus are complex and difficult to maintain, however, when successful they can contribute to positive interactions and perceptions. This presentation will focus on research related to school-university partnerships. An example from our own campus, the partnership between UMD and College Park Academy, will illustrate the results of a decade-long interaction between the two institutions.

Our speaker, Promessor Emerita Donna L. Wiseman, served as the Dean of the College of Education at the University of Maryland from 2008-2017. A former public school teacher, Wiseman's professional and scholarly interests include literacy development and instruction, school-university partnerships, teacher professional development, diversity in today's classrooms, and equitable access to education. Wiseman has published numerous books and articles in literacy and teacher education. Her early scholarship centered on children's reading and writing development and readers' responses to children's literature. Her recent scholarly efforts have focused on professional development for teachers who teach in diverse classrooms.

Moderator: Charles Caramello, Professor Emeritus, College of Arts and Humanities

Center for Community Engagement Course Design Workshops, Fall 2026

Join us to explore the core values in this work, the range of partnership and project models to consider in your design, as well as the campus policies, procedures, and supports that shape how you connect students to the community. Whether you're new to community-engaged teaching or reconsidering an existing course, you'll leave with a clearer sense of the principles that should guide your design.

Register Here

Faculty Forum: Disability Awareness

Please join us for a conversation on what faculty members should know about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and what it means for your teaching, research, and disability accommodation. We will discuss:

• The role of the ADA coordinator on campus;
• The process for securing accommodations for faculty members; and
• How instructors can support students with disabilities.

Speakers:

• Tessa Cahill, Director, Accessibility & Disability Service, Student Affairs
• Emily Singer Lucio, ADA/504 Coordinator

AEP Workshop: Getting Ready for PTK Promotion

This workshop will provide useful information to PTK faculty members who are just beginning to think about promotion as well as those who are looking to go up for promotion in the near future. OFA staff will provide an overview of:

• The policies and guidelines that PTK faculty members should know about,
• The steps involved in the promotion process, and
• Dossier preparation.

The session will be presented by Jennifer Wallace, Associate Director, Faculty Initiatives; and Umai Habibah, Program Manager.

This event is open only to faculty and staff at the University of Maryland. If you require accommodations, please email us or call 301.405.6803.

Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Lecture: Who Wants to Know? How Children Figure Out What Words and People Mean

Professor Valentine Hacquard, Department of Linguistics

This lecture is the third of seven Distinguished Scholar-Teacher (DST) Lectures occurring this Fall. These public presentations feature topics related to the research interests of the award recipients. 

Reception to follow lecture in the adjoining Atrium. 

Center for Community Engagement Course Design Workshops, Fall 2026

Discover how to build a community partnership that is a mutually beneficial collaboration. Explore the difference between extractive, transactional, and transformational partnerships, learn a framework for mapping the stakeholders in your project, and walk through what to share, ask, and listen for from your first outreach conversation through a written partnership agreement.

Register Here

AEP Workshop: Overseeing PTK Promotions

This workshop will provide an overview of the roles and responsibilities of unit heads/administrators throughout the promotion process, designed to be a primer/refresher for those who will be overseeing PTK promotions either this year or next year.

The session will be presented by Jennifer Wallace, Associate Director, Faculty Initiatives; and Umai Habibah, Program Manager.

This event is open only to faculty and staff at the University of Maryland. If you require accommodations, please email us or call 301.405.6803.

AEP Workshop: Dossier Preparation for PTK

Intended for any Professional-track faculty member with predominant responsibilities in the instructional domain. This workshop will summarize how PTK promotion cases are reviewed at the campus level, discuss the materials faculty should be preparing for a promotion dossier; and address questions about how PTK faculty should present different types of activities in their dossiers. Discussion and questions throughout the workshops are welcomed and encouraged.

The session will be hosted by Jennifer Wallace, Associate Director for Faculty Initiatives, Office of Faculty Affairs; and Umai Habibah, Program Manager, Office of Faculty Affairs.

This event is open only to faculty and staff at the University of Maryland. If you require accommodations, please email us or call 301.405.6803.

Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Lecture: Light Entertainment: How We Make Photons Work for Us

Professor John Fourkas, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Institute for Physical Science and Technology

This lecture is the fourth of seven Distinguished Scholar-Teacher (DST) Lectures occurring this Fall. These public presentations feature topics related to the research interests of the award recipients.

Center for Community Engagement Course Design Workshops, Fall 2026

Not all experiences produce learning. This session digs into the theory and practice behind facilitating the reflection that produces real learning rather than a retelling of events. We will review models for discussion-based reflection as well as well-structured reflection assignments, complete with rubrics and formats for fair grading and assessment. You will leave with strategies for designing reflection before, during, and after the community experience, and for facilitating the classroom discussions that reflection depends on.

Register Here

ADVANCE Workshop: Department Approaches to Faculty Mentoring

This workshop will focus on ways that departments embed faculty mentoring into their plans to support faculty growth and advancement.

Speakers:

Monique Koppel, Principal Lecturer, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry

Wayne Lutters, Professor & Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, College of Information

Yueming 'Lucy' Qiu, Professor & Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Affairs, School of Public Policy

ADVANCE Series: Navigating Service Demands? Let’s Talk.

Social science research shows that faculty of color often encounter heavy service loads that can take time away from research, teaching, and/or other duties more commonly rewarded in academe (Domingo et al., 2022; Guillaume & Apodaco, 2022; Griffin et al., 2013). In this interactive panel, UMD faculty will discuss their approach to navigating service. 

Speakers: TBA

Center for Community Engagement Course Design Workshops, Fall 2026

This session applies the “backward course design” approach to a community engaged course in order to align student learning activities, assessments, learning goals, and your community partner's needs. By finding the right balance between challenge and support, a well-designed course prepares students to do their best work, from entering the community respectfully to producing truly useful deliverables for the community partner.

Register Here

Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Lecture: Freedom, the Fine Print, and the Future of Work

Professor Evan Starr, Robert H. Smith School of Business

This lecture is the fifth of seven Distinguished Scholar-Teacher (DST) Lectures occurring this Fall. These public presentations feature topics related to the research interests of the award recipients.

Reception to follow. 

Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Lecture: Building Tomorrow’s Highways from Yesterday’s Waste: Engineering Greener and More Resilient Transportation Networks

Professor Ahmet Aydilek, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering

This lecture is the sixth of seven Distinguished Scholar-Teacher (DST) Lectures occurring this Fall. These public presentations feature topics related to the research interests of the award recipients.

Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Lecture: The World Turned Upside Down: A Global History of the American Revolution

Professor Richard Bell, Department of History

This lecture is the final Distinguished Scholar-Teacher (DST) Lecture occurring this Fall. These public presentations feature topics related to the research interests of the award recipients.

APT Workshop: Promotion and Tenure

Intended for assistant professors, this workshop emphasizes the overall APT process and general considerations. Discussion and questions throughout the workshop are welcomed and encouraged.

This event is open only to faculty and staff at the University of Maryland. If you require special accommodations, please email us or call 301.405.6803.

APT Workshop: Promotion to Full

This workshop focuses on tenured faculty seeking promotion to full professor, emphasizing considerations for the promotion process, expectations of APT committees, and what the University committee looks for in an APT package.

This event is only for faculty and staff at the University of Maryland. If you require accommodations, please email us or call 301.405.6803.