PTK Promotion Bootcamp Pt 1: Demystifying the Promotion Process
Mar 7, 12:50 pm
- 2:15 pm
Panelists include Elizabeth Lathrop, Director of Proposal Development, ENGR; Jade Olson, Associate Clinical Professor, Communication, ARHU; and Brit Saksvig, Director of Graduate Student Services & Clinical Professor, SPHL. This session is the first part of the PTK Promotion Bootcamp, focused on preparing PTK faculty for going up for promotion - participants are encouraged to attend both sessions. This session will include an overview of the promotion process, as well as a panel of faculty representing different perspectives on the process (promotion candidates, department chairs, college and campus committee members).
Presenters
Dawn Culpepper (she/her) is the Director of the ADVANCE Program for Inclusive Excellence. Dawn's research broadly examines equity, diversity, and inclusion in the academic workplace, with an emphasis on identifying strategies and disrupting practices that limit full participation for women and scholars from racially minoritized groups. She has examined faculty hiring, workload, tenure and promotion, postdoctoral training programs, work-life integration, graduate education, and faculty-related COVID-19 policies. Her work has been published in top education and diversity-related journals, and she has led or served on numerous projects funded by the National Science Foundation, including as the social science research team lead for the NSF INCLUDES RISE-UPP Alliance.
Ursula Gorham is the Associate Director for Faculty Initiatives in the Office of Faculty Affairs, overseeing policy and procedural matters governing PTK and other non-tenure-track faculty. Prior to joining the Office of Faculty Affairs, she was a Senior Lecturer in the College of Information Studies, serving as the director of the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program from 2018-2023. She is a proud alumna of UMD, having earned a PhD and MLIS from the iSchool, a law degree from the School of Law, University of Maryland, Baltimore, and a Master of Public Management from the School of Public Policy.
Lori A. Sefton is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Applied Agriculture. She teaches Agricultural Leadership and Teamwork as well as Oral Communication, an approved general education course.
About two years ago, Lori was deeply concerned about how AI would impact student learning. She worried that her students would rely on AI to complete coursework and, in doing so, miss opportunities to engage meaningfully with course concepts. As a result, she tried to discourage AI use by her students, while realizing that at least some were using it regularly. Over time, however, Lori came to recognize that AI is not a passing trend-it is here to stay and is already shaping the professional environments our students will enter. She knew she had an ethical responsibility to teach her students how to use AI credibly and confidently.
By learning both the benefits and the limitations of AI, Lori has shifted her approach in the classroom. She now intentionally teaches students how to use AI as a starting point for their work and, more importantly, how to critically review and reshape AI-generated content to meet assignment expectations and reflect their own thinking and voice. Through this process, students learn that AI can support learning, but it cannot replace it. To use AI to create quality content, students need to know how to teach AI to do quality work. Students are smarter than AI; they simply need guidance and confidence to see that for themselves.
Meredith Epstein is a Principal Lecturer, Academic Advisor, and Assistant Director at the Institute of Applied Agriculture. She has been part of her unit’s original PTK promotion policy development, served as member and chair of the unit and college level PTK promotion committees, gone through the promotion processes to Senior and Principal Lecturer, and served as a mentor to junior faculty going through the Senior level promotion process. Meredith teaches seven different courses related to sustainable agriculture, food systems, and agricultural business management; advises about 40 students per semester; manages nine major curricula; and manages the UMD Community Learning Garden.