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Rebels, tune in to 'Let's Talk UNLV' with Dr. Tanya Crabb and Dr. Sammie Scales. Your express pass to everything UNLV — campus highlights, programs, and the latest buzz. Join us weekly as we chat with student leaders, administrators, and faculty, diving into the core of what makes us Rebels.
The program brings guests from different areas of UNLV every week to discuss campus highlights, programs and services, research interests that are essential to being a Rebel. Let’s Talk UNLV places its emphasis on connecting with student leaders who represent the voice of students on our campus. Guests also include administrators, faculty and staff responsible for upholding the mission of the university, which is teaching, research and scholarship.
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0:00:00
Alright, well welcome to another segment of Let's Talk UNLV on KUNV. Renee, how was your weekend?
0:00:15
So my weekend is the time to prepare for when guests are coming to town.
0:00:19
It is that time, you know being in Vegas, everybody's crashing right?
0:00:23
So I'm the event coordinator, trip planner, I'm going to the grocery store to get all of the items that people are requesting to have. I'm getting the house in order, you know, straightening up, putting things away. I want folks to know my stuff. So doing all of the checklists of things that we got to do when you got guests coming this week. So that was my weekend. What about yours? That's that's spot on in the Rodgers household.
0:00:51
Oh man, my mom came in today and so she's been at my sister's house in Vegas. So she's at our house this week. And so we're like, okay, my mom is obsessed with doing laundry, right? And she's like, we'll put all the laundry in one load. And so, you know, like delicate stuff, you know, you're thinking like, and then in the dryer. So, you know, you know, we're sorting out stuff like, okay, this stuff we don't want her messing with this is stuff she can wash if we're not around because she's going to get in it when we at work right and then we're hiding like the laundry detergent and and guess what happens I'm at work in a meeting phone ring my mom hey I see some stuff in the washer all right you know so she's already so tell her what I'm gonna come
0:01:31
home to right so advance her skills say we need you in the dish washing area Let's lay off on the cleaning of the clothes. We have some other
0:01:41
Household needs that we can use your your skills next Renee. That's her lane. Even when I go home as an adult, right? I Leave my clothes in my suit, you know, I keep my dirty clothes in one location. I leave go hang out visit I come back. She's like into my stuff stuff is in the washer the dryer fold it when I come back I'm like mom this stuff. You're not supposed to watch. Well, at least not together.
0:02:07
Yeah, she gets all the whites. Just stick with the whites.
0:02:10
Yeah. So it's a big to do. But, yeah, I get you there. All right. But hey, you know what? You know, we have a great guest today. We're going to be talking about we're going to talk with Melissa Bowles. Terry, who's the director at the Faculty Center. Melissa, welcome to the show.
0:02:26
Thank you so much. I'm happy to be here.
0:02:29
And Melissa, could you for the audience just give a little bit about, you know, your sort of work experience, how you transitioned to UNLV and into the director at the Faculty Center, and then we'll start asking you a few other questions.
0:02:43
Sure. Yeah, I came to UNLV almost eight years ago, and I actually came as a librarian. So I did not really plan to move to Las Vegas. I was at University of Wyoming working in the libraries there, but I applied for this job at UNLV, just kind of on a whim, and came for the interview. And it was like, I walked into the library and it was just packed. And I'd never seen a university library so busy. It was just full of students working together, talking to each other. There was this really busy hum and it was super exciting. So when I got the job offer, even though I hadn't really intended to leave Wyoming, I was like, yeah, I think I got to go to Las Vegas. So I was in UNLV libraries for about five years and I loved my work there. And then I had an opportunity to move into faculty development and it's actually pretty closely related to working in libraries because it's all about providing resources. You know, making sure people have the resources and the information that they need to be successful in their work and also creating that sense of community that you have in a library or hopefully as we're building here in the Faculty Center. And so, yeah, I've been here since early 2014 and I just love UNLV.
0:04:05
So eight years later, you're at the Faculty Center. What does it look like?
0:04:10
The Faculty Center is a space for faculty members to connect with each other and to connect with the resources and the professional development that they need to be successful in teaching, in research, and in their career development. So we offer programs to help folks try new stuff in the classroom. That has been a huge focus this last two years now, helping people figure out how to teach online all of a sudden, then helping people figure out how to teach online and in person at the same time. We've been working a lot with online education and with the Office of Information Technology to help folks move into those different areas that maybe they hadn't worked in before. So we support teaching in those different modes and ways. And we have a whole series of groups that meet regularly. We have mentoring groups for tenure-track faculty, part-time instructors, administrative faculty, and those are all about connecting to the university, building your network of mentors and colleagues so you have the support that you need to be successful. And then we have writing groups and an ongoing book group as well. So those are all about like research and writing productivity and making sure that you're meeting those goals as a faculty member.
0:05:29
And then Melissa, could you talk a little bit more about, I know you mentioned different categories of teaching faculty. Could you speak to like some of the supports that you do provide to those different adjunct, tenured faculty, some of the supports that are in place for those faculty members?
0:05:46
So, we've actually just recently created the Administrative Faculty Mentoring Group. And administrative faculty at UNLV play a whole different variety of roles. They may be instructional designers, they may be advisors, they may be working in student affairs. So folks have a whole range of different job responsibilities, but what they have in common is like needing to know about university resources and needing to build that network of colleagues. So the administrative faculty mentoring group this past semester had a focus on actually diversity and equity and like working with folks from different backgrounds and sort of building inclusivity into your work. And that was led by Dr. Lindsay Russell from the UNLV School of Business. And so that's the administrative faculty group. Then we also have a mentoring group for part-time instructors. So those are folks who may be brand new to UNLV, may have taught here part-time for a while, but they're focused on teaching. That's their primary role. So our mentoring group for those folks is kind of a teaching circle for sharing your best ideas, how to be efficient with your grading practices, how to connect with students, just sharing ideas that work in the classroom. And then there's a non-tenure track faculty mentoring group that's also a really teaching-focused group. But those folks have the opportunity to, like, move up through the ranks as well. So, they support each other through the promotion process, help each other navigate that life in terms of, you know, putting together a successful packet for review by peers and so on. And similarly, the Tenure Track Mentoring Group is kind of a career advancement group where we provide them with support and resources on the tenure and promotion process and connect them with resources like the research office. Like if you get a grant, how do you spend out that grant money? Or if you're looking to get a grant, what are your options? Who are your colleagues that you might collaborate with? It's that sort of a thing.
0:08:03
Now I have a question. Both Renee and I teach part-time. And so we like the Cliff Notes of things. And so I'm particularly interested in the mentoring group with the adjunct faculty. Are there some common themes that emerge in some of those mentoring sessions to help adjunct faculty be more effective and efficient instructors?
0:08:29
Yeah, absolutely. They've shared some great ideas, like Canvas hacks, are you using SpeedGrader in Canvas? Because that'll save you some time. And then some ideas about, you have your Google Doc that is full of your most common responses to students. And this is not to give short shrift to students. This is just like knowing that there are about five things that you're always telling students about their work. So why not just have those like copied in a Google Doc ready to go?
0:09:01
You can personalize it, but also just like save yourself some time by having your, you know how much time I spent giving feedback and reminding the same thing about that? Your article is do your reflection is doing you telling me that there were some Okay, it's not about me, but I'm just saying Three hours of self-care Okay, but my fault I need to sign up as a we're gonna send me the link later on where I can sign up.
0:09:40
So now Renee is going to sign up on both our behalf. And then she's going to sit in and then she's going to give me the short version.
0:09:46
See how he got through school relying on somebody else to give him the Cliff Notes.
0:09:51
That's teamwork, right?
0:09:52
You heard it here.
0:09:53
That's teamwork, role identification.
0:09:55
Okay.
0:09:57
No, but these are great.
0:09:58
Teamwork makes the dream work.
0:09:59
That's right.
0:10:00
These are great resources. And so I want to know how do these types of ticks of the trade, if you will, filter down to the kind of experience the student has. I'm sure that when when students have these timely reminders and other ways and the staff or faculty are having, you know, additional time to pour into the student other ways. I'm sure this makes for a meaningful classroom experience interaction. But maybe there's some other ways that you have learned about how this has improved the classroom experience because of these tips and strategies that you developed at the Faculty Center.
0:10:39
Well, I mean, I'll just say that it is the Faculty Center, but my end goal, and I would say that our end goal as a team is to improve the student experience. So if faculty members have the tools and the resources that they need, then they can do a better job helping students. So that really is like what we're here for is to improve the student experience in the end. So yes, having instructors who are prepared to respond in a timely manner to student work is really important. Having instructors who are prepared to like have engaging class sessions is really important. As we've been working with the Rebel Flex program this semester, so Rebel Flex is a partnership that we've been working on with online education and with the Office of Information Technology. We put all this new technology into classrooms, like 30 plus classrooms around campus, so that instructors can teach in-person for students who are coming to the classroom and then also engage students who are joining remotely. So, you know, there's a camera in the classroom, there are great microphones in the classroom that can pick up the whole discussion that's happening, but we want to move beyond lecture capture because we know that, you know, students who listen to a lecture get something out of it, but students who are engaged in the classroom in another way, whether it's through discussion or breakout groups, polling, different activities, that's going to enhance the educational experience. So with the RebelFlex program, we've been working with faculty members who are using that classroom technology and have students enrolled both in person and remotely to develop lesson plans that will engage everyone. And it takes extra work. You have to actually plan for like, well, if I'm going to do group discussions, how are the students online going to be put into groups? And how are my in-person groups going to work, and how's that all? So you have to really plan ahead, but we're here to support faculty members to do that. We provided them with a lesson planning template and a bunch of examples from other folks who've tried this so that they can see some concrete examples of how do I engage students in both modes at the same time and meet those learning goals. So that's one example of how this is really for the students. Another thing that I'll talk about is this semester we rolled out an online course for instructors about equity in the classroom. So it's all about creating a learning environment that's going to be welcoming and equitable for students from all kinds of different backgrounds. And it's not just going to cater to the students who are already, you know, advantaged and prepared and know all about how to college in advance, but how to build in transparency into your classroom so that things are spelled out. You don't take for granted that like, oh, students know where to get a textbook or, oh, students know what office hours are. Students who come to the university may not know what are office hours. I know I didn't when I started college. So just spelling some of these things out and creating an environment where students can ask and learn and grow, that's what we're all about.
0:13:50
So I'm so glad that you touched on how you're improving the student experience and that's why you're in this work. Talk to us about some other student projects. I know that you've worked with the Minority Serving Institution Student Council. I know that you have other ways that you are engaging students about their online experience. And so I want the audience to hear about these other ways that you're intentionally doing outreach through students.
0:14:15
So, yeah, we were really lucky to have a couple of members of the MSI Student Council work with us on developing the Equity Institute Online. So it's a four-module class for instructors to take and it takes them through an introduction to the institution, what's UNLV like, so what does it mean to be a minority serving institution, how did we become a minority serving institution, and then it looks at our student demographics, who are our students, then it looks at who are you as an instructor, asks for some self-reflection, and then goes into pedagogy. So we had a couple of awesome students, Jessica Soria and Christine Espinoza, both consulted with us and helped us to build that course, suggested lots of useful resources. So we were really grateful to have that student perspective in there. And then another student project, a student serving project that we've been working on this past semester is a textbook affordability project. So we know that a lot of students will delay buying their textbooks until their financial aid comes through or until they find out like, well, do I really need that textbook or, you know, can I get by without it? But if students didn't have that cost of like buying the textbook, they wouldn't have that barrier, that potential barrier to their learning. So we worked with a group of faculty members who were interested in piloting this project of open educational resources. Like what would happen if they adopted an online textbook that's freely available to use or what if they built their own textbook that would be freely available to use? So we had a team of folks from liberal arts who are teaching the first year seminar there, and they adopted a textbook that was available through OpenStack, which is a great online space for textbooks, and then they built their syllabus and their web campus course around that free textbook. So students didn't have to spend $90 on that textbook at the beginning of the year, which is a pretty inexpensive textbook, but still, saved them 90 bucks, and then they used this online textbook instead. So that impacted like 400 students who took, you know, many sections of that course. Then we also had a team from computer science, and those folks are building their very own textbook like from the ground up using freely available software so that their class will be totally customizable, but the textbook will also be totally free for students. So that's another thing that I'm really passionate about is working with faculty members to improve textbook affordability, just because it can be such a barrier.
0:16:57
Wow, that's exciting. I needed that when I was in school.
0:17:01
Same.
0:17:02
Me too.
0:17:03
Could you talk a little bit about the other branch of what you do under the Faculty Center where you were speaking about providing guidance and coaching for faculty on how to construct their research budgets and research expenditures. Could you talk a little bit about that effort?
0:17:21
Yeah, we are working in partnership with the folks over at the Office of Research who really deal with like the nuts and bolts of like where does your grant come from and how do you spend out the money. So we work with them on that. But then where the Faculty Center really plays a bigger role in helping faculty members with their research productivity is support like writing groups. So we have one writing group that's meeting on Fridays, and they are providing each other feedback and sharing writing. And so folks who are interested in that sort of writing support, we have an option for that. But then if you don't really want extra readers of your work, but you just need that accountability and regular practice, we have a Tuesday afternoon just drop-in and write session. And a couple of faculty members started that. They just wanted a quiet space that was out of their office, so their colleagues weren't going to find them, and they're going to be somewhere out of their usual space. So that's just a regular Tuesday afternoon drop in thing. It can be hard to be a productive writer when you're a faculty member and you have all these other calls on your time. You need to prepare your next couple of lectures, you need to respond to all that student work, you need to attend your committee meetings, et cetera, et cetera. So having some devoted time for writing so that you can get that next article out, so you can get that next book chapter done, it's really important. So we are trying to support faculty members in that balance of figuring out how to be a productive researcher as well as fulfill all those other roles.
0:19:11
And you mentioned, you know, a lot of us are so busy. We're we're teaching. We're doing research. We're on committees. And some of us, you know, think we do a good job teaching already. So how do you how do you promote. You mean Keith thinks that he is doing a great job already? Let's let's specify that. You know, my opinion of myself teaching is based on my students evaluations. But no, I'm kidding, no. And, you know, but how do you reach those faculty who do have a high opinion of their teaching and who might be reluctant to make changes to how they approach instruction or staff who are just busy? How do you outreach to faculty to help them understand or not understand, but help them access all the wonderful services that you're offering through the Faculty Center?
0:20:00
Yeah, I mean it's true we have our like core folks who always show up for everything and we're always interested in bringing in more people who could really you know use some community support or be be helped out by connecting with with some new folks. So we're definitely open to ideas like if there are expert faculty members out there who would like to share their their practices and maybe mentor some newer faculty. We love to engage folks that way. So we have a faculty center fellows program and every year we select around a dozen faculty members to serve as our like official mentors from the faculty center. So those folks are the ones who lead the writing group, the book group, the mentoring group. And we need that expertise. We need those folks who know what they're doing, you know, in order to share with other faculty. So I welcome anyone who's interested and, you know, just let me know. And we'll send out the call for applications at the end of the semester for the next year. So there's that. And then also, you know, sometimes you need a little extra incentive to participate in this kind of professional development. And so now and then we do have a program that includes a stipend for participating. The Equity Institute Online is one of those. The provost is really committed to having more faculty members learn at least some basic practices for creating a more inclusive classroom. So he's committed a $500 stipend for everyone who completes that course. So we had 130 faculty members complete it in the fall, and we're going to do it again in the spring and then in the summer. So sometimes that's the boost that a person needs to say, like, well, maybe I do have something else to learn, right?
0:21:58
Since Renee outed me, I'm not the top instructor, Renee, but you know, I do.
0:22:04
I do my best.
0:22:08
But, yeah, I think those are all fantastic. So I know that I will be reaching out, taking advantage of some of those to spare students a poor experience.
0:22:16
Yes. Dr. Roger Emeritus. But you talk a lot about community, you know, really on a serious note. Can you maybe share with our listeners how important it was to, I guess, cultivate this community for faculty in the midst of covid? I mean, there were so many concerns, both for their personal well-being and health, but then also the pressures of trying to get tenure and the pressures of trying to get their research done and then to obviously make teaching a priority. I'm just curious what you think, how significant and important was it to have that community that the Faculty Center cultivated during this time? Yeah, I'm glad you asked.
0:23:01
It has been just a really hard couple of years. Like there's no getting around that, right? It's been tough. And one thing that I think helped a lot of folks is just having an opportunity to regularly connect. So, throughout our whole working remotely, our whole pandemic time, we had mindfulness meditations once a week on either a Tuesday or Wednesday at noon, and Dr. Donna Costa from Integrated Health Sciences led that. And we had a regular group of folks who were showing up every week for this mindfulness meditation session on Zoom. And that's something that you can get through an app on your phone or whatever. But if you were joining us on our faculty center Zoom, then you were seeing your colleagues, you had an opportunity to connect with those folks on a regular basis. And I think it really provided a sense of continuity and a sense that like, okay, we're all still here, we're all still in this together. But I know it's been tough and, you know, moving all of our programs virtual was one thing back in March 2020, but then moving everything hybrid this semester has been, it's been a lot of work. And I really feel for all the faculty members who've made a similar move, you know, to like try things in a different mode, try and engage folks when we're all zoomed out, like it's, it's tough. And we just want to be here for folks who, you know, want to come make a cup of coffee, want to check out our game collection, our book collection, you can join us in person or we'll continue to offer our programs online as well. So I think that's been like a positive development out of the pandemic is that we've learned that, you know, we can actually be more inclusive and accessible if we provide opportunities to connect online as well as in person.
0:24:59
And then, Melissa, we will give you the last word. Is there anything that you would like to share in addition to what you've already shared with our listeners?
0:25:06
I'll just tell you, we are in Beam Hall 235 and 240, and we have a coffee pot ready to go. So any faculty members who want to stop by and say hello, have a cup of coffee, we'd be glad to see you.
0:25:24
If I can get some hot chocolate, I'll be over there today probably.
0:25:27
With some marshmallows.
0:25:29
I'll have to check the cupboard. I know we got some tea. I'll check our cupboards.
0:25:35
Renee, what was your takeaway from today's session? I mean, there were so many wonderful points shared by Melissa.
0:25:42
You know, I don't want to be controversial, but I do want to just make this point that oftentimes we hear from students that they want faculty to have mandatory training. And and I don't disagree with that. Right. But given the constraints with, you know, implementing such a requirement, I think the Faculty Center has provided us a number of ways that they are trying to move the needle by providing access, you know, to help faculty improve and hone in on their teaching skills by providing resource development through, you know, who should you collaborate for, you know, working with grants, which we know for every grant dollar that we get, that's one less dollar that we have to take from student fees or increase student fees, and then providing the faculty a space for them to have community, for them to be vulnerable and say, I'm struggling or I need help. And so how better do these staff, these faculty members, then show up in their classrooms so that they can be there to support the students and to provide the teaching expertise and to provide the feedback that's critical for students to develop. And so I just want to leave that point with our students that, no, keep fighting the fight for mandatory training. But at least let's acknowledge the ways that we are providing institutional commitment and resources to have a faculty center that provides this basket of goods for the faculty that we have.
0:27:14
Yeah, and I wholeheartedly concur with that, that, you know, UNLV, certainly through what Melissa has shared, has really stepped up and put resources where these things need to be in place for students and to affect instruction overall. So there is hardly any reason not to seek those resources out. It's just a matter of, as an individual, you know, making the time to tap into those resources. And the thing that was I would that resonated with me is not just for adjunct faculty, but faculty all the way through tenure track traditions. And then also on the administrative faculty side, too. And then those of us who are active grant writers, you know, just having a community to tap into to help us on post award once we do have these grants to be able to really impact the campus successes. And then the thing that also really resonated with me was just the the initiative around the open education. We're really trying to make textbooks more affordable, if not free. Right. For students to really make the cost of attendance less and more affordable for all students. So those are the things that really resonate with me. And I always, whenever I talk with Melissa in committee meetings and other settings, she's always very enlightening and sharing and educating us all on how we can be better communicators, especially among ourselves as the adults on campus, I always say.
0:28:42
Yep. And she's wearing that Students First jersey. So I love it.
0:28:45
Yes.
0:28:48
Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of KUNV Let's Talk UNLV. For my co-host Keith, I'm Renee. Tune in next week, Wednesday at 12, on KUNV 91.5 Jazz and More. Tune in next week, Wednesday at 12, on KUNV 91.5 Jazz and More. That's a wrap.
Transcribed with Cockatoo