Fall 2025
New Faculty Orientation will be held on Wednesday, August 13, from 11:00am-4:00pm in the STEM Building, second floor. If you are interested in attending, please register here. 

As a New Faculty Orientation session, CTLE will be hosting the Life Cycle of your Semester, a virtual session to be held on Thursday, August 14 from 9:30-10:45am. If you are interested in attending, please register here

August 13 Session details are below:

• Welcome and Icebreaker
  Archana A. Pathak: Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs; Associate Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, College of Humanities and Sciences 
• Opening Remarks
  Kathleen Rudasill, Interim Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs & Professor, School of Education; Beverly Warren, Interim Provost, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
• Managing Your Time
  This session will be an interactive panel discussion to help new faculty think about how to manage their time in their first weeks, first semester, and first year.
  Moderator: Lisa Abrams: Interim Assistant Vice Provost; Professor, Department of Foundations of Education, School of Education | Panelists: Gabriela Leon Perez, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, College of Humanities and Sciences; Janina Lewis, Director of Faculty Advancement, School of Dentistry; Rani Satynam, Associate Professor, Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, College of Humanities and Sciences; Serra De Arment, Associate Professor, Department of Counseling and Special Education, School of Education
• Promoting a Culture of Health and Wellness
  Suzanne Weaver, Director, Operations and Wellness, Employee Health Services; VCU Occupational Health & Safety
• Accessing Offices: Office of the Provost, Human Resources
  This session introduces New Faculty to VCU offices connected to faculty support in their professional and employee life. Session panelists will share the role of their office and how their office engages/supports faculty.
  Alison Miller, Chief Human Resources Officer; Jess Hill, Executive Director, Faculty Human Resources; Andrew T. Arroyo, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, Interim Dean, University College & Professor of Educational Leadership, School of Education; Kimberly M. Bridges, President, Faculty Senate & Associate Professor, Educational Leadership, School of Education
• Accessing Resources: Teaching/Learning, Research & Student Success
  This session will introduce the new faculty to VCU resources connected to teaching and learning, research, and student success. Session panelists will share their experiences and insights focusing on their area and/or the role of their office and how their office engages/supports faculty. There will be time for attendees to interact with the presenters during breakout sessions.
  Moderator: Archana A. Pathak: Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs & Associate Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, College of Humanities and Sciences
  • Teaching and Learning | Susan Coombes, Director of Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence (CTLE) & Associate Professor, School of Business; Maghboeba Mosavel, Vice Provost, Community Engagement & Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Public Health; Mariah Crilley, Director of Interdisciplinary Studies & Associate Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies and University Curriculum Innovation, University College; Krista Donohoe, Director of Skills Laboratory & Associate Professor, Department of Pharmacotherapy and Outcomes Science, School of Pharmacy
  • Research | Lisa Richman Ballance, Associate Vice President for Strategy and Regulatory Affairs, Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation; Matthew C.T. Hartman, Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Humanities and Sciences; Dina Garcia, Graduate Program Director & Assistant Professor, Department of Social and Behavioral Health, School of Public Health; Kevin Sutherland, Interim Associate Dean for Research, School of Education; Professor, Department of Counseling and Special Education
  • Student Success | Gabe Willis, Associate Vice President & Dean of Student Advocacy; Hernan Bucheli, Vice President, Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Success; Kristie Filipchuk, Interim Associate Dean & Director of Student Conduct and Academic Integrity; Maggie Tolan, Executive Senior Associate Vice President for Student Success and Innovation

Spring 2025
The City of Richmond was under a severe weather warning and was also experiencing a water situation, with a large swath of the city without access to running water. Due to these conditions and in an abundance of caution, the Spring 2025 New Faculty Orientation was held via zoom on Thursday, January 9 from 9:00am-12:45pm. Session details are below:

• Welcome, Icebreaker, and Opening Remarks
  Archana Pathak, Interim Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, Associate Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality & Women's Studies; Mangala Subramaniam, Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, Professor, Department of Sociology
• Key University Policies for Faculty
  Mangala Subramaniam, Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, Professor, Department of Sociology
• Life Cycle of Your Semester
  Susan Coombes, Interim Director, Center for Teaching and Learning Excellence, Faculty Affairs, Associate Professor, School of Business
• Accessing Resources: Teaching, Learning and Student Success
  Moderator: Maria Rivera, Faculty Senate President; Professor, Department of Biology, College of Humanities & Sciences; | Session Participants: Susan Coombes, Interim Director, CTLE; Alden Chesney, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology; School of Medicine; Maggie Tolan, Senior Associate Vice President for Student Success, SEMSS; Michal Coffey, Executive Director, Campus Learning Center, SEMSS; Gabe Willis, Associate Vice President &  Dean of Student Advocacy, Division of Student Affairs; Karen Belanger, Assistant Dean & Director, Student Conduct & Academic Integrity, Division of Student Affairs
  
• Final Remarks
  Archana Pathak, Interim Assistant Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, Associate Professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality & Women's Studies
  

Orientation was held on August 14, 2024 from 8:30am-1:00pm and August 15, 2024 from 11:00am-3:45pm. Session details are below:

• Welcome and Opening Remarks
  Mangala Subramaniam, Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs; Fotis Sotiropolous, Provost, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs; Michael Rao, President 
• Managing Your Time
  This session will be a panel discussion to help new faculty think about how to manage their time in their first weeks, first semester and first year. Once panelists are done, attendees will be given a time planner document that they can begin to fill out.  Panelists will be invited to visit tables during the small group work.  The full group discussion will allow tables to share what they came up with and ask questions.
  Moderator: Lisa Abrams, Interim Assistant Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs | Panelists: Kamden Strunk, Professor, Foundations of Education & Faculty Fellow, Faculty Affairs; Christiana Lafazani, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research, School of the Arts & Associate Professor, Interior Design; Jessica Trisko Darden, Associate Professor, Political Science
• Setting Goals
  This session provides an opportunity for participants to begin thinking about short and long term goals, assessing them periodically, and revising them as needed. How do you think about setting goals, creating a plan, and revising it as needed? How do you plan within a timeline of a semester, an academic year, a summer, and say two years?
  Lisa Abrams, Interim Assistant Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs
  
• Promoting a Culture of Health and Wellness
  Suzanne Weaver, Director of Operations and Wellness, Employee Health
  
• Accessing Offices: HR; Provost Office; Faculty Senate
  Moderator: Archana Pathak, Interim Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs | Panelists: Alison Miller, Chief Human Resources Officer; William Nelson, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Administration and Operations; Andrew T. Arroyo, Senior Vice Provost, Academic Affairs & Affiliate Professor, Educational Leadership; Maria Rivera, President, Faculty Senate & Professor, Biology 
  
• Accessing Resources: Teaching/Learning; Research; Student Success
  This session will introduce the new faculty to VCU offices and resources connected to teaching and learning, student success, and research. Session panelists will share the role of their office and how their office engages/supports faculty. There will be time for Q&A/comments.
  Moderator: Archana Pathak, Interim Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs
  • Teaching and Learning | Virginia Wray Totaro, Associate Professor, Focused Inquiry; Priscilla Hwang, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering; Ellen Carpenter, Associate Professor, Psychology
  • Research | Lisa Richman Ballance, Associate Vice President for Strategy and Regulatory Affairs; Kathy Tossas, Assistant Professor, Health and Behavior Policy; Cecelia Valrie, Associate Professor, Psychology; Amol Karmarkar, Professor Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Center for Rehabilitation Science and Engineering  
  • Student Success | Hernan Bucheli, Vice President for Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Success & University Innovation Alliance Liaison; Karen Belanger, Assistant Dean and Director, Student Conduct and Academic Integrity, Division of Student Affairs; Gabe Willis, Associate Vice President and Dean of Student Advocacy, Division of Student Affairs; Kat Drumm, Assistant Vice President for Academic Advising and Technologies, Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Success
    
• Structuring and Building Your CV
  This session is a discussion of the elements of a CV - the main parts - and how to continuously and consistently enter items. Acknowledging that CVs may vary by discipline, the goal of this session is to provide guidance on how to structure your CV and then continue to build it over time. What are the typical main sections of a CV? What is appropriate to include and when? What are the nuances in the content of a CV across disciplines?
  Preetam Ghosh, Interim Chair & Associate Professor, Computer Science; Beth Bukoski, Associate Professor & Director of the Ed.D. Department of Leadership; Mangala Subramaniam, Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
  

Orientation was held on August 16, 8:30am-1:00pm and August 17, 11:00am-3:30pm. Session details are below:

• Welcome and Opening Remarks
  Mangala Subramaniam, Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs; Fotis Sotiropolous, Provost, Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs; Michael Rao, President 
• Accessing Offices and Resources 
  This session will introduce VCU offices and resources connected to teaching and learning, student success, and research. Session panelists will share the role of their office and how their office engages/supports faculty. There will be time for Q&A/comments.  
  Moderator: Maria Rivera, Associate Professor, Biology & Faculty Senate President 
  • Teaching and Learning | Mangala Subramaniam, Interim Director, CTLE & Senior Vice Provost Faculty Affairs; William Nelson, Senior Vice Provost for Academic Administration and Operations; Andrew T. Arroyo, Interim Senior Vice Provost, Academic Affairs; Lisa Webb, Assistant Vice President, Faculty Affairs VCU Health Services; Erin Webster-Garrett, Assistant Vice Provost, VCU R.E.A.L.; Ian Kunkes, Director of Student Accessibility and Educational Opportunity
  • Student Success | Aaron J. Hart, Vice President, Student Affairs; Hernan Bucheli, Interim Vice President Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Success; Karen Belanger, Director Student Conduct and Academic Integrity; Carolina Wilson, Reporting and Compliance Analyst 
  • Research | Lisa Richman Ballance, Associate Vice President for Strategy and Regulatory Affairs, Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation; Priscilla Hwang, Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering; Elvin Price, Director of the Geriatric Pharmacotherapy Department & Associate Professor, School of Pharmacy
• Managing Your Time
  This panel discussion with newly promoted associates and full professor invites participants to think about time management, particularly in the first semester. Recognizing that life-work balance is important to promoting wellness, how can faculty organize teaching/research/service to maximize satisfaction? How can faculty create thoughtful, realistic plans?
  Moderator: Archana Pathak, Interim Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs; Panelists: Jane Chung, Associate Professor, School of Nursing; Carlos Castano, Associate Professor, College of Engineering; Joe DiPiro, Associate Vice President, Faculty Affairs VCU Health Sciences; Carlos Smith, Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence, Ethics and Community Engagement
• Promoting a Culture of Health and Wellness
  Suzanne Weaver, Director of Operations and Wellness, Employee Health
• An Introduction to HR
  Alison Miller, Interim Assistant Vice President, Human Resources
• Structuring and Building Your CV
  This session is a discussion of the elements of a CV - the main parts - and how to continuously and consistently enter items. Acknowledging that CVs may vary by discipline, the goal of this session is to provide guidance on how to structure your CV and then continue to build it over time. What are the typical main sections of a CV? What is appropriate to include and when? What are the nuances in the content of a CV across disciplines?
  Moderator: Jill Gordon, Assistant Vice Provost, Faculty Affairs | Panelists: Brian Brown, Professor of Marketing, School of Business; Beth Bukoski, Associate Professor, School of Education; Jennifer Puetzer, Assistant Professor, Biomedical Engineering; Sally Hunnicutt, Associate Dean, College of Humanities and Sciences
• Setting Goals
  This closing session provides an opportunity for participants to begin thinking about short and long term goals, assessing them periodically, and revising them as needed. How do you think about setting goals, creating a plan, and revising it as needed? How do you plan within a timeline of a semester, an academic year, a summer, and say two years?
  Mangala Subramaniam, Senior Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs & Professor of Sociology