New Faculty Orientation
New Faculty Orientation, August 2023, opening remarks by President Rao
The New Faculty Orientation is intended to introduce new faculty members to VCU’s academic community, resources, and support services. This Orientation also provides new faculty an opportunity to network with other newly incoming colleagues as well as current members of VCU’s faculty and leadership.
2025 New Faculty Orientation
Spring 2025 orientation will be held on Thursday, January 9 from 8:30am-12:45pm at the STEM Building. Agenda topics below; more details to come. Register here >>
- Check in, Breakfast, Networking
- Welcome, Icebreaker, and Opening Remarks
- Key University Policies for Faculty
- Life Cycle of Your Semester
- Accessing Resources: Teaching, Learning and Student Success
2024 New Faculty Orientation
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
2023 New Faculty Orientation
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