The Center for Teaching and Learning: A Visible
Means of Support

While Dominguez Hills students are gearing up for the fall semester, the faculty is also busily preparing to teach, do research, and update their skills. The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) provides a range of services from mentors for new faculty to grant money for attending academic conferences.

The Mentoring for Faculty Success Program pairs new hires with veteran faculty, who coach them in all aspects of their teaching career. While the pairs can touch base throughout the semester through CTL, they are encouraged to work together outside of the program. Roberta Ambrosino, acting director, CTL and this year’s president of the CSU Faculty Development Council, describes the one-on-one contact as “the most successful part of the relationship. On the whole, they appreciate the process of having someone they could ask questions of, and the support that comes with it.”

Technology workshops conducted through the CSUDH chapter of the CSU system-wide Community of Academic Technology Staff (CATS) keep faculty up-to-date on trends such as plagiarism deterrent software, while the Faculty Forum pedagogy workshops address issues like multiculturalism and diversity. On a less academic basis, wine and cheese gatherings hosted by each college in the Hal Charnofsky Faculty Lounge provide an opportunity to network with colleagues across disciplines.

“The people who attend them say it’s nice to meet other people from other disciplines in a social atmosphere, and find opportunities that they never would have known about if they hadn’t been mingling with the crowd at these informal settings,” says Ambrosino.

Supporting the faculty beyond the CSUDH campus is the CTL grants program. Each semester, financial awards are given for travel to conferences to present research or to gain knowledge based on colleagues’ presentations. Through an anonymous application process, faculty must explain how the travel would benefit themselves, their students, and the University as a whole. The deadline for the fall semester’s submissions is Friday, October 13, at 4:30 p.m.

“We don’t make judgments on the strength of the research or the conference, but on the benefits to the students, the faculty, and the University,” says Ambrosino. “We’ve been able to fund more than half of the people who ask for it. It’s a small amount, but it’s the best we can do in these hard budget times, and the people who receive it are grateful for the help in attending these conferences.”

Another way that CTL helps to augment the teaching experience is through providing equipment, both on loan from the University and through corporate donations such as scanners and printers from Epson. Ambrosino, who felt that the equipment should be dispersed across the campus, designed a contest. Faculty members would describe how the equipment would enhance their course materials in a short essay. Last semester, six of the combinations were awarded to faculty in various disciplines. This semester’s deadline for the scanner and printer contest is October 22.

The Provost’s Speakers Seminars provide professional enhancement for all on campus, from the administration to staff. The series, which began last year, brought national and international experts to the CSUDH campus, with the theme, “On Becoming an Engaged Community of Learners.” This semester’s first event features Diane F. Halpern, professor of psychology at Claremont McKenna College, and former president of the American Psychological Association. She will present “Learning is NOT a Spectator Sport: Using the Science of Learning to Transform College Classrooms” on Thursday, September 21, 1:30-3:30 p.m. in Small College Complex 1300.

Finally, the New Faculty Success Program provides training throughout the semester in monthly meetings, facilitated by experienced Dominguez Hills faculty and staff. Faculty are given release time to supplement their knowledge on topics such as student engagement, classroom civility and professional behavior, and professional development. Ambrosino hopes that the program will instill new hires with a sense of the support system they can rely on at CSUDH.

“A lot of effort is made to find just the right faculty for the University,” she says. “We want them to be successful, and to keep them here for a long time.”

- Joanie Harmon

Photo above (L-R): Tayyeb Shabbir, associate professor of finance; Dennis Corbin, assistant professor, Department of Social Work; Roberta Ambrosino, acting director, CTL; Valeria E. Molteni, multicultural and outreach librarian, Reference Services; and Thomas Philo, project archivist,
Leo F. Cain Library