The primary charge of the Office of Faculty Affairs (OFA) is to assist the School of Dental Medicine in realizing its full potential as a leading, learning institution in dental education. The OFA offers programs in response to the needs of the faculty and is in alignment with the strategic directions of the School of Dental Medicine by serving faculty, staff and students. The guiding principles for all service activities for our school are to create and sustain a culture of teaching excellence, respond to individual faculty needs, transforming our students from dependent learners to collaborating clinicians and researchers, promote scholarship, advance new initiatives, encourage innovation and improve teaching and learning.
The OFA plays a crucial role during all of the career stages of our faculty members: from the creation of a position, to forming a search committee, to interviewing candidates, to making the appointment, to mentoring new faculty, to the professional advancement and promotion, and finally to the retirement of the faculty member. Services provided include administrative support for faculty appointments, promotions, and tenure committees; administrative support for searches, contracts and appointment letters; developing faculty policies; mentoring and providing support and career advice for faculty; overseeing the annual faculty evaluation process; handling grievances; training in evidence-based teaching; supporting the credentialing process of faculty, staff and students; and identifying faculty for training and leadership opportunities.
Activities of the OFA are guided by broad input from faculty, staff and students, and we strive for transparency regarding decision-making processes. Providing a wide spectrum of career opportunities to a diverse set of students and faculty is a priority, such as creating a pipeline for new faculty addressing the national shortage of clinical educators. Faculty development is the foundation of OFA’s service activities.
Our Appointment, Tenure and Promotion Guidelines are available to the public.
The Office of Faculty Affairs (OFA) is overseen by Dr. Robert Weyant, Interim Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, to work with faculty to assist in their career development and teaching. This includes instructional technology training and support, mentoring and research; and overseeing the IT infrastructure and Electronic Health Record System of the school. Services include, but are not limited to, administrative support for faculty appointments, promotions, and tenure committees; administrative support for searches, contracts and appointment letters; developing faculty policies; handling grievances; mentoring and career advice for faculty; overseeing the annual faculty evaluation process; training in evidence-based teaching; supporting the credentialing process of faculty, staff and students; and identifying faculty for training and leadership opportunities.
Faculty Affairs Advisory Committee (FAAC)
The Faculty Affairs Advisory Committee (FAAC) was created in 2013 to contribute to all important initiative of the OFA. The membership of the committee reflects the school’s diverse faculty and allows the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs to utilize the expertise of faculty with different perspectives and backgrounds. Policies, procedures proposals, plans and strategic documents are regularly sent to the committee members for input and comments.
Committee Chair
Dr. Marnie Oakley, Chair; Dean
Committee Co-Chair
Dr. Seth Weinberg, Co-Chair; Associate Professor, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences
Faculty Development Committee
The Faculty Development Committee makes recommendations to the dean on matters relating to faculty development. The committee acts as a liaison between the faculty and the administration in matters related to faculty development, and presents informational programs to enhance the development of faculty. Committee members work with other University offices that promote faculty development and assist in staff development programming.
Committee Chair
Dr. Zsuzsa Horvath, Chair; Director, Faculty Affairs
Faculty Development
Led by Dr. Horvath, Director of Faculty Development and Chair of the Faculty Development Committee, OFA’s faculty development initiatives contribute to the strategic priorities of the University and the school. Faculty development has been defined as the broad range of activities that institutions use to renew or assist faculty in their roles, and includes initiatives designed to improve the performance of faculty members in teaching, research and administration. The OFA attempts to improve conditions in order to be in compliance with the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA) standard that mandates the provision of “ready access to expertise in teaching methods, curriculum development, program evaluation, and student evaluation.”
Dr. Horvath responds to consultation requests from faculty and instructional design review requests from the Office of Academic Affairs, and supports faculty by assisting them in the design of new courses, planning and implementation, instructional intervention, developing and revising syllabi, etc. In addition, she supports educational grant writing processes, educational research projects and faculty development initiatives, such as management of teaching portfolios and teaching philosophies.
Workshops and Seminars
Examples of workshops and seminars:
- Academic Integrity Issues in Didactic Classes
- Global Assessment Form in Didactic Courses – faculty input
- School of Dental Medicine Content Analysis Training 1 & 2
- The Ceramic Update in Esthetic Dentistry
- Appointment, Promotion and Tenure Workshop
- Writing Multiple Choice Questions
- Alternatives to Multiple Choice Questions
- Open House Discussion: Appointments, Tenure and Promotion Guidelines Review
- Writing and Maintaining your CV
- Developing a Teaching Portfolio and a Teaching Philosophy Statement
- Faculty Development Workshop on Intellectual Property Rights
- POGIL Follow-Up Discussion Session
- Lecture Recording Information Session
- Crossing Boundaries in Best Practices in Clinical Education-Dental Seminar
- Best Practices in Teaching and Learning in Clinical Health Care Workshop
- Faculty Development Seminar on Clinical Research
- Evidence-Based Dentistry Faculty Development Seminar
- New Faculty Orientation
- Faculty Enrichment Seminars on clinical topics
- Faculty Learning Community: Principles for Teaching and Learning in the Classroom
- Faculty Learning Community: Principles of Clinical Teaching