Faculty Center
Brigham Young University, 167 HGB, Provo UT 84602
David Whetten, Director, (801)378-6400, (801)378-5976, d_whetten@byu.edu
Russell Osguthorpe, Associate Director, (801)378-6832, (801)378-5976, russ_osguthorpe@byu.edu
D. Lynn Sorenson, Assistant Director, (801)378-7420, (801)378-5976, lynn_sorenson@byu.edu
Louise Illes, Assistant Director, (801)378-5845, (801)378-5976, louise_illes@byu.edu
Jane Birch, Program Coordinator, (801)378-4008, (801)378-5976, jane_birch@byu.edu
Web site: http://www.byu.edu/tmcbucs/fc/fc.htm

Brigham Young University is a private university, owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is a Carnegie-classification Research II university with 1800 FTE faculty, 300 part-time faculty, 27,000 undergraduates, and 3,000 graduate students.

The Faculty Center was created in 1992. It reports to the Academic Vice-President through the Associate Academic Vice-President. Staff consists of a director and an associate director (rotating, tenured, part-time faculty); three professional administrator FTE's; a full-time secretary; and 4-7 part-time student employees. The non-salary budget is $43,000 plus $36,000 for curriculum development grants and $16,000 for teaching partnerships. Brigham Young University also offers support for faculty and TA's through Writing-Across- the-Curriculum, Media Services (tutorials/workshops for faculty), University Computing Services (tutorials/workshops for faculty), and other means.

The purpose of the BYU Faculty Center is to improve teaching, scholarship, service, and collegiality among those who teach at Brigham Young University. The Center's primary emphasis is the vigorous support of teaching improvement and the quality of instruction. It also supports scholarship. Since service to the university, church, and community is a professional obligation and contributes directly to the quality of both teaching and research, the Center also advocates helpful policies and practices in this area.

Priorities for 1997:

• Enhance the performance of faculty as effective teachers and scholars.
• Address the special needs of new faculty, mid-career faculty, and part-time faculty.
• Support faculty in their efforts to combine intellectual effort and religious faith.
• Strengthen the shared sense of community among faculty, staff, students, and administration through increased communication, cooperation, and collegiality.
• Provide administrative skill development for new academic administrators, especially department chairs.
• Improve processes for faculty evaluation, recognition, and rewards.
• Foster more effective use of instructional technology to enhance teaching and learning.
• Assist departments and colleges in their efforts to continuously improve curriculum.
• Improve coordination among those who provide faculty development services.
• Improve classroom assessment and evaluation.

The BYU Faculty Center offers a number of resources to foster better teaching and more learning. The following are some of the more frequently used programs:

Classroom Student Observer Program: The Classroom Student Observer Program provides an opportunity for faculty members to receive feedback on their teaching from students who are trained in observation techniques and who have high interest in the teaching and learning process. Trained students from this program are invited by instructors to observe their class(es), gather data, and share feedback and ideas on classroom activities and courses. Faculty members can also have their classes videotaped for later viewing to critique alone and/or with a student observer. This program helps instructors improve their teaching and have a better sense of the learning process in their classroom.

Instructional Development & Evaluation Assessment (IDEA): The IDEA evaluation system features a special in-depth course evaluation instrument designed to provide instructors with feedback tailored to the particular objectives of each class.

Teaching Partnership Program: This program supports trios consisting of a senior faculty member, a junior faculty member, and a doctoral student. Members of each trio work together to improve their teaching skills. Activities may include visiting each other's classes, sharing materials, and engaging in regular discussions concerning quality teaching, syllabi, class assignments, tests, papers, grading, and other issues related to instruction.

Teachnet: Teachnet is an electronic listserv for BYU faculty members interested in exchanging information and ideas about teaching.

Publications and other materials: Some of the Faculty Center's publications include Focus on Faculty, a quarterly newsletter; A Handbook for TA Supervisors; Faculty Resource Guide; Questions and Answers for Teaching Assistants (QATA); Best Practices for Department Chairs; and Planning Your Course: A Decision Guide. The Faculty Center has also produced four videos. In addition, the Faculty Center has a library of books, journals, article reprints, periodicals, audio cassettes, and video tapes available for faculty members to check out.

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