An Expanded Role for the CTSE

As many faculty members are aware, Hofstra's "Center for Teaching Excellence" has become the "Center for Teaching and Scholarly Excellence." Now, in addition to fostering and supporting high quality teaching at our University, the Center has added the role of providing general assistance and resources for our faculty members' research and other scholarly activities.

Most universities have an office to support funded research (such as Hofstra's Office for Research and Sponsored Programs). Also, it is common for academic departments at universities to promote and facilitate research within their specific disciplines in various ways. But very few universities provide a formal mechanism to support non-funded research and other scholarly activities in a general manner across the entire campus. This is the new objective of the CTSE.

The CTSE views "scholarship" in a broad sense, extending beyond publishing and allowing for the wide variety of ways in which scholarship can manifest itself. Furthermore, this University-wide fostering of scholarship should not preclude existing or new department-level or other specific activities to support research. Hofstra's Administration has made it clear that this expanded role of the CTSE does not imply the need for, or appropriateness of, University-wide standards for research, publications or other scholarly activity, and will have no policy implications with regard to tenure, promotion or reappointment criteria.

In the past year, many Hofstra faculty members have provided suggestions as to how the CTSE might foster scholarly excellence. Some of the many ways suggested include:

• Workshops - new and established research resources, methodologies, technologies, etc.; guest talks by invited scholar-teachers, journal editors, nationally-known researchers, etc.
• Faculty research meetings - cross-fertilization of faculty members' research ideas; sharing of current research activities, etc.
• Clearinghouse - to assist faculty members in identifying others with similar interests or engaged in similar or related research, in finding possible research partners, in identifying new research ideas, etc.
• Peer review - provide opportunities for faculty members to receive open or blind peer review, prior to submission of manuscripts to conferences and journals
• Mentoring - for new or established faculty members, by request only
• Facilitators - methodology/quantitative analysis expertise; assist in developing new university-based research resources
• Advocacy - scholarship-related policy recommendations to the Administration
• Student scholarship - mechanisms to support undergraduate and graduate student involvement and interaction with faculty scholarly activities/research
• Offer an identity to the faculty - the "Scholar-Teacher" or "Teacher-Scholar"
• Recruitment tool for attracting new faculty
• Conferences and mini-conferences
• Hofstra-based journals, performances, exhibitions
• Electronic text archive
• Hofstra speakers bureau

Some of these ideas have already been implemented. For example, the CTSE has a mentoring program for new faculty; it has conducted workshops on research and publication; it has facilitators to help faculty with assessment and statistical methods. Other programs are being prepared for the coming year. In addition the CTSE is eager to receive additional recommendations from the faculty.

Please send suggestions about the CTSE's programs to the Director via email, or in hard copy to the Center for Teaching and Scholarly Excellence, 200 West Library Wing.