It’s laborious to consider my time period as POD Community President is already one-third over. In my first 4 months, I’ve had the pleasure of welcoming new colleagues to the sphere on the Institute for New Instructional Builders, joined our worldwide colleagues for the annual assembly of the Worldwide Consortium for Instructional Growth (ICED) Council, and talked about the future of POD with Lindsay Dokoupolous for the Centering Facilities podcast. I’ve labored with the Government and Core Committees to begin tackling our priorities for the yr forward and have been thrilled to see POD’s new Government Director, Danielle Gabriel, already start to steer our group in optimistic new instructions.
On this message, I’d prefer to proceed within the spirit of my first message by sharing some highlights of what’s been occurring within the group over the previous few months. If in case you have questions or feedback about any of the beneath, I hope you’ll attain out to me or every other members of the Government Committee.
Annual Conferences Coming Quickly
POD’s convention workforce has been laborious at work organizing the ultimate particulars for our fall conferences, and I’m wanting ahead to seeing a lot of you on-line and in Pittsburgh. I’m notably keen to listen to from our keynote speaker, Lorgia García Peña, whose guide Community as Rebellion has been an vital affect alone method to instructional growth. Please word that the early chook deadline to register is quick approaching on October 15, so register now when you haven’t already.
2023 Keynote Speaker, Dr. Lorgia García Peña
For these of you attending in Pittsburgh, please take a second to evaluate POD’s Health Precautions Policy, particularly our sturdy encouragement to remain up-to-date in your vaccinations and to masks in public convention areas. Such precautions will allow extra of our colleagues to attend and permit for a extra inclusive and accessible convention total. Please word that fast assessments is not going to be distributed to contributors this yr, however they are going to be accessible for many who develop signs.
A New Chapter for To Enhance the Academy
Not everybody could also be conscious that we made a major step ahead final yr to assist the expansion of POD’s journal, To Enhance the Academy (TIA). With the intention to guarantee TIA’s editorial independence, we shifted oversight of the journal out of the Scholarship Committee and established a separate governance construction for the journal headed by TIA’s Editorial Crew and Board. Dedicated to a developmental method to tutorial publishing, the journal has made it a precedence to encourage a higher variety of voices and approaches to data manufacturing in its submissions.
Derisa Grant just lately needed to step down as one in every of TIA’s Editors-in-Chief, so I’d prefer to take a second to thank her for her management of the journal. Derisa was instrumental in launching TIA’s shift to just accept queries as a method to supply suggestions to authors earlier within the submission course of and likewise collaborated with the Scholarship Committee to pilot the Educational Writing Students program, which offers steering to writers from identification teams and/or establishments which can be traditionally underrepresented in instructional growth scholarship. I’m extremely grateful for all that Derisa has finished for the POD Community.
TIA continues underneath the management of our different Editor-in-Chief, Marina Smitherman, and I stay up for seeing Marina put her stamp on TIA’s mission to carry various and modern scholarly work to our subject. As well as, Lindsay Wheeler has graciously agreed to proceed her service to POD and TIA by serving in a newly-created Managing Editor position.
Different Strategic Initiatives
The Government and Core Committees, in collaboration with the Government Director and POD Workplace, have been working diligently this summer time to additional quite a few strategic initiatives for the group. Most just lately, Core and Exec have:
- Permitted updates to POD’s fiscal insurance policies to permit us to be extra intentional about how we make investments POD’s income within the group;
- Established an advert hoc charged with reviewing and revising POD’s moral tips;
- Permitted three new Particular Curiosity Teams (SIGs) – AI in Training, Arts & Humanities, and Accessibility & Incapacity – in addition to a brand new Disabled Affinity Group;
- Partnered with Quantum Considering on the second iteration of their Leading Academic Change nationwide survey of Facilities for Instructing & Studying; and
- Recruited a grant writing workforce from our membership to develop POD’s proposal to the IDEA fund.
As well as, the Government Director has been focusing her time on:
- Launching the Wants-Based mostly Monetary Help pilot program to assist extra members’ attendance on the 2023 conferences;
- Strengthening POD’s partnerships with peer organizations and increasing the vary of sponsors contributing to the annual convention;
- Proposing an growth to POD’s Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment coverage in addition to a brand new Care, Civility, and Accountability coverage; and
- Overseeing an internship mission researching how the literature on incapacity justice, feminist ethics of care, and belonging can inform POD’s method to operationalizing its DEI commitments.
Within the coming months, Exec and Core might be engaged on quite a few initiatives. They are going to be discussing potential changes to POD’s annual convention construction in order that it higher aligns with member wants in addition to our targets for accessibility, affordability, sustainability, and financial duty. As well as, they are going to be working with a advisor to proceed refining POD’s anti-racist management technique; discussing how the present legislative local weather for increased schooling is impacting our members and the sphere extra typically; and creating tips to enhance transparency and communication between Core and POD’s operational committees, affinity teams, and SIGs.
I stay up for sharing updates with you about these and different initiatives we’ll be engaged on this yr. And I hope to see you both on-line or in Pittsburgh in November!
Sincerely,
Stacy Grooters, PhD
President, POD Community
Government Director, Center for Teaching Excellence, Boston School
she/her/hers