Faculty Convocation 2023

Supporting Faculty: Creating an Environment for Faculty to Be Successful

Click the link below to join the Opening Session remotely.

Opening Session Livestream

2023 Convocation Header Image, titled Braving the Climb
President Astrid S. Tuminez

Astrid S. Tuminez

President

In 2018, following a rich and storied career in business, philanthropy, and academia, Dr. Astrid S. Tuminez became the seventh president of Utah Valley University. She is the first woman to serve on a full-time basis as UVU president. Raised in the slums of the Philippines, Tuminez rose to become a world leader in the fields of technology and political science, most recently serving as an executive at Microsoft. She is also the former vice dean of research and assistant dean of executive education at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.

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Tuminez attended Brigham Young University, where she graduated summa cum laude in 1986 with a BA in international relations and Russian literature. She earned a master’s degree from Harvard University in Soviet Studies (1988) and a Ph.D. from MIT in political science (1996). She is the author of Russian Nationalism Since 1856. Ideology and the Making of Foreign Policy (Rowman and Littlefield, 2000); Rising to the Top? A Report on Women and Leadership in Asia (2012); book chapters; numerous op-eds and essays; and articles in the SAIS Review, Brown Journal of World Affairs, Journal of Infectious Diseases, Journal of Cold War Studies, etc.

Before coming to UVU, President Tuminez served as regional director of corporate, external, and legal affairs for Microsoft in Southeast Asia. She is also the former vice dean of research and assistant dean of executive education at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. She and her husband, Jeffrey S. Tolk, have three children. In her spare time, she enjoys running, dancing, and martial arts.

F. Wayne Vaught

F. Wayne Vaught

Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs

Dr. Wayne Vaught joined UVU on June 1, 2019. Prior to joining us, Dr. Vaught had a 21-year career at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he served as a professor and then dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Vaught’s primary research is in biomedical ethics, with a focus on ethical issues in pediatrics. He has published several papers in leading ethics journals, including The Hastings Center Report, The Journal of Clinical Ethics and Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics. He is co-editor of Ethics Across the Professions, Oxford University Press.

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Provost Vaught is a native of Lexington, Kentucky. He and his wife, Eileen Amari-Vaught, have two daughters, Mia and Lauren. Wayne is also a basketball fan and has refereed at the high school and college levels. He loves living in Utah and enjoys, hiking, biking, camping, and all things outdoors.

2023 Faculty Convocation

"Supporting Faculty: Creating an Environment for Faculty to Be Successful"

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

9:00 am - 4:30 pm

Opening session: 9:00am-11:30am

Grand Ballroom | Livestream

Opening Session Livestream

Join us as we kick off faculty convocation with messages from President Tuminez, Provost Vaught, Vice President Kyle Reyes, and Faculty Senate President Wioleta Fedeczko.

We invite you to submit questions for the Q&A portion with President Tuminez and Provost Vaught. Please submit any question you would like addressed by August 9.

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President Astrid Tuminez

Astrid S. Tuminez

President

Wayne Vaught

F. Wayne Vaught

Provost
Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs

Wioleta Fedeczko

Wioleta Fedeczko

Faculty Senate President
Associate Professor, English & Literature

Kyle Reyes

Kyle Reyes

Vice President of Institutional Advancement

Idea Fair: 11:00am – 12:30pm

Ballroom Commons

The Idea Fair is a collection of services from across campus that can assist faculty members as they interact with students. The services vary from academic help, such as tutoring and the Writing Center, to other forms of help, such as the food pantry and crisis services. Be sure to stop by and discover the amazing resources UVU has to offer.

Meet the Provost | 11:30am – 12:30pm

Center Stage

Stop by and visit with Provost Vaught. Light refreshments will be served.

Invitational Mentoring and Faculty Development | 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm

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Matt Draper, Kristin Lambert, Jamison Law, and Colleen Peterson

Matt, Kristin, Jamison, and Colleen will define Invitational Mentoring. They will share their department's mentorship guidelines and how those reflect the principles of Invitational Mentoring. They will also discuss their approaches to mentorship and how it has proven important in their careers and to their areas in their departments.

Divisive Words in the Classroom | 12:30pm – 1:30pm

Livestream

Livestream Link

Dr. Daniel Fairbanks, Dr. Anne Arendt and Dr. Dianne McAdams-Jones

The objective of this workshop is to discuss a path to introduce (or not) divisive/oppositional language in UVUs classrooms: making language equitable. This conversation will center upon labels being applied to people based on perceived traits/behaviors assigned to a social construct of race.

Tradition and Transformation: RTP Policy and Faculty Success Walk into a Bar… | 1:30pm – 2:30pm

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Laurie Toro and Wioleta Fedeczko

The RTP process has moved to a digital platform, and it will continue to quickly, if not drastically, transform the RTP submission and review process. Policy, on the other hand, moves more slowly and comfortably relies on tradition. Yet tradition and transformation are both necessary components for faculty to successfully navigate the RTP process. In this workshop, we will demonstrate how each section of the current tenure template connects to UVU’s faculty tenure policy. Along the way, we will address the strengths and weaknesses of current policy and RTP procedures, exciting updates to templates, and faculty trainings to ease transitions into an evolving Faculty Success landscape.

RTP: The Provost's Perspective | 2:30pm-3:30pm

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Kat Brown and Wayne Vaught

This workshop is for any faculty member stressed about "what the Provost is looking for" in a midterm, tenure, or rank portfolio. Having years of experience reviewing RTP submissions, Provost Vaught can offer insights into what good submissions look like.

Faculty Services for Teaching and Learning at UVU| 3:30pm-4:30pm

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Sam Gedeborg, Aicha Rochdi, and Seth Gurell

Welcome to another beginning of the school year! The Office of Teaching and Learning (OTL) works to support all faculty in advancing the scholarship and practice of effective teaching and learning. In this session, you will hear about the OTL services provided including HEA fellowships, Certificates and Pedagogical Workshops, as well as new faculty services through Instructional Design Consultations. In addition, information will be shared about new technology updates for teaching and learning along with new OTL participation verification processes.

Research, Creative Works, and Student Mentoring Workshop | 3:30pm-4:30pm

Livestream

Livestream Link

Dan Fairbanks & Eric Russell

Scholarly activities, typically research and creative works, are an essential component of a faculty member’s role, especially when undergraduate and graduate students participate in original scholarship with faculty mentors. In this workshop we will address several important aspects of research and creative work at UVU including mentoring of students in scholarly activities, publication and presentation opportunities and pitfalls, external and internal funding opportunities and how to apply for them, human subjects and the Institutional Review Board (IRB), protection of intellectual property, and resources available at UVU to support scholarly activities.

Find information about faculty resources and university programs: Faculty Resources

2023 UVU Faculty Convocation Planning Committee Members

Kat Brown, Deputy Provost, Academic Affairs

Laurie Toro, Faculty Development

John Rees, Art and Design

Sowmya Selvarajan, Engineering Design Technology

Dianne McAdams-Jones, Nursing

Julie Hayden, Academic Affairs

Eric Russell, Emergency Services

Cindy Wilkinson, Academic Affairs

Special thank you to John Rees for providing the imagery.