Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs)
An FLC is a peer-led group of faculty members who engage in an active, collaborative program structured to provide encouragement, support, and reflection. FLC members work together to produce outcomes or products. Through FLCs, faculty members engage in scholarly teaching and student-centered learning, collaborating within a collegial framework that offers peer review and support.
FLCs are inclusive spaces where members exchange experiences, ideas, and strategies about teaching, research, creativity, and engagement. They experiment with research-based practices, build skills, and reflect on their roles. Faculty members have a significant voice in shaping the program based on their needs, skills, and goals. Each community has two outcomes — individual changes to one's practice and a group give-back to the larger º£½ÇÂÛ̳ faculty community.
Expectations
- Integrate new practices into their teaching — Related activities include actively preparing and participating in the FLC meetings (six times per semester) and reviewing and revising course materials (e.g., syllabi, learning outcomes, and class activities).
- Build collaborative relationships with colleagues — Related activities include sharing experiences, successes, and challenges with peers in the FLCs.
- Articulate the process for developing skills for reflective teaching. Related activities include writing reflections about the FLCs' outcomes on teaching, networking, and scholarship.
- Disseminate practices and scholarship within and beyond º£½ÇÂÛ̳ — Related activities include sharing work by providing a presentation, instructional resource materials (e.g., a classroom activity) or publication of findings at a º£½ÇÂÛ̳ event or external venues.
A faculty facilitator will lead each FLC with logistical support from CAFE.
FLCs support student success by allowing faculty to connect with colleagues from across the university and engage in professional learning. All º£½ÇÂÛ̳ faculty members, regardless of tenure status, are encouraged to participate in FLCs.
Faculty Learning Communities for AY 2025-2026
The º£½ÇÂÛ̳ ACE FLC is a structured and supportive learning community undertaken by faculty members to reflect upon their own learning, performance and/or achievement and to plan for their personal, educational and career development. The º£½ÇÂÛ̳ ACE FLC offers new ideas for thinking about research, teaching and scholarship, engagement and career development.
Researchers have found that ongoing professional learning enhances career growth and satisfaction. The º£½ÇÂÛ̳ ACE FLC is a structured, inclusive process that supports professional learning holistically—academically, personally, and professionally. This process involves self-reflection, personal record-keeping, and goal-setting to track and achieve personal and professional objectives.
Faculty will engage in self-reflection to define their career goals as a º£½ÇÂÛ̳ faculty member, with deliverables aligned to their personal aspirations. They will select professional learning opportunities through the º£½ÇÂÛ̳ Center for Advancing Faculty Excellence (CAFE) and other sources to support their goals. CAFE will monitor learning plans, participation, deliverables, and final reflections.
The ACE FLC is designed around a cohort experience which serves to foster a scholarly community that supports collective growth and advancement. All benefit-eligible faculty are eligible to apply.
º£½ÇÂÛ̳ ACE Goal
The goal of the º£½ÇÂÛ̳ ACE FLC is to support cohorts of faculty members to utilize resources to engage in career conversations, goal setting, and professional development planning, and gain awareness of the lifelong impact work has on your cognitive, physical, emotional and social well-being.
º£½ÇÂÛ̳ ACE FLC Objectives:
- Engage in self-reflection to assess personal strengths and identify areas for growth.
- Identify career goals that will support continued growth as an academic at º£½ÇÂÛ̳.
- Create a professional learning plan that establishes both career development goals and strategies for achieving those goals.
- Develop collegial networks and collaborations with university peers.
º£½ÇÂÛ̳ ACE FLC Features
- All ranked full-time tenure-track, teaching, clinical and research faculty at º£½ÇÂÛ̳ are invited to participate.
- º£½ÇÂÛ̳ ACE FLC participants will participate in two half day campus wide workshops.
- Participants will create a Career Development/Professional Learning Plan
- Participants are expected to participate in campus activities that will include a variety of professional learning opportunities that address topics designed to support professional learning/development goals.
- Participants will engage with an academic coach.
- Participation in the program will last one academic year.
- Participants will represent a diverse distribution of academic disciplines enhancing the potential for interdisciplinary collaboration.
- Successful completion of the ACE FLC will be documented in MyVita.
- A letter of completion will be sent to the faculty member’s direct report.