Calling new faculty for road trip
Archived article from Dec 15, 2003
By Amy Vames
In an effort to help new faculty members get to know and understand the Garden State, the university will sponsor a “traveling” seminar next spring that will take 35 participants to various regions around New Jersey.
President Richard L. McCormick established a similar program while at the University of Washington and saw its benefits firsthand.
“The seminar gives new faculty an intensive overview of the state’s people and places, adding a human dimension to the work that we do. It also introduces them to other new faculty with whom they may one day collaborate,” McCormick said. “Faculty come away with a historical or cultural context that helps them better serve their state and understand the students they will be teaching.”
Tenured and tenure-track faculty members who have been appointed within the three-year period before December 2003 can apply to attend. Priority will be given to those who are new to the state, and seminar participants will reflect the diverse demographics and disciplines of the university’s faculty.
The seminar’s goals include introducing new faculty members to the communities that many of their students call home; helping new professors understand the state’s geography, history, economics, culture, government and politics; and introducing new faculty members to each other and to local officials.
Leaving from Piscataway by bus, the group will stop first in Trenton, and then travel to Camden, the Pinelands and Newark.
The five-day, four-night seminar will run from May 24-28, 2004, and participants will stay in hotels at each overnight stop. Non-state funding will cover the cost of the seminar. On the final evening, all seminar participants and their families will attend a cookout at the president’s house.
At a May 3 orientation, participants will receive an overview of the state by David Robinson, professor of geography and the state climatologist.
For more information and to apply online, visit travelseminar.rutgers.edu . An advisory committee of Rutgers faculty members will choose the seminar participants. Those selected for the seminar will be notified in February.
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