Service & Leadership
Service is a crucial part of the work that keeps Butler University running. Whether you are in your first year or your fiftieth, there are ample opportunities to use your talents to complement and enhance the work you do with students in the classroom through your vital contributions to the shared governance of the university. Think about where your talents can best be deployed in molding the future of Butler.
Service takes place at the university, college, and department/program levels. Some committee membership is handled through elections while other roles are nominated by college deans or department/program chairs.
Faculty Senate and its standing subcommittees (Faculty Senate Canvas Page) are the primary vehicles for shared governance of the university. Members of these groups are elected by each of the colleges. From time to time, various taskforces are called upon to do specific tasks. Selections for members of these varies as appropriate for the nature of the specific problem to be solved.
Given the varied nature of the structure of Butler’s colleges, it is best to inquire with your Dean’s Office about the various service opportunities within each college.
Finding the right balance of how much service to commit yourself to can be tricky. Think about the ways that you see your skills and interests having the most impact on the university. It is okay to say no to service requests, but you also do not want to load up your colleagues within unfair amounts of service as a result of always saying no.
Service expectations may also vary depending on the nature of your contract.
Some forms of service demand ongoing, steady work (e.g., the various curriculum committees), whereas others tend to see their work grouped into high/low cycles (e.g., college honors boards).
Department chairs or trusted older colleagues can be a great sounding board for finding this right balance.
Do not be afraid to dive into a service opportunity that you feel a particular passion for. These can be great ways to meet new colleagues and make valuable connections beyond your department/program or college. University level service is an especially great way to have a better understanding of Butler as a whole.
Butler engages with a variety of external partners to help faculty find their voice in shaping the future of the university. We also encourage faculty to share what they have learned from a variety of conferences. The links below are intended to provide just a few resources for developing your leadership skills.
National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD)
As of May 20th, 2022, Butler University has a one-year Institutional Membership in the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD). Founded in 2010, the NCFDD is an independent professional development, training, and mentoring community of faculty, postdocs, and graduate students from over 450 colleges and universities. Its mission is to “change the face of power in the Academy” and it is now the leading provider of professional development in higher education. Thanks to the generous support of Provost Brooke Barnett, all full- and part-time faculty and instructional staff will have access to many member programs and resources.
To activate your personal membership:
- Go to http://www.facultydiversity.org/join
- Choose Butler University from the drop-down menu
- Select “Activate my Membership”
- Complete the registration form using your Butler email address (i.e., username@butler.edu)
- Go to your Butler email inbox to find a confirmation/welcome message. Click “Activate Account” in the email.
You can then start perusing resources and opportunities. Discover a few, more specific, ways to think about developing your leadership skills.
Butler is in the process of developing a formal training program to provide faculty members with the necessary basic knowledge for performing the duties of a chair/program director. This evolving series of workshops is intended to to best suit the changing challenges that chairs face as the nature of higher education itself shifts. More information about this series is forthcoming.
The Butler Department Chairs Canvas page offers many helpful resources, including Faculty Hiring Guidelines, a list of helpful my.butler queries, and a department chair timeline.
As with service itself, talking with trusted colleagues who have served in these roles in the past can be a great tool for thinking about the complex responsibilities of being a chair.