Other Faculty Development Opportunities

Faculty Research Working Groups

Research working groups offer the opportunity for faculty members to gather together for a few hours each week to work on their research and writing. The goal of these groups is to create accountability and set times in schedules dedicated to research. During each meeting, faculty will meet together in the same room, share goals for the session, and work quietly on something related to their individual research (i.e. finding sources, reading, writing, designing experiments, etc.).

The fall 2023 working group schedule will offer opportunities on Mondays and Thursdays from 1:00–5:00 and on Fridays from 1:00–3:00. Please reach out to David Orvek (dorvek@butler.edu) if you’re interested in joining a group and indicate which of the above days/times you would be able to attend consistently.

PALSave Course Redesign Grant Opportunity

Are you considering switching to a zero cost textbook in one of your 2023-24 courses? If so, PALNI invites you to participate in the PALSave Course Redesign Grant program! As the recipient of a five-year Lilly Endowment, Inc. grant to support our affordable learning initiative, PALSave will be offering $500 stipends to faculty as an incentive to adopt zero cost textbooks.  Zero cost textbooks may include open educational resources (OER), library ebooks, or other materials available to students at no additional cost.

Professors are eligible for one redesign stipend per academic year.

If selected, PALNI will provide you:

  • A module-based learning guide for adopting a zero cost textbook
  • Support for the textbook adoption process through email consultation and/or web office hours
  • A $500 stipend

In order to receive the stipend, participants will be expected to provide:

  • Verification of the change from commercial to zero cost textbook, via syllabus submission
  •  Agreement to follow up with mid- and/or post-semester information. Includes the following:- Student Perception Survey- PALSave Course Tracker (number of students, previous textbook)- Student Success Tracker (final average GPA, DFW rate)

If you are interested in this opportunity, please fill out the application at this link, including a short personal statement addressing these questions: Why are you interested in adopting a zero cost textbook? What are your barriers, and what do you hope to learn?

Due to the variance in semester timelines and bookstore deadlines, we are leaving the application form for 2023-24 redesign grants open throughout the academic year, or as long as funds are available. Applications will be reviewed regularly, with applicants notified of a decision no later than 3 weeks after submission.

Any questions may be directed to locally to Jennifer Coronado (jraye@butler.edu) , or to PALSave Leads amanda@palni.edu and erinm@goshen.edu.  For more information about PALSave: PALNI Affordable Learning, visit https://palsave.palni.org/.