OFA sponsors faculty groups that are focused on teaching, research, and other pursuits. Details for each group are found below. Faculty who are interested in collaborating with OFA on a group should contact Emily Isaacs.
Fall 2021 groups
Teaching Groups
The OFA Discussion list. For faculty who want to talk about teaching, we have created the OFA Discussion list for questions and sharing of ideas.
To join our faculty mailing list for news and discussion! Click the button below to go to the Montclair State University Sympa lists page, login with your Montclair State NetId and Password, scroll down to subscribe to “faculty-advancement” list.
Writing & research groups
Faculty pursuing research and writing goals are invited to sit quietly and write with other purposeful researchers. The 90 minutes will begin with some brief conversation, goal-setting, and then we will write quietly, “together” on Zoom, until we come together again at the end for a five-minute closing. Some materials to support writing and engagement will also be provided. But the time itself is for research activities. 30-minute additional optional time scheduled at the end. Offered as a term program, 90-120 minute sessions once a week.
- Fall 2021: Friday morning writing group. Facilitated by Emily Isaacs. 9:00-10:30/11:00. Begins on September 17th at 9:00 am. Run through to December 17th, with time off on Friday, November 25th. Interested? Send an email to faculty@montclair.edu and we will add you to the gcal. Join at any time.
- Fall 2021: Tuesday morning writing group Facilitated by Ron Brooks, 9:00-10:30/11:00, starting September 21. Interested? Send an email to faculty@montclair.edu and we will add you to the gcal.
Writing circles
In writing circles, groups of faculty working in broadly related areas come together monthly to commit and report on research progress and to offer feedback to one or two faculty members’ research-in-progress.
- AY21-22: Teaching & learning, foundations and policy in education writing circle. Facilitated by Jaime Grinberg (Teaching and Learning) and Emily Isaacs, this group is for researchers working in the area of teaching and learning, K-12 or higher education. For more information, see Research Support.
Reading groups
Reading groups bring faculty together on a topic of mutual interest with the simple aim of deepening knowledge through reading and smart conversation. Led by one or two facilitators, faculty are asked to commit to reading, contributing, and attending regularly.
- AY21-22: From Equity talk to equity walk. Drawing directly on From Equity Talk to Equity Walk by Tia Brown McNair, Estela Mara Bensimon, and Lindsey Malcom-Piqueux’s 2020 book, this reading group is for faculty who want to move from aspirational agreement to more deeply understanding (for the purpose of changing) the cultural, institutional, and habitual ways that inequity persists in higher education, and in the areas that faculty are most active in particular. Led by Leslie Wilson and Emily Isaacs, long-time friends and colleagues who have enjoyed learning from each other, debating why various strategies do and do not work, and imagining systems that could move us forward in the quest for a more diverse and equitable workplace for faculty, this group is based on this idea that open conversation among peers, outside of an imperative to act, is valuable. Our idea for this group came during a conversation we had about how difficult it is for academics to talk openly about their perspectives and ideas about equity and inequity in the faculty experience. It’s loaded for all of us. For some, there’s weariness, for others there’s anxiety: what if I say the wrong thing? what if I communicate poorly or am misunderstood? We encourage those who are weary, who have already put in too much time in thinking about and attempting to educate about inequities in higher education to sit this one out, and for those who have felt anxious or reluctant to consider opting in. It will be a safe place for people who can see that there are diversity and equity problems in the faculty experience, but haven’t had a chance to read and discuss the ideas deeply. The 75-minute discussions will be held once a month, and for each discussion date, we will have about 60-90 minutes of reading to do. We’ll select the readings once we understand the group’s needs better, but we will begin with From Equity Talk to Equity Walk.
10.13.21