MICHELLE COSTANZO
PROJECTS
"Expect the best, prepare for the worst and prepare to be surprised." - Denis Waitley
EQUITY FOCUSED TRAINING
Perfect Execution
The office of Faculty Development weaves equity into all programming but the team also collaborates across the college to provide training that specifically promotes culturally responsive teaching.
During Fall 2020+Spring 2021, we served 209 ACC faculty & staff; equating to 1,617 hours of equity training.
FACULTY TALENT ONBOARDING
A Real Success
This program was based on the results of the 2019 Orientation and Onboarding Faculty Task Force and aligns with our commitment to Pathways. I worked with this taskforce and then took the recommendations and partnered with HR to make it a reality. Robust Faculty Orientation and Monthly Onboarding rolled out Fall of 2019.Â
310 Faculty have participated in at least 1 session and 86 have completed the entire program. 129% increase in FTO certificates earned in the second year.
FACULTY VALUES
Exceptional Achievement
Faculty Associations collaborated in 2017 to identify and discuss ACC Faculty Core Values. When coming into my role Fall of 2018 I continued this work and with faculty, we have defined each of our values with clarifying statements and examples of potential ways to envision our values in action. We have also developed and aligned professional development to align with our Faculty Values and embody them in our training and ACC culture.
PROVOST FACULTY FELLOWSHIP PROJECT COORDINATOR
May 2023- Present
Supporting the Provost and Academic leaders in the initiative to have a faculty fellowship opportunity by bringing the vision to life while coordinating the program and serving as a mentor to the cohort of seven faculty.
FACULTY INTEREST GROUPS
A Real Success
Having learning communities has been widely tested and shown to be a successful high impact teaching practice. They encourage integration across courses and involve students using critical thinking skills and big questions beyond the classroom. We started promoting these opportunities and recruiting applications for new FIG's that generated interest resulting in 6 new FIG's lead by various faculty members over 2020-2021.
TEACHING & LEARNING ACADEMY
Perfect Execution
The program is designed to support faculty based on evidence-based teaching strategies, reflective practice, and teaching innovation. Essential to the Teaching and Learning Academy is the creation of a cohort of faculty who will learn from each other by exploring the scholarship, art, and passion of teaching.Â
I worked on the core development team with the help of over 25 additional faculty members to develop this Academy of 4, 5 week courses. Since the rollout in Fall 2019 there have been 129 participants who have completed TLA.
COVID19 RESPONSE
Exceptional Achievement
In March 2020, Austin Community College faced the start of the COVID-19 crisis. The Faculty Development Office was one of many departments at the College that made adjustments to accommodate the transition to online learning for both faculty and students. In the effort to support faculty through this online transition we collaborated with other departments and faculty to provide resources and opportunities to learn individually and within groups.
During the months of March, April, and May of 2020 we offered a total of 91 hours in synchronous professional development to approximately 546 faculty members.