The Center for Educational Excellence and Innovation
The Center for Educational Excellence and Innovation, CEEI, is dedicated to inspiring, enhancing, and advancing educational excellence and innovation in teaching, service, scholarship and academic life at UVA Wise.
CEEI in October 2024
Drop into any of these one-time-only in-person workshops in October ( See Calendar for Dates, Times and Locations):
- Master Teacher Learning Community: Come talk to colleagues about teaching on Thursday 10/3 at 3:30 or Monday 10/7 at 1pm in Smiddy 230.
- Tips for Faculty Preparing Pre-Tenure Portfolio (ePortfolio Guide by Mitch Meltzer) on Wednesday 10/9 at 1PM on Zoom Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/2977863246?omn=94269484737
- Tips for Faculty Preparing Tenure and Full Portfolios (ePortfolio Guide by Julia Weiss and Galen Sedo) Monday 10/14 at 1PM on Zoom Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/2977863246?omn=95773244309 - Taco 'bout Teaching Book Club on Thursday 10/17 at 3:30 AT El Dorado. There is still time to join. Email me for a book!
- International Faculty Coffee and Conversation (Hosted by Heather Gordon and Zaraf Khan) on Wednesday 10/23 at 1Pm in Library room 509.
- Grading Reflections and Personal Writing: Learn tips for requiring and grading reflective assignments on Wednesday 10/28 at 1PM in Smiddy 230.
*Registration is required for these events. Email ead2y@uvawise.edu to register today! Note: CEEI will offer a workshop on Instructor Promotion Applications as soon as that process has been clarified.
NEW: UVA has extended their membership in NCFDD (National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity) to UVA Wise faculty.
Active your institutional membership account by going Join | NCFDD and selecting University of Virginia as your institution. Membership in this Detroit based for-profit organization gives you access to a monthly newsletter and notices about registering for their (paid) online programs and events.
Need Resources or Recommendations?
Click above to access the CEEI Resource page with updated Academic Affairs policies and a variety of recorded workshops, handouts, videos, podcasts, and other materials developed by our own faculty and from national experts to help you with any questions you may face in teaching, service, scholarship, and academic life
Don't see something you need?
Email Emily Dotson at ead2y@uvawise.edu to request a workshop or event.
Want to offer a workshop?
If you would like to offer a workshop to help develop college-wide teaching or professional development, please send your workshop title, a brief description, and proposed dates to Emily at ead2y@uvawise.edu at least 30 days before the anticipated workshop.
Have a Question or Need Individual Attention?
The CEEI Director, Emily Dotson, is also a Tenured Associate Professor in Language and Literature. She holds a PhD in Literature (Labor and Gender Studies) with graduate credentials in Scientific and Technical Writing, Social Theory, Writing Program Administration, Writing Assessment, and a recent degree in Higher Education Teaching and Learning from Harvard. She has thirty-plus years of teaching experience and has won multiple awards for teaching from UVA Wise, Paducah Community College, Midway College, Muray State University, UNC Wilmington, and the University of Kentucky, where she was the first and still to date the only person to win the highest award for teaching, The Provost's Award, solo. At the University of Kentucky, she was Director of the Robert Hanneman Campus Writing Center, Assistant Director of the multidisciplinary Writing in the Disciplines, Writing Initiative, QEP, and a Founding Director of the Elbert C Ray Digital Studio for STEM Writing. She maintains an active research agenda in two disciplinary fields: English Literature and SoTL.
She is always happy to meet privately to discuss your pedagogical philosophy, solve a teaching challenge, or brainstorm ways to live a more meaningful and engaged faculty life. She is also happy to observe your class and provide feedback or survey your students at any point in the semester.
Frequently Asked Questions About CEEI
What is CEEI?
CEEI offers a wide range of activities and programs designed to improve faculty retention, job satisfaction, expertise, and engagement with students. Although all faculty are experts in their disciplinary field, few have professional training in educational pedagogy and practice or other specialized demands of faculty positions at UVA Wise. CEEI was created to fill this gap by providing support and instruction at every level of faculty development. CEEI develops and promotes teaching and learning resources to spotlight UVA Wise faculty excellence, promote research-driven national best practices, introduce new pedagogy and practices, and nurture deep reflection and cross-disciplinary connection around teaching and learning at UVA Wise.
In 2023-2024, CEEI successfully planned and promoted 11 Teaching Workshops, 12 Professional Development workshops, 8 Faculty Learning Communities, and 4 community-building events. There were more than 32 faculty presenters, a 23% increase, and a total of 208 participants, a 49% growth in attendance. What are CEEI workshops like?
In 2022-2023, CEEI hosted 85 workshops with twenty-six faculty presenters and over 150 participants.
CEEI workshops on teaching or professional development allow faculty to drop in for a 40-minute presentation with a ten-minute Q&A on a specific topic.
Faculty Learning Communities offer a series of collaborative multidisciplinary conversations with colleagues in fifty-minute meetings held regularly over an entire academic year.
Most workshops and Faculty Learning Communities are led by a campus expert on the topic.
CEEI promotes UVA CTE and other off-campus events open to us or when the host institution is no more than an hour from Wise.
When registration is required in advance, this information will be listed in the workshop description on the calendar page.
What is a Faculty Learning Community?
Many CEEI workshops are offered as a series of connected or thematically related meetings that allow faculty to have deeper, sustained multidisciplinary conversations with other faculty in a learning community. These meetings are listed on the calendar individually. While faculty can drop in or out at any time for most of these groups, Faculty Learning Communities work best when faculty attend these meetings monthly over the semester for an advanced or more complex opportunity for learning and reflection.
Who can attend a workshop or event?
CEEI workshops are free and open to anyone in a full or part-time teaching position at UVA Wise.
While some CEEI workshops are open to faculty and staff, CEEI is not connected to Human Resources, so CEEI cannot offer workshops or resources targeted to staff development or involving HR concerns. We encourage you to send any requests for staff development and all Human Resource issues to the Director of Human Resources, Stephanie Perry. See more information about UVA Wise Human Resources.
How do I find out about upcoming CEEI workshops or events?
Workshops are advertised on the faculty listserv and updated on the calendar on this site monthly. Significant notice may not always be possible with events scheduled and promoted by other Colleges, organizations, or people.
Please check your email for updates or changes to dates/times/ locations, or email Emily at ead2y@uvawise.edu to confirm events.
Where are CEEI workshops held?
Because we are an in-person campus, all CEEI workshops are on campus in the CEEI Center, 230 Smiddy Hall, and in person unless otherwise stated.
Can I attend remotely or watch a recorded workshop?
Zoom participation is possible at most workshops if you request this in advance.
CEEI makes every attempt to record and post our events. However, please be aware that events hosted by someone other than the Director may not be recorded as the presenter always has the final say in whether their talk or workshop will be recorded or made publicly available.
Recorded workshops are made public on the CEEI Resources page.
Where can I find info about past events or workshops?
The description of all of this academic year's workshops can be found on the calendar.
Learn about workshops and events from a prior year at:
How is CEEI assessed?
CEEI is assessed annually through a faculty-wide survey on programs and practices. In 2023-2024, faculty reported 96% satisfaction with the diversity, delivery, and timeliness of programs. In addition, individual workshops and learning communities are assessed through additional satisfaction surveys sent to participants. In 2023-2024, all learning communities had 95% or higher satisfaction rates.
Who is the Director of CEEI, what do they do, and to whom do they report?
The Director of CEEI is Emily Dotson, a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Language and Literature. See her bio at https://uvawise.box.com/s/70gb1m7r74p18npja1qiqssfkxadse2l
The CEEI Director is a member of Academic Affairs and reports to the Dean of Faculty Affairs and the Provost.
CEEI Director Job Description at https://uvawise.box.com/s/csuv1f4lwrtr0dfq2ezbuph6p7oxe3dn
CEEI Mentor of the Year Award
CEEI is proud to offer one award annually for exceptional faculty mentoring at UVA Wise. This person has shown exemplary connected and collegial service to others and served as a model of the teaching, service, scholarship and academic life we imagine in the very finest of UVA Wise faculty.
Winner of the 2023-2024 CEEI Mentor of the Year Award
Karen Carter, Associate Professor of Computer Science
Winner of the 2022-2023 CEEI Mentor of the Year Award
Christa Moore, Associate Professor of Sociology
Winner of the 2021-2022 CEEI Mentor of the Year Award
Elizabeth Dotson Shupe, Assistant Professor of Education
CEEI proudly salutes the Academic Affairs Faculty Award Winners for 2023-2024
Questions?
Contact Emily Dotson ead2y@uvawise.edu for more information.