This FLC is designed specifically for faculty in their second and third years at EIU who are ready to build on the foundation of their first year by deepening their knowledge of available resources, strategies, and opportunities to support their teaching, scholarship, and service while connecting with colleagues campus-wide. The first year can often feel like a whirlwind—filled with new names, new systems, and competing priorities. This FLC offers space to revisit and unpack topics that may have been overlooked or only superficially explored in that busy first year.

Through regular meetings and collaborative conversations, participants will engage with campus experts and one another around topics such as effectively using Booth Library’s services, leveraging the Student Success Center to support diverse learners, making the most of D2L (there’s way more to it thank you think), and revisiting course design with a more confident and reflective perspective. Other sessions may focus on building sustainable scholarship practices, understanding the promotion and tenure process, or balancing professional and personal responsibilities.

This supportive, peer-based community is intended to provide a space for reflection, connection, and practical growth. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of campus resources, new strategies to enhance their work, and stronger relationships with colleagues at a similar career stage. Whether your first year felt like survival mode or just a blur, this FLC is an invitation to slow down, ask new questions, and grow with intention.

This FLC will be facilitated by Dr. Andrew Kerins, Director, Faculty Development and Innovation Center (FDIC)

The facilitator will contact you to schedule the first meeting. Subsequent regular meeting dates will be determined by the group members.

The objectives of this FLC are to:

• Build a supportive peer network with colleagues at a similar career stage to foster collaboration, share strategies, and promote professional and personal well-being.
• Identify and utilize key campus resources—such as Booth Library, the Student Success Center, and D2L —to enhance teaching, advising, and student engagement.
• Apply principles of effective course design to revise or refine existing courses with greater intentionality and alignment to learning outcomes, assessment strategies, and student needs.
• Demonstrate increased confidence in navigating institutional structures related to faculty roles, including scholarship expectations, service opportunities, and the promotion and tenure process.
• Engage in reflective practice by revisiting early teaching and professional experiences, identifying areas for growth, and setting goals for the next stages of their academic career.