About Faculty Center

Faculty Center Mission
Personnel
History
Areas of Emphasis

Faculty Center Mission

The purpose of the BYU Faculty Center is to support faculty and faculty admnistrators in their primary roles and responsibilities at the university. The Faculty Center encourages quality teaching, scholarship, citizenship, and collegiality among faculty at Brigham Young University.

The Center's primary emphasis is vigorously supporting teaching improvement and the quality of instruction. It also supports scholarship, because uninformed teaching is never good teaching, and because the discovery of new knowledge is one of the most unique and significant contributions that university faculty make. Since service to the university, church, and community is essential to the quality of both teaching and research, the Center also advocates helpful policies and practices to support citizenship.

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Faculty Center Personnel

• David A. Whetten, Director
Office: 4450 WSC
Phone: 422-6400
Email: d_whetten@byu.edu

• James E. Faulconer, Associate Director
Office: 4450 WSC
Phone: 422-9781
Email: james_faulconer@byu.edu

• R. Kent Crookston , Associate Director
Office: 4450 WSC
Phone: 422-9142
Email: kent_crookston@byu.edu

• A. Jane Birch, Assistant Director for Faculty Development
Office: 4450 WSC
Phone: 422-4008
Email: jane_birch[at]byu[dot]edu

• Jenith A. Larsen , Faculty Development Coordinator
Office: 4450 WSC
Phone: 422-4842
Email: jenith_larsen@byu.edu

• Muriel L. Allen, Secretary
Office: 4450 WSC
Phone: 422-9381
Email: muriel_allen@byu.edu

• Sue Roper, FDS Administrative Assistant
Office: 4450 WSC
Phone: 422-3352
Email: sue_roper@byu.edu

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History of the Faculty Center

In the mid-1980s, North American institutions of higher education became increasingly concerned about the quality of undergraduate education. The consensus was that teaching and learning lacked effectiveness and that colleges and universities needed to take steps to support these vital skills. This concern was echoed by a number of BYU constituencies and resulted in the founding of the BYU Faculty Center to develop a broad range of faculty skills, especially teaching.

The faculty development movement is grounded in the idea that the quality of a university depends primarily on the quality of its faculty. Profit-conscious American businesses spend a great deal on human resource development, and this concept is no less appropriate in the academic world. Now, about half of all U.S. institutions of higher education have developed programs to promote the overall effectiveness of faculty as teachers, scholars, and citizens of academe.

Several members of the BYU community were principal forces in promoting the establishment of the Faculty Center. An anonymous benefactor expressed concern to President Rex E. Lee about the quality of undergraduate education and made a substantial donation for the advancement of teaching. During his tenure in General Education and Honors, Donald K. Jarvis, professor of Russian, became interested in faculty development and researched and wrote a book on junior faculty development. He (along with other General Education and Honors deans) and the Faculty Advisory Council urged the BYU administration to consider a center to support faculty teaching and learning. >

Thomas H. DeLong, professor of education and an associate dean of General Education and Honors, also laid some of the groundwork for the Faculty Center by gathering information, attending conferences on faculty development, working on teaching assistant training, and eliciting student feedback on teaching. President Lee and Provost Bruce C. Hafen encouraged and supported the formation of the Center, and Associate Academic Vice President Todd A. Britsch directly supervised its initiation. In January 1992, the BYU Faculty Center opened its doors in 167 Heber J. Grant Building.

As founding director of the BYU Faculty Center, Donald K. Jarvis tapped J. Bonner Ritchie, professor of organizational behavior, as the first associate director of the Faculty Center. Ritchie’s experience in management, mediation, and organizational development proved valuable in the early years of the Center. In July 1992, Jarvis and Ritchie recruited D. Lynn Sorenson from the University of Oklahoma Instructional Development Program. Sorenson currently serves as Assistant Director for Faculty and Instructional Development.

Within its first year, the Faculty Center established programs and services to orient new faculty, support experienced faculty, provide feedback on teaching, and train teaching assistants. These programs have grown and developed over the Center’s history. From modest beginnings, the Faculty Center has developed into an effective clearinghouse of information, resources, and support for faculty activities. In responding to faculty needs, the Faculty Center has refined its services and continues to explore new ways to support teaching, scholarship, citizenship, and collegiality.

In May 1998, the Faculty Center moved to its current location in 4450 Wilkinson Student Center. Associate Academic Vice President Richard N. Williams has responsibility for the Faculty Center. The Faculty Center has no line authority over other units.

History of Faculty Center personnel:

Name	Title	Joined the Center	Left the Center
Donald K. Jarvis	Director	January 1992	May 1996
J. Bonner Ritchie	Associate Director	January 1992	December 1996
D. Lynn Sorenson	Assistant Director for Faculty and Instructional Development	July 1992	May 2007
Louise M. Illes	Assistant Director, Organizational Development	March 1993	August 1998
Muriel L. Allen	Secretary	June 1994
David A. Whetten	Director	September 1996
A. Jane Birch	Assistant Director, Faculty Development	September 1996
Russell T. Osguthorpe	Associate Director	January 1997	August 2001
Trav D. Johnson	Assistant Director for Instructional Development	February 1999	May 2007
Timothy W. Bothell	Faculty Development Coordinator, Assessment of Student Learning	July 2001	October 2003
Terrance D. Olson	Associate Director	August 2001	August 2003
Bryan D. Bradley	Faculty Development Coordinator, Assessment of Student Learning	November 2003	May 2007

Robert L. Millet	Associate Director	April 2004	June 2004

James E. Faulconer	Associate Director	July 2004

R. Kent Crookston	Associate Director	August 2007

Jenith Larsen	Faculty Development Coordinator	September 2007

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Areas of Emphasis

The Faculty Center's main efforts are in three areas: instruction, coordination, and collegiality.

Instruction. The Faculty Center serves as a campus advocate and instructional center for effective practices in teaching, research, citizenship, faculty development, and faculty evaluation. The Center encourages and organizes seminars, workshops, and classes for full- and part-time faculty, graduate assistants, and departmental leaders.

Coordination. The Center actively supports and encourages campus units in their efforts to begin, continue, and extend efforts in faculty development. To avoid duplication of efforts and to keep abreast of good practice, the Faculty Center collects and provides information to other campus units who provide services to faculty. It also maintains contacts with other academic institutions and organizations engaged in faculty and institutional improvement and current programs and practices.

Collegiality. Since the most powerful incentive toward excellence is a community of colleagues who care about each other and their work, the Faculty Center helps arrange locations, occasions, and resources conducive to the sharing of experience on a variety of topics and the building of collegiality among faculty members.

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