Call for Proposals: The 2013 POD-AAC&U ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

Call for Proposals
The 2013 POD-AAC&U ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

Submissions should be sent to Suzanne Tapp, Chair, Professional Development Committee, at suzanne.tapp@ttu.edu by 5:00 pm (Central) on Thursday, May 31, 2012. Incomplete proposals or proposals submitted as printed hard copy will not be considered by the review committee.

About POD
The Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD) fosters human development in higher education through faculty, instructional, and organizational development.  POD comprises nearly 1,800 members – faculty and teaching assistant developers, faculty, administrators, consultants, and others who perform roles that value teaching and learning in higher education. While POD members come primarily from the U.S. and Canada, the membership also represents many other countries.

The Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education encourages the advocacy of the on-going enhancement of teaching and learning through faculty and organizational development. To this end it supports the work of educational developers and champions their importance to the academic enterprise.  For the full mission statement, see http://www.podnetwork.org/about.htm.

Description of the POD-AAC&U Organizational Development Institute

The organizational development dimension of our work as faculty developers recognizes that faculty members are part of a larger system, the dynamics of which affect their behavior as instructors. As faculty developers we seek to influence the structures and processes of the colleges and universities in which we work to create an environment that supports excellence in teaching and student learning and development.

Since 2009 POD has conducted a one-and-a-half day organizational development (OD) institute immediately before the AAC&U Annual Meeting, typically held in January either in Washington, DC or a major West Coast city such as San Francisco, CA or Seattle, WA. Partnering with AAC&U in this way has been valuable to POD in two main ways:

1) By leveraging our own resources with AAC&U’s more extensive resources, we have been able to provide a valuable professional development opportunity to our membership through the OD institute, and

2) AAC&U’s extensive publicity for the conference has increased the visibility of POD and educational development to the AAC&U membership and conference attendees, which includes a preponderance of higher education administrators.

The Institute is a valuable professional development opportunity for faculty developers with five or more years’ experience who wish to extend their work beyond traditional faculty development activities including workshops, luncheon seminars, classroom observations, and consultations. To that end, the Institute may address any number of topics and issues related to organizational development including, but not limited to, the following: the role of teaching centers in promoting institutional change including undergraduate curriculum reform; theories of organizational change; the dynamics of change in the academic department; leadership development including chair development; strategies for working effectively with administration; the role of academic and co-curricular units, university committees, and faculty champions, in promoting institutional change; the role of external agents such as government mandates, accrediting bodies, and professional organizations in promoting institutional change; the role of teaching centers in promoting collaboration across campus in service to excellence in teaching and learning; and the role of various forms of institutional inertia in impeding or slowing change

Qualifications of Facilitators and Compensation

Facilitators of the Institute are experienced POD members with a proven track record in organizational development and ideally visibility within POD and nationally. From time to time individuals who have recognized expertise in OD who are not members of POD may co-facilitate with a POD member(s). In the spirit of volunteerism, facilitators do not receive an honorarium nor is POD able to cover any of their travel expenses.  Facilitating these workshops is viewed as an honor as well as an important and valuable service to POD.


Since the Institute is strictly speaking not part of the AAC&U conference, facilitators do not receive complimentary conference registration for the AAC&U conference. POD’s President will notify successful applicants of their selection with a letter, which past facilitators have used as a means for securing support from their own institution for their travel.

Target Audience

The target audience for the OD Institute is POD members with five or more years’ experience as faculty developers. The Institute is not intended as an introduction to faculty development. The Getting Started Pre-Conference Workshop at the POD conference and the POD Institute for New Faculty Developers are excellent professional development opportunities for new faculty developers.

The 2013 AAC& Annual Meeting:

The 2013 AAC&U Annual Meeting is being held in Atlanta, GA, from January 23-26.  The POD-AAC&U OD Institute is traditionally scheduled for a full day before the AAC&U meeting begins and the first morning of the meeting, which means that for 2013, the OD Institute would be scheduled:

Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2013                               Full-day workshop (8:00 am – 4:00 pm)

Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2013          Half-day workshop (8:00 am – 12:00 noon)

For additional information on the AAC&U Annual Meeting, please see AAC&U’s website (http://www.aacu.org/).

Proposal Submission Guidelines
The CFP submission guidelines appear below.  Applications should be sent to Suzanne Tapp, Chair, Professional Development Committee at suzanne.tapp@ttu.edu by 5:00 pm (Central) on Thursday, May 31, 2012.  Proposals submitted in hard copy form or incomplete proposals will not be considered by the review committee.

The 2013 POD-AAC&U organizational DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

Submission guidelines

The following information must be included for the proposal to be considered complete.  Questions regarding the submission guidelines may be sent to Suzanne Tapp (Chair, POD Professional Development Committee) at Suzanne.tapp@ttu.edu

Applications should be sent to Suzanne Tapp, Chair, Professional Development Committee by 5:00 pm (Central) on Thursday, May 31^, 2012.   Proposals submitted in hard copy form or incomplete proposals will not be considered by the review committee.

For information on past POD-AAC&U Organizational Development (OD) Institutes, please see the POD conference web page and look for “POD/AAC&U Institute”:  http://www.podnetwork.org/conferences.htm

Required Information:

Name of Proposed Facilitators, Titles, Institutional Affiliations, Contact Information (including email address), POD Membership Status, and Brief Description of Experience relevant to the OD Institute. Please note Primary Contact Person.

Description and Rationale for the Proposed Topic of the Institute (please review suggested topics in the earlier section of the CFP above)

Overview of the Proposed One and a Half Day Program. The proposed program should include a balance of presentation and interactive, hands-on experiences. Facilitators should provide ample opportunity for participants to think about the topic of the Institute in the context of their own institutions.

Call for Proposals: The 2013 POD-AAC&U ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE