New faculty can join the Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center for best practices in how to create professor student/rapport on either of two upcoming dates.

Teaching Students We Care: Creating Faculty/Student Rapport with Chris Estepp, Agricultural Education, Communication and Technology
When:  Tuesday, Sept. 6, from 12:30-1:30 p.m. or Wednesday, Sept. 7, from noon to 1 p.m.
Where:  CORD 349

New faculty can join the Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center for best practices in how to create professor student/rapport.  This session will share information that you can immediately use in your classroom and in advising sessions to begin creating relationships with students. Strong rapport has been shown to increase student motivation and engagement, student achievement and course satisfaction.

The presenter for this session is Chris Estepp of the Agricultural Education Communication and Technology Department. Estepp has won multiple awards for outstanding teaching including the following national awards: the NACTA (North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture) Educator Award and the NARRU (Non-land-grant Agriculture and Renewable Resources Universities) Distinguished Young Educator Award. Much of his research focuses on the impacts of improving faculty/student rapport.

The Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center provides six lunch programs for new faculty each academic year. Each program is available for all faculty (both tenure track and non-tenure track) in their first two years of teaching at the U of A. For more information on teaching tips and programs, check out the website: teaching.uark.edu. This program will count with live attendance (either in person or on Zoom) for the New Faculty Commendation.

Penguin Ed's BBQ Buffet will be served with vegetarian/vegan and gluten-free options available. The event will also be offered on Zoom.

Reserve your seat for Tuesday or Wednesday, or choose to attend remotely.

RSVP by Thursday, Sept. 1, if you would like to order lunch.

Professor/Student Rapport Badge Information
Sponsored by the Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center

Strong professor/student rapport can increase attendance, in-class attention, enjoyment of course content, student engagement and academic performance. Student satisfaction with their learning can be largely based upon rapport. Developing rapport is the focus of our first two programs in September. Both programs will offer actionable steps for immediate use in the classroom.

• Program 1:  Sept. 6 or 7:  Building Rapport with Chris Estepp
• Program 2:  Sept. 9: Cordes Chair with Molly Rapert

To earn the badge:  Attend the two programs above either in person or on Zoom for the full program time. Attendance must be live (not a recording) and for the length of the session (each should last one hour). Then create a half-page to one page reflection about two things you learned from the program and applied to your course(s) and email it to Carole Shook, TFSC co-director, at shook@uark.edu by Sept. 30.

This program is open only to faculty in their first or second year of teaching at the U of A. These two programs will count as 20 of the 105 points for the New Faculty Commendation. Additionally, you will receive an electronic badge for your profile or to be used for promotion/tenure purposes to show your commitment to improvement of teaching skills. Your name will also be featured in an upcoming Arkansas News story. Note: This is the only badge currently planned to be offered for the Fall 2022 semester.