Faculty, Postdocs and Graduate Assistants Receive Free NCFDD Membership

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Faculty, postdoctoral researchers and graduate assistants can sign up for a free membership to the NCFDD, the leading provider of professional development in higher education, through the university's institutional membership. 

NCFDD is a national organization 100 percent dedicated to assisting academics to thrive in higher education by providing professional development, training and mentoring resources for faculty, postdocs and graduate students from over 450 colleges and universities, including the U of A.

"I am a huge advocate of NCFDD," said Lynn Meade, teaching assistant professor of Fulbright Student Success. "These resources are designed to help us be better scholars and better colleagues. I've attended sessions on 'How to Engage in Healthy Conflict' and 'Ally Development in the Academy' that helped me find creative ways to think about disagreements. These practical strategies have helped me to become a better colleague. The session on 'Overcoming Academic Perfectionism' helped me to tame my imposter syndrome, so I am more willing to put myself out there. As I was writing a conference proposal just this week, I blocked my calendar, shut off notifications and went to my writing place. These are all tricks I learned in the NCFDD sessions on 'Aligning Your Time with Your Priorities,' 'Developing a Daily Writing Practice' and 'Moving from Resistance to Writing.'"

The NCFDD provides a variety of virtual programs and resources including:

• Weekly Monday Motivator
• Core Curriculum Webinars
• Guest Expert Webinars
• Access to Multi-Week Courses
• Access to Dissertation Success Curriculum for graduate students
• Private Discussion Forum for peer mentoring, problem solving and moderated writing challenges
• Monthly accountability buddy matches
• Access to 14-Day Writing Challenges
• Access to the Member Library that includes past webinar materials, referrals and readings

"The Monday Motivators are valuable enough that I often save the article, or I pass it along to others," Meade said. "I really loved the article that talked about the things we do as a resistance to writing. We do things like 'Workcrastination' (checking email), 'Twit-crastination' (jumping on social media) and 'typing your references manually-crastination.' Sometimes naming those resistance hurdles is the first step to getting back on track."

To claim your free institutional membership, complete the following steps:

1. Go to www.ncfdd.org/join.
2. Choose your institution from the drop-down menu under "Activate Your Institutional Membership Account."
3. Select "Activate my Membership."
4. Complete the registration form using your institutional email address (i.e. @uark.edu).
5. Go to your institution email to find a confirmation/welcome email. Click "Activate Account" in the email.

If you have any questions about the membership, please contact facdev@uark.edu. If you have any technical questions, please email NCFDD at help@ncfdd.org.

Membership to NCFDD was made possible by the offices of the Chancellor, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, the Graduate School and the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $3 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.