March 12, 2025

Dear A&S Faculty,

Provost James Holloway and Dean of Arts & Sciences Jennifer Malat invite you to become a UNM 2040 Goal 2 Fellow by participating in the Faculty Student Experience Project (FSEP). The FSEP is a challenge to strengthen general education at UNM. This project seeks to improve the experience of instructors and students in high-enrollment introductory courses.  It is a signature element of our strategic work onGoal 2 of UNM 2040 and intersects with several themes in the College of Arts and Sciences Strategic Plan.

College of Arts & Sciences Instructors who participate in the Faculty Student Experience Project will lead development and implementation of a course redesign in a collaborative space, with full support from a team of campus experts who will provide a range of resources. The objective is to improve student experience and success within general education courses while also enhancing instructor experience.

We commit to providing all available resources to facilitate a customized general education course improvement project including:

• participation in a collaborative community
• course-specific and course-relevant data analysis
• Student Experience Project toolkit
• the PERTS Ascend survey on student experience
• professional course design support
• connections to researchers, curators, and staff who can help you build a dream assignment
• customized outreach messaging via text to students throughout the semester
• enhancement of grading practices to facilitate instructor goals
• embedded student learning assistants and tutoring in a design attuned to your course  
• access to resource and support personnel on campus for both faculty and students
• the opportunity to explore other areas that you identify (for example, incorporating AI use in assignments, research-based projects, culturally relevant pedagogy, boosting college transition skills, etc.).

There are a limited number of openings for this competitive opportunity, which is currently only open to main campus faculty (tenured/tenure track and lecturers) who teach courses with a combined enrollment of 50 or more students in all sections. Priority will be given to teams of instructors who regularly teach the target course, as well as to courses with DFW rates of 25% or greater.

The project includes a $4000 stipend.  If you are interested in participating, please applyhere.  The deadline for applications is April 11th. For questions regarding this program, please email Pamela Cheek (Vice Provost for Student Success), pcheek@unm.edu, and Sushilla Knottenbelt (A&S Interim Associate Dean for Student Success) at sknotten@unm.edu.

Timeline:

April 16-May 15 2025:  Initial consultation to identify areas of focus and data requests

UNM provides follow-up analysis of students in course by pre-major and other attributes and of enrollment and academic outcomes patterns

June 2025: Student Experience Project and Ascend student experience survey workshop

UNM introduces toolkit and Ascend survey platform; faculty member adopts relevant tools and explores Ascend survey use

June-August 2025: Work with teams in chosen areas of focus to design interventions to implement in Fall 2025.

UNM offers menu of possible interventions via consultation; faculty choose relevant interventions and collaborate on adoption

August 2025-December 2026: Implement course redesign

UNM facilitates completion of faculty goals in course redesign so that faculty can implement changes throughout the semester in a just-in-time approach

December-January 2026: Assess impact of redesign on student success, student and faculty experience and refine interventions.

UNM supports faculty-centered assessment of what worked and what didn’t work. Faculty contribute insights on best approaches for the FSEP and for their course moving forward

January 2026-May 2026: Implement refined course redesign. (May be extended to the Fall semester of 2026 based on instructor teaching schedule)

UNM and faculty partner in another iteration aimed at improving aspects of the redesign based on the first semester of implementation.

Who will be on your redesign team: Institute for Design Innovation analysts, Center for Teaching and Learning course designers and faculty teaching development specialists; peer faculty who have completed grants on research, asset-based learning, and belonging and growth mindset framing  in undergraduate courses; staff and faculty specialists in peer tutoring and student-professor partnerships and learning facilitation; liaisons to student support and advisement staff; enrollment management professionals in student outreach; senior administrators committed to improving student outcomes.

Thank you for your interest in the Faculty Student Experience Project and in becoming a UNM 2040 Goal 2 Fellow in the College of Arts and Sciences.  Similar opportunities for colleagues in other Colleges and Schools are under development.