[Professorsofteaching] REQUEST FOR INPUT: Wording about Professors of Teaching (PoT) for The CALL

[Analisa Flores]

Hi Annie and Todd,

I agree with Worku. This is important to include. You can also include my
name in your email.

Thanks,
Analisa

On Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 3:34 PM Worku Nida via Professorsofteaching <
professorsofteaching at lists.ucr.edu> wrote:

> Hi Annie and Todd,
>
> Thank you so much for paying attention to this important matter and
> suggesting the change. I just reviewed the attached documents and fully
> agree that the suggested phrase may ensure an inclusive (in terms of
> research types) review for us. Please feel free to include my name in your
> email to VPAP.
>
> Best,
> Worku
>
> On Sun, Feb 22, 2026 at 6:41 PM Annie Stanfield Ditta via
> Professorsofteaching <professorsofteaching at lists.ucr.edu> wrote:
>
>> Hi Professor of Teaching Colleagues,
>>
>> *TLDR: *
>> Below please see a proposed email to be sent to the VPAP’s office
>> regarding proposed changes to The CALL. Todd Sorensen (PoT in Economics)
>> and I would like to suggest some wording to strengthen the degree of choice
>> for PoTs in terms of what type of Professional and/or Scholarly Achievement
>> and Activity to engage in. The deadline for changes to be sent to their
>> office is end of business, Wednesday Feb. 25th. If you have any suggested
>> changes to our email and/or other any changes you want to make to The CALL
>> that you haven't passed along yet, could you please send them to us by end
>> of day Tuesday 2/24 (sorry for the short turnaround!)?
>>
>> --
>>
>> If you have a little more time and want to read more about this request:
>>
>> *Some background:*
>> We were happy to see that the VPAP sent out some FAQs (attached) to
>> better inform chairs about the roles of Professors of Teaching and of our
>> review process. One concern we had was that some of the language could be
>> interpreted as de-emphasizing the option of disciplinary research as a
>> contribution to "Professional and/or Scholarly Achievement and Activity”.
>>
>> Specifically, the second page of the FAQ (FAQ1) has a bullet list of
>> examples of "What types of scholarly or professional activities are
>> valued?” Initially, disciplinary research was not included as an example.
>> However, in an updated draft of this document (FAQ2), "Traditional
>> disciplinary research or presentations” was added to this list.
>>
>> In addition, we feel that the last paragraph on the first page
>> de-emphasized this path for PoTs:
>>
>> "Traditional disciplinary research is not required. However, Professors
>> of Teaching are expected to engage in scholarly or professional activity
>> related to teaching, such as pedagogical scholarship, curriculum
>> development, or educational leadership."
>>
>> We felt that the spirit of valuing traditional disciplinary research
>> would be better expressed by the paragraph below; we have gone forward with
>> the spirit of “what we wish the FAQ had said” to make our suggested changes
>> to The CALL. We are not trying to get the FAQ document edited, but wanted
>> to note this for possible future use.
>>
>> "Professors of Teaching are expected to engage in *scholarly or
>> professional activity*, which may take different forms. Traditional
>> disciplinary research is *not required* but such work is valued in the
>> merit and promotion process. Additionally, activities such as pedagogical
>> scholarship, curriculum development, and/or educational  leadership are
>> valued in this category."
>>
>>
>> *Proposed Email Draft:*
>>
>> Dear Dan,
>>
>> Thank you for valuing the role of PoTs, and the broad set of potential
>> contributions to Professional and/or Scholarly Achievement and Activity”
>> that is valued in our roles. We especially appreciate the intentionality in
>> sending around an FAQ document on this, and on adding "Traditional
>> disciplinary research or presentations” as a bullet point item in the list
>> of “What ˚types of scholarly or professional activities are valued.”
>>
>> We would like to suggest the following changes to The CALL to reflect the
>> spirit of a broad interpretation of Professional and/or Scholarly
>> Achievement and Activities (including traditional disciplinary research or
>> presentation) that will be valued in our review process:
>>
>> Page 37; 4b: add in parentheses at end of line “(this includes both
>> pedagogy-related and discipline-specific research)”.
>> Similar wording being added to #2 on pages 1-2 of the "UCR Guidelines for
>> Professor of Teaching Series” would also help emphasize this point.
>>
>> Best and thank you for your consideration,
>> Annie Ditta & Todd Sorensen
>> [and anyone else that wants to add their name!]
>>
>> --
>> *Annie S. Ditta, Ph.D.*
>> Pronouns: she/her/hers (what's this?
>> <https://www.mypronouns.org/what-and-why>)
>> Associate Professor of Teaching
>> Distinguished Teaching Professor
>> Department of Psychology
>> University of California, Riverside
>> LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/anniesditta
>> _______________________________________________
>> Professorsofteaching mailing list
>> Professorsofteaching at lists.ucr.edu
>> https://lists.ucr.edu/mailman/listinfo/professorsofteaching
>>
>
>
> --
>
> Worku Nida, PhD
>
> [he/him/his]
>
> Associate Professor of Teaching
>
> Department of Anthropology
>
> University of California, Riverside
>
> Email: worku.nida at ucr.edu
>
> "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the
> world," Nelson Mandela
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