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

Mon Feb 23 18:43:35 PST 2026

Annie and Todd,

Thank you for working on this issue. I support the suggested changes.
Include my name if it's helpful.

Best,

Lorena

On Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 4:53 PM Joshua Wood via Professorsofteaching <
professorsofteaching at lists.ucr.edu> wrote:

> Me too.
>
> Josh
>
> On Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 4:40 PM Jia Chen via Professorsofteaching <
> professorsofteaching at lists.ucr.edu> wrote:
>
>> I agree with everyone! Please include my name as well if it's helpful.
>>
>> Thank you!
>>
>> Best,
>> Jia
>>
>> -----------------------------------------------
>>
>> Jia Chen
>>
>> Associate Professor of Teaching
>>
>> Electrical & Computer Engineering
>>
>> University of California Riverside
>>
>> *https://profiles.ucr.edu/jia.chen <https://profiles.ucr.edu/jia.chen>*
>>
>> On Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 4:36 PM Catherine Lussier via
>> Professorsofteaching <professorsofteaching at lists.ucr.edu> wrote:
>>
>>> I agree, count me in on the name list if it's helpful.
>>>
>>> Cathy
>>>
>>> On Mon, Feb 23, 2026 at 4:32 PM Analisa Flores via Professorsofteaching <
>>> professorsofteaching at lists.ucr.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>>> 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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>>>>>
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