Investing in Us offers a professional development program at no cost to Texas A&M University-Commerce faculty and staff through a series of credit-bearing, academic, master classes. The program promotes a supportive environment for employees seeking to learn, grow, and thrive in their careers. Investing in Us seeks to invest the university’s significant and relevant academic knowledge and experiences into its faculty and staff, which will best position them to build on their strengths, talents, and skills and invest them back into serving students at Texas A&M University-Commerce.
Faculty may select up to one class per semester.
This ACUE supported, online class will guide course-takers on how to prioritize equity and inclusion in their work with students and colleagues. In addition to highlighting practices that can be used by instructional staff, this offering adds practices, videos, and resources that non-instructional staff and campus leaders can learn and implement allowing them to contribute to a culture of belonging across their academic institutions.
This ACUE supported, online class guides course-takers in creating an optimal environment that supports learning, increases engagement, embraces diversity, and helps students persist in meeting academic challenges. This course equips instructors with evidence-based teaching practices that help them start the term strong, ensure equitable access to learning, and provide feedback necessary for students to improve their performance. Completing this course is one step toward becoming certified in ACUE's Effective Teaching Practice Framework, endorsed by the American Council on Education (ACE). Or, you may take this class for a dynamic stand-alone learning experience!
This course focuses on eight different elements that interconnect to help a person achieve a greater sense of well-being in their personal and professional life. The elements we will discuss are Physical, Environmental, Social, Financial, Spiritual/Existential, Intellectual, Emotional and Occupational/Career Wellness. Each week will focus on one piece of the wellness wheel, how to measure your well-being in that category and provide recommendations for boosting each element. We will highlight resources that already exist on campus and ideas for bringing other resources to campus will be discussed.
Designed for beginners, this course covers the essential techniques needed to create, manipulate, and enhance images. Learn how to navigate the Photoshop interface, use each tool, and work with layers and masks. Quickly and effectively explore and express your ideas visually. Equip yourself with the foundational knowledge and skills to use Photoshop for personal projects, professional tasks, or further advanced studies.
Is stress making its way into your classroom or following you to your desk at work? Are you seeing students and colleagues experiencing more stress than in years past? Are your go-to stress hacks not working as effectively? Stress is impacting many of us in new ways and we are feeling more isolated in managing that stress. In this Stress Management and Prevention class we will review the literature and our own symptoms to RECOGNIZE the sources of our stress; we will CONNECT with each other and ourselves to STRATEGIZE a pathway to mitigate our stress; and we will TAKE ACTION and then EVALUATE the impact of our plan on our stress levels. This class will include contextual background along with a healthy dose of self-reflection and self-work. You will be your own case study with the aim of reducing the impact of our stressors on our well-being.
This class features special instruction by Dr. Ron Carter, who is nationally renowned for expertise and accomplishment in leadership training! This course is exclusively designed for faculty who have tenure and full professorship. The primary objective of this course is to explore how full professors can be leaders with informal or formal authority within the academy. Class participants will learn how to connect their personal leadership development with career goals. The course uses a variety of research-based methods during both plenary and breakout sessions to impart critical leadership self-awareness, skills, and attitudes. These methods include competency mapping and analysis, group discussions on leadership philosophies, and leadership development in various contexts. The ultimate goal of this learning activity is to help individuals turn their leadership ideas and personal philosophies into actionable steps that will positively impact their leadership journey within academia.
Learn to garden the Earth-Kind way! We will use the basics of nature to create landscapes and gardens that are productive and beautiful, while minimizing impact on the environment.
Register for the Fall 2024 semester and watch for upcoming classes!
Select one master class offered through Investing in Us each fall and spring semester, complete at least four classes, and receive an Investing in Us Campus Leader designation within two years!
For more information or any questions, please contact InvestingInUs@tamuc.edu
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