Dr. Russell Carpenter always considered the Journal of Faculty Development “one of the best and most prestigious publication venues in the field.”
Soon, the director of Eastern Kentucky University’s Noel Studio for Academic Creativity will serve as its editor.
“It’s an honor to be selected,” Carpenter said, “and excellent for EKU as well, given our emphasis on faculty and professional development.”
Carpenter, who begins his service as editor with Issue 30 in 2016, said the Journal’s selection rate of 10-12 percent “sets it apart from many other journals in the area.” Dr. Charlie Sweet and Dr. Hal Blythe (long-time directors of EKU’s Teaching and Learning Center) introduced Carpenter to the Journal, and he guest-edited a special issue this year on teaching and learning with social media.
“Based on the number of citations the Journal receives and the rigor of the manuscripts published in the Journal, it’s clear the Journal of Faculty Development is well respected in the field,” Carpenter said. “With the recent launch of our Faculty Innovator program, the Faculty Innovation Network and the Teaching and Learning Innovation series, new and developing initiatives to enhance faculty and professional development on campus, it’s an exciting time to do research on the scholarship of teaching and learning.
“Some of the most interesting research in the country is taking place in innovative teaching and learning,” he continued. “The University Innovation Alliance is doing fascinating work on learning spaces, for example, leading to research that will change the way we view how we teach and the ways in which students learn. With the Journal of Faculty Development edited here at EKU, we know we’re leading the way in research and scholarship in this area. The Journal features some of the best scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) manuscripts in the country, an initiative that links teaching with research leading to publication, ideal for our campus. We need to see these practices linked moving forward. We also need to see teaching and learning as linked.”
Carpenter said he would “like to ensure that EKU faculty and students have access to the most recent SoTL and faculty development scholarship. Editing the Journal of Faculty Development will facilitate a productive process of research and sharing this research back with our faculty and students.”
The Journal, established in 1983, is published three times annually. “Moving forward,” Carpenter said, “the summer issue will feature the best of papers from the annual Pedagogicon, our conference focused on teaching and learning.”
Potential future issues, he added, will focus on Innovation and Faculty Development, Experimental Learning and the Role of Faculty Development and The Role of Learning Space in Faculty Development.
Carpenter, who joined EKU in 2009, is the founding director of the University’s Noel Studio for Academic Creativity. The facility, housed in John Grant Crabbe Main Library, integrates services designed to enhance students’ writing, speaking and research skills and inspire individual and collaborative learning.
The Noel Studio has been spotlighted in a cover story for University Business magazine, recognized in an issue of American School & University magazine for its effective design, and featured in the Journal of Learning Spaces.
In 2013, Carpenter was elected to a one-year term as chair of the National Association of Communication Centers and a two-year term as president of the Southeastern Writing Center Association. The previous year, Carpenter had chaired conferences at EKU for both organizations.