Onboarding

Welcome to the Iowa State University faculty

The Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost (also known as the Provost's office) sponsors activities designed to support your various backgrounds, needs, and goals so that you may begin laying the groundwork for your faculty appointment at Iowa State.

New faculty orientation Canvas course

New faculty (term and tenure-eligible) are strongly encouraged to orient themselves to Iowa State University prior to their official hire dates, using the orientation Canvas course, which opens each year on July 1 and December 20. The goals of the course are to promote equity across academic appointments, provide clear information to faculty about how to carry out their position responsibilities, cultivate community, and promote networking. New faculty will retain access and use of the Canvas course after their appointments formally begin.

Topics covered include:

• Iowa State University's mission, goals, and history
• Campus landscape and location
• Nine faculty core values, as approved by the faculty senate
• Faculty development and employee resources

New faculty virtual welcome

In addition to the Canvas course, Tera Jordan, assistant provost for faculty success, and Katharine Hensley, faculty success coordinator, moderate a real-time, virtual conversation to allow new faculty an opportunity to receive important information about Iowa State, build community, and ask questions early in the onboarding process.

New faculty orientation

New faculty orientation, an in-person meeting, will be on Wednesday, August 21, 2024, 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., in the Garden Room of Reiman Gardens. All new faculty (term and tenure-eligible) that have joined Iowa State since February 2024 are invited to attend. If newly appointed faculty are not available to attend the August orientation, the next orientation meeting will be held on January 15, 2025, in the Memorial Union.

Attendance is strongly recommended. Registration is required. The agenda for the day will include a resource fair.

Goals of orientation:

• Introduce new faculty to important policies, programs, and information 
• Connect faculty with key administrators and staff
• Provide resources to assist new faculty as they transition to their new roles at Iowa State
• Nurture networking and build a sense of community among our new faculty cohort

Early career faculty programs

The Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost, the Office of the Vice President for Research, and the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT) each sponsor a series of programs and events to introduce all new tenured, tenure-eligible, and term faculty to Iowa State University with the goal of supporting their successful transition to life at Iowa State and in the Ames community.

For questions and more information, contact:

• Tera Jordan, (515) 294-1527, trh@iastate.edu
• Katharine Hensley, (515) 294-8823, khensley@iastate.edu