The goals of the First Year @ Furman program are:

  • To support Furman’s newest faculty colleagues via just-in-time professional development opportunities related to effective teaching and research, student learning, and designing/navigating your academic career. 
  • To create collegial, interdisciplinary networkfor social support and future teaching, research, outreach, administrative, anservice collaborations. 
  • To co-create community that facilitates mutual support and advocacy for one another. 

The First Year @ Furman program is designed for our newest faculty colleagues and encompasses three central elements:

1) First Year Discovery Series

Description:  A set of regular, structured learning opportunities to discover core aspects of our community, faculty roles and responsibilities, and professional support. All seminars will involve a short overview of topical information provided by guest facilitators, active exploration of specific ideas, and opportunities for questions and conversation. Occasionally, a pre-session reading is provided. 

When 12:35- 1:25 p.m. (Common Hour) on select dates throughout the semester.  

Where:  All events for AY 2023-2024 will be held in the Trustees Dining Room (Daniel Dining Hall) unless otherwise noted. Lunch is provided, so please arrive a few minutes early to make your meal selections. An option to join virtually will be available for anyone who is not able to join in person (zoom room here).   

2) Peer Mentor Circles

Description:  Four (2 per semester) guided yet informal collegial conversations in self-selected groups during the academic year to share experiences, build connections, and foster mutual support. Two options for each connection session are provided. Over your career, you will develop rich relationships with colleagues who will serve as mentors for your teaching, scholarship, and personal life. At Furman, instead of assigning each new faculty member one institutional mentor, we believe in a collective approach.

When: 12:35- 1:25 p.m. (Common Hour) on select dates throughout the semester. Please join one or both connection sessions/s in each of four designated weeks throughout the year. 

WhereAll events for AY 2023-2024 will be held in the Trustees Dining Room (Daniel Dining Hall) unless otherwise noted. Lunch is provided, so please arrive a few minutes early to make your meal selections.  

3) Peer Teaching Observations

Once per semester, we encourage each FY@F member to partner with another member to engage in a teaching observation process that involves a classroom observation and pre- and post-observation chat. A set of prompts to support this process is available here. You may also be interested in working with one of the FDC’s trained peer observation coaches. Contact the FDC (fdc@furman.edu) or complete this online form if you would like us to help facilitate this process.  

For a full (downloadable) list of all 23-24 Discovery Series and Peer Mentor Circle Connection Session, please see here.

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First Year @ Furman Programming Dates for 2023-24

2023-2024 Peer Mentor Circle Leaders

Jordan Bounds

Assistant Professor, Mathematics

Meghan Breen

Assistant Professor, Chemistry

Omar Carmenates

Professor of Music, Percussion

Stephanie Knouse

Professor, Spanish; Chair, Linguistics Interdisciplinary Minor

Kenneth D. Peterson

Professor of Economics

Joni Tevis

Bennette E. Geer Professor of English