Dear East Carolina University New Faculty:

Welcome to East Carolina University! We are writing to invite you to attend “Pirates Aboard: New Faculty Orientation 2011” which will be held August 15–19 on the East Carolina University campus. We believe that “Tomorrow Starts Here,” and we’re delighted to have another excellent group of faculty join our growing university. This mailing is designed to prepare you for the program in August. It includes the university Pirates Aboard: New Faculty Orientation schedule, access information for the NFO website and Blackboard site, and handouts from Human Resources, ITCS, and others. The Pirates Aboard program is designed to give new faculty members the information they need to make a smooth transition to the university. Other opportunities will include unit orientations, the new faculty Blackboard site, workshops, and other activities through the Office for Faculty Excellence and other offices on campus. We ask you to participate actively in New Faculty Orientation.

The nature of your appointment and the time of your arrival may make some sessions more relevant for you than others. For example, only tenured, tenure-track and fixed-term faculty teaching 50 percent or more need to attend the New Faculty Benefits session on Tuesday, August 16. If you are being hired into a temporary position or to teach less that 50 percent, you will not attend that session. Tenure track faculty members will find the session on tenure and promotion more relevant than will fixed term faculty or EPA nonteaching faculty. However, since most units require all faculty (fixed term and tenure track) to complete the same annual evaluations, you should determine your unit’s requirements and review the parts of the evaluation session most pertinent to your needs.

We are pleased that the orientation will address other topics that new faculty need:

• Entry and Exit Policies for all employees
• Support from Joyner and Laupus Libraries
• Parking and 1 Card sign up
• Faculty and Student Information Technology Resources: Smart Classrooms, software, web publishing resources, IT Help Desk, etc.
• The ECU Faculty Manual; syllabus requirements and recommendations; information about classroom management at the college level and university policies
• Blackboard and teaching with technology (until you have your own password, you can visit the site by using newfaculty for both the userid and password)
• Research expectation and assistance, application for graduate faculty
• Service requirements and opportunities; opportunities for service learning in your classes
• The Personnel Action Dossier and Sedona system for reporting research and creative activity
• Faculty development opportunities through the Office for Faculty Excellence, ITCS, units, and others.

Family members can register for the bus tour (you simply tell us how many people to expect when you register or by email), and we're working to provide other activities for family members. The final program will be provided at check-in. You will receive invitations to join the new faculty Yammer account and Facebook page. We ask you to register for orientation at www.ecu.edu/ofe (click on Summer 2011 Workshops in the menu) so that we can prepare adequately and so that you will receive electronic evaluations for the sessions. Please review the materials in this mailing prior to your arrival.

We look forward to meeting you and welcoming you personally to East Carolina University! If you have already begun employment at ECU and attended the abbreviated orientations for HR, etc., please attend those sessions that you have not already attended.

Sincerely,

Dr. Marilyn A. Sheerer
Interim Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs

Dr. Dorothy H. Muller
Director, Office of Faculty Excellence