The Office of the Provost and the Coulter Faculty Commons welcomed 60 new faculty on August 6-8 for New Faculty Orientation (NFO). Throughout the three-day event, new faculty members enjoyed a warm Catamount welcome from Chancellor Kelli R. Brown, Provost Starnes, Associate Provost Huffman, Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management & Student Success Moultrie, and Faculty Senate Chair Alsayyed.  

Some sessions that stood out that new faculty highly recommended were: Colleague Connection (an interactive networking bingo game), Welcome to Success & Supporting Our Students (a panel and case discussions with Student Success and Student Affairs), and Ask Us Anything (a faculty panel where Brian Byrd, David Jons, and Tracy Mensah fielded questions).

As a result of attending NFO, 81% of respondents said their confidence levels in their preparedness to teach at WCU increased significantly; 85% reported their preparedness to support students increased significantly; and 93% reported that NFO gave them a sense of connection with the university. One new feature that helped connect new faculty to WCU was a short history walk across campus that was led by Peter Koch, Associate Director of the Mountain Heritage Center.  

Almost 40 campus partners participated in the resource fair, another highly rated component of NFO. One new faculty participant noted, “Overall, NFO was an outstanding experience. I learned so much about WCU’s rich history and how I can best service the university’s students and my colleagues. I’m very grateful to those who organized for providing new faculty with the space to meet and network with one another, too!”