The Professional Resource Opportunities for Faculty Center (PROF) promotes professional development to faculty at Texas A&M International University (TAMIU). Development workshops provided to faculty enhance teaching and learning development, providing TAMIU students topnotch education.
Our Mission
The Professional Resource Opportunities for Faculty (PROF) Center is dedicated to cultivating teaching and learning excellence at TAMIU through its provision of professional growth opportunities.
Our Activities
PROF Center activities include, but are not limited to:
- New faculty orientation
- Cultural competence enhancement
- Development of Service-Learning curricula
- Facilitation of best teaching practice application
- Assessment of learning and teaching
- Setting standards for teaching and the evaluation of teaching
- Support for collaborative interaction in teaching across the disciplines
Brief History
The PROF Center was identified as a need in 2005 by a team of administrators and faculty after attending a Building Engagement and Attainment for Minority Students (BEAMS) Conference.
BEAMS, a five year initiative (2003-July 2008) focused on Hispanic-serving, Historically Black, and Tribal colleges and universities using the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). This initiative was supported by American Association for Higher Education, The Center for Postsecondary Education, and Lumina Foundation for Education. One -hundred four-year colleges and universities from the Alliance for Equity in Higher Education committed to increasing student success and persistence through increasing student engagement in their learning. Student engagement was and is measured through the National Survey of Student Engagement (NESSE). Findings provided the base for identifying a universities focus for implementation of actions that would improve engaged learning, persistence and success of the student.TAMIU has utilized the NESSE since 2002.
The TAMIU team identified the need for a centralized teaching and learning program to enhance TAMIU's commitment to BEAMS outcomes, and to respond to faculty teaching/learning needs identified through an all faculty survey. Since 2009, the PROF Center began implementing programs to enhance best teaching and learning practices through applied faculty professional growth opportunities.