Community of Practice on Civility
The Community of Practice (CoP) on Civility values individuals, dialogue, relationships, and community building. We see this CoP as an opportunity to build on the conversation that has recently been generated by the campus common theme about civil discourse on our campus. In the absence of the proverbial office watercooler, this CoP offers members of the IUPUI community a forum through which to meet other faculty and professional staff members and an opportunity to identify problems and to cultivate solutions.
“Civility” is a broad term whose definition will be determined by our community participants, who will also determine the direction taken by this CoP. Our focus will be on the faculty experience of civility within the IUPUI campus community. By “faculty,” we include all professionals who are involved in teaching, learning, research, advising, and service. Our interest is in the faculty experience within a civil culture, which includes classroom behavior as well as electronic communications, departmental meetings, campus policies, etc. Its range includes the full spectrum of faculty interactions with others, including but not limited to students, staff, other faculty, and campus administrators.
Our hope is that everyone who joins this CoP will be sincere in their desire to make our campus a more civil community. This relatively new group is not only committed to action but also eager to act in a thoughtful and deliberate way. We value conversation as the mechanism by which to determine the optimal course of action. In addition to being passionate about civility issues, we also believe in the importance of cultivating teaching, research, and service in the scholarship of civility. We anticipate many positive outcomes of our community, some of which may consist of multiple scholarly productions, including a network of colleagues, strategies, and mechanisms for improving faculty collegiality and the classroom environment, as well as the long-term improvement in the culture of IUPUI.
If you have questions or are interested in joining this CoP, please contact Nancy Goldfarb.