Special Spotlight: Diane Kelly
We at Teaching and Learning Innovation have had the pleasure of being guided in our work by Dr. Diane Kelly, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs since August 1, 2020. As you may know, Dr. Kelly has accepted a new role as the endowed Wilson Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Information & Library Science. Kelly was previously a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill before coming to UTK to serve as the director of the School of Information Sciences in the College of Communication and Information. Her last day at UT will be June 30.
During her tenure as Vice Provost, Dr. Kelly transformed the tenure and promotion process for instructional staff with the implementation of Elements, the faculty activity reporting system. Additionally, she was instrumental in expanding faculty and leadership development opportunities for faculty such as the Research Development Academy, New Academic Leaders Academy, and Leadership Development Program.
Teaching and Learning Innovation is particularly thankful for Dr. Kelly’s support of our work. Under her leadership, our unit was able to provide faculty support during the beginning of COVID with the First Year Course Academy and Vol Virtual Bootcamp. Additionally, in addition to our established New Faculty Teaching Institute, we launched the Part-Time Faculty Orientation designed for adjunct and remote instructors.
Dr. Kelly supported our efforts to support faculty in their teaching through awards. Programs launched during Diane’s tenure include the Curriculum Refresh Collaborative, SOTL Funding Support and the Faculty Innovators Awards. Finally, following her vision for a UTK-focused, face-to-face event to complement our virtual Innovative Teaching and Learning Conference, we hosted our first UTK Teaching Values Summit.
We at TLI thank Dr. Kelly for her unwavering commitment to teaching excellence. We will miss her but wish her well as she moves to the next stage of her academic career.