Faculty invited to contribute to new CU Connections commentaries

The Faculty Council Communication Committee and CU Connections are teaming to launch a new forum for conversation across the four CU campuses: CU Faculty Voices.

For this new series of commentaries, CU faculty are invited to submit written pieces with a point of view. The goal is to foster conversation about topics and issues on the minds of faculty at the four campuses. We welcome article proposals that explore these topics through the authors’ personal opinion, experience, or research.

Chosen pieces will be published on the CU Connections website and promoted in the CU Connections email newsletter, which is distributed to all CU faculty and staff across the system.’

Authors will receive an appreciation gift for their time, such as CU branded items, tickets for the University of Colorado A-line train, etc., as well as a letter of recognition for their service from the Faculty Council Communications Committee and the Vice President of Communication.

Content should be timely and relevant to the faculty and/or staff of the University of Colorado system. Subjects may be local (specific people and issues rooted at CU) or universal (pertaining to higher education in Colorado, the United States or the world).

Examples:

• policy issues, from the campus level to the national level
• legislative issues (no overtly partisan, political or personal attacks)
• culture – campus or academic
• academic careers
• tenure and promotion
• professional challenges in research, publishing, teaching and service work
• balancing work, family, and health
• Online teaching and degrees
• Environmental sustainability of university campuses

Some guidelines:

• Each article should be an original work, approximately 800-1,100 words in length, not previously submitted elsewhere for publication.
• Use clear, informal writing, free of jargon. Consider the style of newspaper opinion pieces and editorials, rather than essays for scholarly journals.
• When useful, include hyperlinks to relevant online material (facts and figures, news coverage, etc.).

Interested contributors should begin by submitting a brief pitch, including the topic and the writer’s relevant expertise or experience. Click here to send a summary of your idea.

CU Connections reserves the right to exercise editorial oversight. Submissions will be edited for length, clarity and editorial style.

Questions? Contact the chair of the Communications Committee, Carrie Makarewicz, or the editor of CU Connections, Jay Dedrick.