On February 14, 2023, the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) organized the Staff Luncheon Gathering of Semester 2, 2022-2023 at UIC Faculty Club. Around 50 staff participated in this event, including Associate Heads of faculties, mentors and mentees involved in the Staff Mentoring Program (SMP), as well as Open Classroom Initiative (OCI) course instructors.

    Participants enjoying chatting and food

The SMP, started from Semester 1 of 2021-22, is a program to provide a mentoring relationship for new academic staff at the Lecturer and Assistant Professor ranks to foster professional development through one-on-one guidance within the respective programs during the first teaching year at UIC. New faculty are paired with senior colleagues in their home department recommended by the Department Head. This event provides mentees with great opportunities to connect with their mentors and learn experiences from them through casual conversations in a relaxing atmosphere. The themes of conversation ranged from research-related, teaching-related to daily-related.

During Academic Year 2022 to 2023, a total of 45 new teaching staff paired with experienced colleagues. The Luncheon Gathering provided a platform for colleagues to meet and communicate with new faculty members.

Prof. Stella CHO (Associate Vice President (Student Development), Acting Dean of School of General Education) chatting with new staff

During the luncheon gathering, Certificates of Appreciation were given to the instructors of OCI in recognition of their valuable contributions to OCI in Semester 1 2022-2023. The instructors include Ms. Claudia CHOW, Ms. Jue WANG, Dr. Jessica TIAN, Dr. He XIAO, Dr. Yuhui DENG, Dr. Alisa HE, Mr. Alex JAMES, Ms. Yan-Yan JI, Dr. Wei JIANG, Dr. Yi-Lung KUO, Dr. Canhao XU, Dr. May WANG, Dr. Darren WENG and Dr. James YANG. It is a blessing to have these exemplary colleagues who are willing to make their classrooms open to all colleagues to develop professional and teaching excellence amongst teachers in UIC.