Faculty Week
Faculty are amazing! They conduct research, teach classes, and develop students academically and personally. Since InterVarsity’s birth in the late 1800s, they have been an integral part of our movement, praying, supporting, and building communities of students, faculty, and staff. Faculty Week is an opportunity to show our appreciation for all that faculty offer, as well as deepen our relationships with faculty on each of our campuses.
Faculty Week is designed to complement your ministry work. We have suggestions for things you can do during the week to connect with faculty that can be adapted to fit your context. The goal of Faculty Week is for you to have meaningful interactions with faculty, starting with your Chapter Advisor. We encourage creativity and invite you to share your ideas with Faculty Ministry!
You’ll find a variety of sources below to help you prep, run, and wrap up Faculty Week. Make sure to download the Faculty Week app, which includes to-do lists for before, during, and after the week!
Resources for the Week
The One-on-One (Start Here)
The one-on-one is centerpiece of the week. This is the space where you get to have a meaningful dialogue with your Chapter Advisor, whether that’s having a first conversation, deepening your relationship, or meeting with other Christian faculty who want to join a team of advisors! We have outlined recommendations for different advisor relationships.
Finding an Advisor
Some campuses require a chapter advisor to register InterVarsity as a student organization, while others don’t have that requirement. Whether or not it’s required, having a Chapter Advisor is a tremendous blessing. Chapter advisors might do everything from mentoring students to speaking at Large Groups to advocating for our ministry on campus. If you don’t have a Chapter Advisor, now is the perfect time to recruit one! For your Faculty Week one-on-one, meet with a Christian faculty member (or administrator) who might be a good fit to serve as an advisor. Not sure where to start? Here are a few tips and resources to help you find a potential advisor and have a good meeting with them!
Tips
Don’t know any Christian faculty or administrators? Ask your students if they know any. You ask a campus chaplain who may know Christian faculty who would be interested in getting plugged into the chapter. If none of those options turn up any contacts, consider hosting a gathering for faculty and see who comes!
Not getting a response back to your email or phone call invitations to meet? Consider stopping by their office to set up a time to talk a little longer. If you stop by, come with the gift. Keep your hand on the door as an indication that you don’t plan to stay long.
As much as you’ll want to share about the chapter, make sure you ask questions to get to know them! Remember, we want to build impactful relationships with faculty, not just someone to sign off on our organization registrations!
Connecting with a Current Advisor
Nearly three-quarters of Chapters Advisors surveyed about their experience with IV said they wanted MORE engagement with the campus’ chapter and staff! Chapter Advisors value your ministry, even if they don’t always have time to attend everything we host. Meeting regularly with your Chapter Advisor isn’t just helpful for planning events...it helps them feel better connected and cared for by you! Your Faculty Week one-on-one should include updates on the chapter and exploring ways your advisor wants to be involved, but it needs to include an expression of deep gratitude for what they do for the campus and the chapter!
Tips
- Make meetings with your Chapter Advisor a staple of your annual rhythm. Aim to meet with them between two to four times a year.
- One way to help advisors feel connected to InterVarsity is to get them signed up in our Chapter Advisor database. Tell them about the form when you meet and send it to them in your follow-up email.
Building a Team of Advisors
You know what’s even better than having a Chapter Advisor? Having multiple advisors! Many IV chapters have been blessed to work with multiple faculty members. Consider meeting with a Christian faculty member you don’t know as well and see where their passions might align with the mission of the chapter.
Tips
- Ask your Chapter Advisor if they know other Christian faculty. If they do, they may even be able to do an introduction!
- Learn about the faculty member before you meet with them. You can learn more about them on their university webpage, social media, and publications.
- Make sure to follow-up with them after meeting!
Gather to Pray
During Faculty Week, we want to show our support and appreciation for all faculty do by praying for them as a chapter. Here are a few ideas to host a Faculty Week prayer gathering:
- Ask your Chapter Advisor for five ways students can be praying for faculty on campus (including themselves!).
- Host a Large Group gathering during Faculty Week and make a part of it dedicated to praying over faculty on campus
- You could make the whole Large Group “faculty themed” with a Christian faculty speaker, if you have adequate time to ask a faculty member.
- If you don’t have a regular Large Group, you could host a special prayer gathering for Faculty Week or have each small group host a mini-faculty prayer session!
- Invite faculty to attend and pray along with students!
Express Your Appreciation
Faculty carry a lot of responsibilities. They conduct research, teach classes, serve on administrative councils, advise student organizations, and much more. Faculty Week gives us an opportunity to tell them how much we appreciate them!
Here are a few ideas for expressing gratitude during the week:
- Invite students to write notes of encouragement and appreciation to their professors.
- You could combine the note writing time with the prayer gathering, have each small group write notes, or table and invite anyone to come up and write notes!
- Make sure you designate who will deliver the notes and when!
- Run a social media campaign.
- Have students share their #FacultyWeek story of a faculty member on campus who impacted them. Have them tag five other students to share their stories...and make sure to tag the department the professor is in!
- Make sure to thank your chapter advisor(s).
- Have a special note and/or gift for your faculty member, signed by students. Bonus points if you have this ready before your one-on-one meeting!
The Faculty Week App
The Faculty Week app is here to help you smoothly prep, run, and wrap up the week. In it, you’ll find simple to-do lists for before, during, and after Faculty Week, tips for each step, resources, and more.
To get the app, click the link below.
- A new webpage will come up – you can either copy and paste the URL into your phone‘s web browser or use the QR code to go to the web browser.
- Next, either click the box with the up-facing arrow at the bottom of your screen (for an iPhone) or the 3 dots in upper right-hand corner (for Android).
- Scroll to the "Add to Home Screen" option and select.
- You should now see the Faculty Week App icon on your phone’s home screen!
For more, check out the Partnering with Chapter Advisors resource.
