Faculty Symposium

The annual Faculty Symposium has been rescheduled to Tuesday, February 10, 2026 at University Crossing.

Please register to attend the Faculty Symposium. If you had previously registered to attend the original event date (December 2, 2025), you do not need to register again.

Event Overview

The annual Faculty Symposium includes keynote presentations, lightning talks, a panel discussion, the faculty recognitions ceremony and more. We welcome broad participation from faculty at all career stages. Faculty are welcome to attend all or part of the Symposium. We hope you will join us to celebrate your colleagues' successes, learn more about their work, and catch up informally with faculty from across campus.

Tentative Agenda

*Strategic Pathways to Scholarship: Integrating Fulbright, Sabbatical and Research Plans: While faculty are encouraged to combine a Fulbright grant with a sabbatical leave whenever possible, understanding that different criteria exist for each award is key. This year’s panel will center on navigating overlapping timelines and planning for a successful application to extensive collections of Fulbright Scholar opportunities. Each speaker brings a unique lens to this conversation:

• Spencer Ross – Best practices for coordinating the Fulbright application deadline (September 15) with the UMass Lowell sabbatical application deadline (October 10), along with alternative planning scenarios
• Sheree Pagsuyoin – Insights on managing the complexity of the multi-country Global Scholar Award, including balancing international travel, data collection, and on-campus responsibilities, especially because the trips can be conducted within one academic year or spread over two consecutive years.

Lightning Talks

Each year, the Faculty Symposium includes lightning talk sessions where faculty and staff share 90-second presentations about their work and opportunities for collaboration. Please consider presenting a lightning talk. Examples of topics include:

• Current research or creative work
• Research idea in preparation for a proposal
• Community engagement project to encourage interdisciplinary participation
• Work of a Research or Engagement Center to foster collaboration
• Teaching innovation that can be adapted to other disciplines
• University-wide services such as a core research facility, library initiative, media teaching lab that can help faculty advance their teaching, research, and scholarship activities.

To register, please complete the lightning talk registration form to present a lightning talk.

On the form, you will be able to indicate your availability and submit a slide for your presentation.

Please note: the main Faculty Symposium registration form is separate from the lightning talk form. In order to officially register to present a lightning talk, you will need to complete the lightning talk registration form.

If you had signed up for a lightning talk for the original Faculty Symposium date on December 2, 2025, you do not need to complete the registration form again. You should have received a session assignment. To make any adjustments to your assignment, please email Faculty_Symposium@uml.edu.