Service to national professional associations is one way that UNCP faculty make a difference in higher education beyond campus. 

As one of 22 members of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education (POD) Core Committee, English professor Scott Hicks is making an impact on educational development in higher education across North America. 

Following a vote by the international organization’s 1,700-plus members, Hicks joined the leadership board in June. From Nov. 9 to 14, he attended the annual Core Committee business meeting. He participated in sessions on Indigenous culturally responsive teaching, mentorship and access and belonging during the association’s conference in Chicago. 

“I appreciate the opportunity to serve,” he said. “I hope I do a good job of bringing the perspective of an institutional commitment and orientation to access, where good teaching is vital to the thriving of our students.” 

Hicks began work in educational development as a graduate teaching affiliate of the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching before completing his doctoral degree in English in 2006. From 2017 to 2024, he directed the UNCP Teaching & Learning Center. During that time, he led programs that fostered community among faculty as scholar-teachers, supported their growth through midsemester diagnostics, shared interest groups, and student partnerships, and contributed to shared governance by advocating for workplace policies that supported the well-being of faculty. 

POD was officially founded in 1976 at the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE) conference. Since then, the POD Network has held national conferences every year, and it now is the largest and oldest educational development organization in the world. It exists to provide professional development and a community of practice for scholars and practitioners of academic development and serve as a leading voice on matters related to teaching and learning in higher education. 

“POD Network plays a leading role in advocating for teaching and learning in higher education in the face of the challenges scholar-teachers confront,” Hicks said. “It’s a unique leader in higher education for providing caring, generous support for the full range of working conditions in which faculty teach and students learn, and I’m glad and honored to be a part of it.” 

Funding for Hicks’s travel and participation in the conference was provided by the POD Network and the College of Arts & Sciences Dean’s Supplemental Travel Fund.