Professional Interest Manager (PIM)
“The PIM has allowed me to get regular professional development on teaching, research, and leadership even though my schedule is packed. I can count on a dose of professional development, which is wonderful.”
Log in to the PIM
The Professional Interests Manager (PIM) is a Center for Faculty Excellence (CFE) service designed to inform faculty members about professional development resources and opportunities in the areas of teaching, research, and leadership. When you log into the PIM, you will be asked to choose from a list of professional development topics that interest you. Once enrolled, you will receive email notifications about resources and opportunities related only to the topics you have selected, such links to useful websites, summaries of relevant journal articles, and announcements of campus events.
- Control how regularly you receive email notifications (e.g. daily or weekly digest option)
- Browse and search resource updates on all professional interests, even those not in your profile
- Bookmark resources for use at a later time
The PIM is available to all faculty members, graduate students, and staff who have a valid ONYEN. Getting started takes less than five minutes. To sign up, just complete the following easy steps:
- Log in with your ONYEN
- Select your interests
- Set your email frequency
For additional assistance, please see “Simple instructions for getting started” (.pdf).
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to configure my account?
Less than five minutes.
How often do I have to log in?
You must log in once to select your unit affiliation(s), select your professional interests, and set your email frequency preferences. Unless you change your options, there is no need to log in again. Information will be e-mailed to you according to the frequency you select.
Do I have to receive email to participate?
No. You can set your email frequency preference to “No email notification please.” If you do so, however, you will have to log into the PIM to check for resource updates on your topics.
How does the email frequency setting work?
Users can choose to receive PIM notifications hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. For example, users who have set their email frequency to “daily” will receive no more than one email message each day. In the event that more than one resource update is posted in a single day, all the updates will be sent one time in a single email message. On days when no updates are shared on topics they have selected, no emails will be received from the PIM.
How often will new resources be shared on a particular topic?
It depends on how often PIM contributors come across resources they feel are worth sharing. The goal of the service is not to share regular updates, but to share useful information when it becomes available.
How do I stop receiving PIM email?
You can either deselect all professional interests, or set your “Email Frequency” to “No email notification please.”
Who decides what information is shared through the PIM?
CFE staff members. In the course of our day-to-day work, we encounter a wide range of professional development resources that may interest different faculty members. Until now, however, there has been no efficient way to share this information.
What is the difference between the PIM and social media apps such as Twitter?
In our experience, locating helpful professional development resources through social media still requires a good deal of sorting through extraneous posts and resources. The PIM service sends you a curated, abbreviated list of resources based on interests you have selected. Occasionally the CFE shares a resource through both the PIM and its Twitter feed (@unc_cfe).
How can I contribute a resource to the PIM?
Any member of the campus community is welcome to contact the CFE to suggest information for dissemination using the PIM.
Can I change my professional interests later?
Yes, you can edit your professional interests at any time, and as often as you wish.
Can I see a list of all the resources in they system?
Yes. The “Browse All Resources by Interest” link at the top of the page allows you to access PIM resources on all topics, including any that you have not selected as professional interests.
How do I change my unit affiliation(s)?
You can update your unit affiliations through the “Edit My Affiliations/Email Frequency” link at the top of the page after you log into the PIM.
How do I bookmark a resource so that I can easily revisit it later?
Here are two options:
- Within the PIM, click the “Add to My Favorites” icon that appears under the descriptive information for each selected resource. The resource will then appear under the “My Favorites” link at the top of the page.
- When you are viewing a selected resource, use your web browser’s bookmarking feature.
What if a professional interest that is important to me is not included in the PIM list?
If you have suggestions for adding one or more professional interests to the list, please let us know! Send an email to cfe@unc.edu.
Who will know that I have signed up for the service and what professional interests I have selected?
CFE staff with admin access to the system will know, but all user data in the PIM is held in the strictest confidence by Center staff members.
I deleted an email notification; how can I find a specific resource?
Log in to PIM and either 1) look under My Resource Updates on the left side of the page, 2) use the standard or advanced search function, or 3) browse all records under Browse Resources by Interest on the top page menu.