Office of Faculty Development

• Mission

  

  The mission of the Office of Faculty Development is to cultivate faculty success and well-being through professionally sustaining programs.

• Vision

  

  The vision of this office is to:

  • support faculty through a mentoring program with special attention given to an onboarding program or early mentoring program for assistant professors;
  • cultivate a high rate of successful tenure and promotion decisions;
  • foster a positive work climate and a responsiveness to work/life concerns; and
  • strengthen the retention of faculty demonstrating high levels of professional accomplishment.

Programming

Faculty Mentoring Program

The College of Education’s Faculty Mentoring Program is a formal college-wide program that brings together junior and senior level faculty from across our six departments. Incoming assistant professors and clinical assistant professors are matched with two mentors at the advanced assistant, associate, or full professor levels. The goal is to match faculty with one colleague from their home department as well as one mentor outside their home department to offer multiple points of support and varied perspectives. Incoming associate or full professors are matched with one mentor at rank or higher, unless requested otherwise. Mentors and mentees are encouraged to connect throughout the academic year and are provided with resources (see Dialogue Sparkers below) to build generative, meaningful, and sustaining relationships.

If you are a College of Education assistant professor or clinical assistant professor and you would like to participate in this program, please contact Kelly Guyotte.

First-Year Faculty Support

To support all incoming first-year faculty in the College of Education, the Office of Faculty Development will host four First-Year Faculty breakfasts in 2023-2024, two in fall semester and two in spring semester. These breakfasts provide opportunities for all first-year faculty to: 1) cultivate opportunities for ongoing connection and community, 2) dialogue, check in, and brainstorm with one another about professional experiences, and 3) become acquainted with the College of Education senior-level administration (i.e., Deans and Associate Deans).

First-Year Faculty Breakfasts for 2023-2024

In addition, all first-year faculty are strongly encouraged to attend two sessions intended to help faculty learn about “Faculty Success”, which serves as the platform through which tenure and promotion dossiers and merit review content is uploaded and submitted.

Grant Support

In collaboration with the Office of Research and Service, the Office of Faculty Development offers grant support and grant-related professional development opportunities throughout the academic year. These grant support opportunities are designed to build grant-writing skills and support faculty efforts in developing and submitting high quality proposals to a funding agency or foundation.

COE Grant Writing Fellows Program

The Grant Writing Fellows Program is a competitive fellowship program that was initiated to support external grant seeking of those working toward tenure and promotion. The goal of this program is to enhance and extend the culture of grant writing support and success, helping faculty members at the 3rd and 4th year on the tenure track with grant-getting aspirations to achieve their goals.

Applications for the 2024-2025 academic year are due in February 2024. 

2023-2024 Grant Writing Fellows

2022-2023 Grant Writing Fellows

Whole Person Faculty Development

Because academics carry myriad experiences, roles, and responsibilities both inside and outside of the academy, the Office of Faculty Development seeks to support faculty as whole people. As such, each academic year brings a focus on relevant aspects of the whole person faculty experience. In 2023-2024, the spotlight faculty development series is called “Cultivating the Leader Within” led by academic coach Brooke Hofsess.

Previous Workshops

UA-UWA RIC: Cultivating School Partnerships

Introduction to Grants in the College of Education Workshop (August 29, 2023):

Presentation Recording : https://alabama.box.com/s/s1vi3gpo5j5eaw3ta1gbwcjy7l3na7jx

November 2023 Grant Workshop: Preparing a Grant Budget