Contingent faculty are an increasingly common response to rising costs and growing enrollments (AAUP, 2014). Our research focuses on the small subset of contingent faculty whose institutions label them "Professors of Practice." They come to academia with deep professional/industry experience and leverage their unique knowledge, networks,…

The promotion process is challenging, particularly for non-tenure track faculty in academic medicine. To address this challenge, we implemented a facilitated peer mentoring program that included a structured curriculum with regular meetings, guided by two senior faculty mentors. Participants expressed satisfaction with the program, showed…

Faculty are assuming greater responsibility for assessment of educational programs, which may be a new and daunting role. Therefore, faculty need to develop expertise and skills to do these assessments meaningfully. The overall purpose of this article is to provide faculty a program assessment resource. Assessments are conducted for accountability…

Building upon Kuh's (2008) research on high-impact educational practices, the authors interviewed Dr. Aaron Thompson to discuss effective implementation of these teaching and learning initiatives and the advancement of faculty development programming to support them. Dr. Thompson is the Interim President of Kentucky State University and Council on…

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are an effective way for faculty to learn about pedagogical topics and tactics. However, less is known about how effective they are at changing the teaching practices of the faculty participants and ultimately student learning. This article describes a mixed-method study of such a transfer of knowledge. In…

The literature on leadership competencies does not include an understanding of how stakeholders perceive competencies for women and under-represented minority faculty members. We surveyed three groups of leaders (N = 113) to determine their perceptions of the importance of 23 leadership competencies. All three groups endorsed the same five…

This study emphasizes the importance of faculty development and training as a means to prepare faculty to design the capstone course as a high-impact educational practice. Specifically, this research explores transformative learning in the capstone class as a vehicle for reflection on personal and professional ethics. Students enrolled in a…

Professional development needs of faculty who are teaching at Tribal Colleges and Universities were examined in this survey research study. The majority of 126 respondents to the online survey reported that they were full-time faculty members, female, not tribal members, and had taught five or less years. Respondents reported that the two greatest…

This article recommends that faculty developers promote online writing assignments--from blogs to podcasts--that make use of the interactive tools of the "social Web." Unlike traditional essays, which are typically private documents exchanged between student and instructor, online writing tasks can become sites of engagement and…

Manuscript rejection is a fact of life for academics, and should be seen as just one step in a process of revision and resubmission that typically results in publication. This two-part article offers suggestions to help authors take action on their rejected manuscripts, including analyzing reviewer feedback, revising judiciously, and making…

The effects of focusing on learning objectives--not instructional objectives--and of viewing each objective as a unit of instruction can be significant, both for the students and for the instructor.

This article is the first in a series of three articles on microaggressions. All of the articles are tailored specifically for faculty developers, provosts and directors of diversity and training, faculty, and administrators to address the most critical issues on this topic in higher education. This one presents a framework for understanding the…

The role of educational developers has transitioned from the periphery to the centre of the higher education landscape as these practitioners are working to build capacity in teaching and learning. Yet, little is understood about educational developers themselves, and in particular, how learning theories inform their practice. In a qualitative…

In the spirit of exploration, this paper discusses the what, why and how of unconferencing and explores its implications as a transformative approach to faculty development in higher education. The authors define an unconference faculty development experience as: a less-structured opportunity for participants to learn and grow by sharing…

Traditional professional development related to teaching is offered on a short-term basis and at the individual level. Recent experiences and research studies have led to an organizational level model in which the educational developer forms a sustained partnership with administrators, faculty, staff, and students in a department, offering…