If you’ve served as a department chair, you know the role is unlike anything else in academia. It sits at a crossroads: part administrator, part faculty peer, part conflict resolver, part strategist. On any given day, you might be handling budget requests, onboarding a new faculty member, addressing student concerns, fielding institutional mandates, and navigating … Read more
Faculty mentoring is widely acknowledged as essential to academic success. It supports research productivity, retention, and career advancement, etc. However, many faculty report receiving ineffective mentoring, Why? Because good intentions alone don’t build sustainable mentoring systems. This conversation was at the heart of Rethinking Faculty Mentoring: What Institutions Can Do Differently, a recent webinar co-hosted … Read more
Writing is core to academic success, but it’s often the first thing to get pushed aside when schedules fill up. Teaching, service, mentoring, administrative tasks, and life outside of work can easily crowd out even the most well-intentioned writing plans. For faculty and academic leaders alike, the challenge isn’t knowing that writing matters: it’s figuring … Read more
Author: NCFDD In higher education, student success is a top priority. Institutions dedicate significant resources to advising, academic support, and student engagement initiatives. But one essential factor often doesn’t get the attention it deserves: faculty. Faculty success isn’t separate from institutional success. It’s the driving force behind it. When faculty are supported—through development opportunities, mentoring, … Read more
Since its inception, the Faculty Success Program (FSP) has supported thousands of academics across disciplines, institutions, and identities as they navigate the demands of scholarly writing, research productivity, and sustainable work-life integration. From assistant professors just beginning their careers to full professors seeking renewed focus, FSP provides a proven structure and community to help faculty … Read more
For many faculty, stepping into a department chair role can feel like a detour—an administrative obligation that pulls time and energy away from research, teaching, and personal goals. But the chair position doesn’t have to be a pause in your career. When approached with intention, it can be a strategic opportunity for growth, visibility, and … Read more
Author: Fred A. Bonner II, EdD For researchers in general, and tenure-track faculty in particular, perhaps the most critical task they must engage is to develop a clear and concise research agenda that will serve as the scaffolding for a career in Academe or also the workforce beyond the Academy. From developing a researchable topic to … Read more
On many campuses, mentoring is widely valued but loosely defined. It’s often left to individual departments or informal pairings, without much structure or accountability. While many institutions recognize the importance of faculty mentoring, building a coordinated, sustainable approach that works across all career stages remains a challenge. At Emory University, efforts to strengthen mentoring began … Read more
For new and experienced department chairs alike, leadership can feel isolating. You’re expected to manage conflict, mentor faculty, make strategic decisions, and balance countless priorities—often without any formal preparation. That’s exactly why we launched the Department Chair Success Program (CSP). After welcoming our inaugural cohort, one thing became clear: when chairs are supported, everything changes. … Read more
Author: NCFDD For many faculty, the biggest barrier to consistent writing isn’t a lack of ideas—it’s time. Or more accurately, how time feels. Unstructured. Fragmented. Constantly overtaken by urgent demands. It’s easy to blame teaching loads or service expectations (and yes, those are real). But underneath the surface, many faculty wrestle with deeper issues: guilt … Read more