The Faculty Development Initiative includes multiple approaches to help new faculty balance and integrate teaching and research responsibilities, improve time management and life balance, and to foster collaboration among STEM faculty.

A broader impact will be an increase of talented female faculty at Marshall through improved retention.

Key Personnel: Dr. Beverly Delidow and Dr. Marcia Harrison; partnered with Dr. John Maher and Dr. Sherri Smith.

MU-ADVANCE Faculty Development Resources:

• Networking Events - monthly discussion groups open to female STEM faculty and post-docs. Of the 18 networking events held so far, recurring themes focused on grant preparation, life-work balance, and research and teaching productivity/time management. Participation has remained consistent across the 2 1/2 years, with women from all STEM colleges and departments in attendance.

• Grant Chats - These monthly discussions focus on many aspects of the grant-writing process to help faculty work toward increased external funding. Co-sponsored by MU-ADVANCE, MURC, and the CDDC, these chats bring together male and female attendees from an array of disciplines to discuss their future grant plans. Meeting summaries and resources are provided on the MU-ADVANCE website.

• Funding Opportunities - MU-ADVANCE administers a web page that lists grant opportunities for faculty and students.  MU-ADVANCE also provides separate lists of internal, West Virginia, and national funding opportunities.

• Mini-grants - These competitive awards are for female faculty in the STEM disciplines seeking to enhance networking (e.g., travel to national meetings), grant proposal submissions, interdisciplinary research efforts, or manuscript preparation.  Thus far, MU-ADVANCE has funded 19 Mini-Grants, representing all participating colleges and 35% of the qualified female applicants.  The grants awarded have primarily supplemented faculty travel to develop networking and collaborative opportunities for the recipients. 

• Faculty Fellowships - These competitive awards offer year-long support to pre-tenure female STEM faculty seeking to enhance their professional development.  Modeled after Hunter College’s Sponsorship Program, the Fellowship grants included stipends for a senior research partner to guide the Fellows in their research and career development.  Thus far, MU-ADVANCE has granted six Fellowships.  The Fellowships were used to support reassigned time, the acquisition of new skills to advance research programs, activities to improve teaching, student assistants, and travel.   

• Tenure and Promotion Resources - MU-ADVANCE developed a web page that lists college and university tenure and promotion guidelines, and provides links to Marshall faculty resource pages.  This site also links to online resources that provide guidance for pre-tenure faculty, as well as reports of good practice that support early career faculty for administrators.

MU-ADVANCE helped develop the following brochures:

• Best Practices: Welcoming New Faculty
  Best Practices: Welcoming New Faculty encourages departments to make community-building a goal.  One way to retain faculty is to nurture and support them both academically and socially.  This guide offers tips on how to kindle new faculty assimilation and participation within the department.

• Best Practices: The New Faculty Hire
  Best Practices: The New Faculty Hire is a resource for the hiring department.  This brochure provides the Chair and Dean of the hiring unit with a detailed description of their roles and responsibilities in the interview and offer processes.  Specifically, the guide highlights important aspects of these processes, such as what information to supply to the candidates, to ensure that both parties understand each other.

• Quick Start Guide to Tenure & Promotion
  The Quick Start Guide to Tenure and Promotion offers tips and suggestions, from document collection to service commitments, to help ensure faculty members are successful in their quests for tenure and promotion.

• Best Practices: Encouraging Retention
  Best Practices: Encouraging Retention examines how the institution can introduce and orient new faculty members to such things as colleagues, grant opportunities, annual reports, and the tenure and promotion process.  Focusing on both the first few weeks and the first year of a new faculty member’s career, this guide offers tips on how to help them “fit in” and become successful at Marshall.