Faculty Development

Faculty Development Series—Spring 2023

Write-on-Site
Friday, February 3, 1–4:30 p.m.
Mary Maples Dunn Conference Room 
Register by Friday, January 27
Have writing to get done but finding it hard to get started? Find that your writing is easier when done with good colleagues? Earmark your calendar, grab your laptop, and come to this write-on-site opportunity! We will start this session by updating each other on our research plans and sharing writing strategies and motivational tools. This session will support you in making progress and increasing productivity. Feel welcome to join anytime—the first 15 minutes will be a check-in and writing time will begin at 1:15 p.m.

(In the Face of Constraints) Innovating Joy for Faculty
Wednesday, February 8, 12:15–1:15 p.m.
Conway Center, Neilson Library
Facilitated by Benita Jackson, Professor of Psychology, Faculty Wellness Fellow
Register by Wednesday, February 1
Fostering innovation across research, teaching, and service is arguably a key charge to faculty across the career trajectory. Yet in the face of more demands than we can meet, this charge can lead to a feeling of fracturing instead of integration of our identities and well-being. In this workshop Jackson offers research-informed perspectives on how using “joy choices” can be a tool for faculty to create values-driven scholarly, personal, and collective outcomes. She will invite attendees to create a plan for experimenting with how roles of “faculty wellness” and “faculty member” can support rather than undermine each other. For the 2022-23 academic year, Benita Jackson, professor of psychology and health scholar and practitioner, is serving as a Faculty Wellness Fellow as part of a pilot program.

Approaching College Service Strategically 
Wednesday, March 1, 12:15–1:15 p.m.
College Center 205
Register by Wednesday, February 22
Are you interested in learning more about elected committee service? Do you want to better understand how service work can align with your goals and own interests? Learn and listen from colleagues about their engagement with the institution and its value. This session is intended to promote an understanding of faculty governance and help faculty think strategically about service work. Sponsored by the Office of the Provost/Dean of the Faculty and Faculty Council.

Toward Equity: Managing Identity Taxation in Service at the College
Friday, March 3, 12:15–1:15 p.m.
Campus Center 205
Register by Friday, February 24
Following up the March 1 panel discussion on making thoughtful choices about service commitments, this faculty conversation will focus on challenges and strategies for managing the demands for service on our faculty members who bring diversity to the academy. How can you navigate service demands from others when you are one of the only or few “X” faculty members in your department/discipline? How can you develop strategies and support that can help you to serve your own best interests at the same time that you care for the institution? Come ask and hear advice about strategies that can help you to navigate service in a way that protects/reduces your identity taxation.

Faculty with an identity that has been historically underrepresented in their discipline and/or in academia more broadly are particularly encouraged to attend. All faculty are welcome.

Write-On-Site 
Friday, March 10, 1–4:30 p.m. 
Mary Maples Dunn Conference Room 
Register by Friday, March 3
Do you need to carve out time to focus on your scholarly activities? Come write in the company of others, share what you are working on and cultivate a community of support to help you write regularly and be a productive scholar. Feel welcome to join anytime—the first 15 minutes will be a check-in and writing time will begin at 1:15 p.m.

Toward Equity: Antiracist Pedagogy
Tuesday, March 28, 4–6 p.m.
Zoom
Workshop Facilitator: Dr. Crystal Fleming, Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies, SUNY Stony Brook University
Register by Tuesday, March 21
This interactive workshop will provide an overview of antiracist pedagogy as well as the goals and guiding principles that will inform a series during the spring semester. We will consider and discuss key concepts in antiracist praxis with attention to defining systemic, institutional and structural racism. Participants will be introduced to a framework for developing pedagogical practices oriented toward empowerment, equity, justice and compassion. Faculty will also begin a process of self-assessment and discovery to examine their own degree of familiarity and knowledge with the ongoing history of racism and antiracism in their fields of speciality and academic expertise. Dr. Crystal Fleming is the author of How to Be Less Stupid About Race (Beacon Press, 2018) and one of the editors of Beyond White Mindfulness. Critical Perspectives on Racism, Well-Being and Liberation (Routledge, 2022). 

(In the Face of Constraints) Innovating Joy for Faculty, Follow-Up Discussion
Wednesday, March 29, 12:15–1:15 p.m.
Bodman Lounge, Helen Hills Hills Chapel
Facilitated by Benita Jackson, Professor of Psychology, Faculty Wellness Fellow
Register by Wednesday, March 22
Benita Jackson is offering research-informed perspectives on how using “joy choices” can be a tool for faculty to create values-driven scholarly, personal, and collective outcomes. In this session, Jackson will continue with follow-up discussion about experimenting with how roles of “faculty wellness” and “faculty member” can support rather than undermine each other. All are welcome, regardless of attendance at previous gatherings. For the 2022-23 academic year, Jackson, professor of psychology and health scholar and practitioner, is serving as a Faculty Wellness Fellow as part of a pilot program. 

Write-On-Site
Friday, April 7, 1–4:30 p.m. 
Mary Maples Dunn Conference Room 
Register by Friday, March 31
Share your research accomplishments, reflect on what worked for you this semester and make time in your calendar to write with your colleagues. Cultivate a community of support for your research endeavors to help you write regularly and be a productive scholar. Feel welcome to join anytime—the first 15 minutes will be a check-in and writing time will begin at 1:15 p.m.

Faculty Panel on Competitive Grants and Distinguished Fellowships
Tuesday, April 11, 12:15–1:15 p.m. (rescheduled from March 28)
Campus Center 205
Register by Tuesday, April 4
Come hear from a panel of colleagues with success in competitive grants and fellowships external to Smith. Whether you are new to this process or have experience, you’ll learn strategies and resources for identifying opportunities and crafting a strong application. Sponsored by the Office of the Provost/Dean of the Faculty and Grants and Sponsored Research.

Balancing Acts: Strategies for Juggling Academic Life and Work
Wednesday, April 19, 12:15–1:15 p.m.
Zoom
Workshop Facilitator: Dr. Rebecca Pope-Ruark, Director of the Office of Faculty Professional Development, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Certified Coach
Register by Wednesday, April 12
Academic work, especially at mid-career, can feel like a juggling act that never ends. Between teaching, research, service, mentoring, leadership, and the other kinds of often hidden labor, finding time for the work that is important but perhaps not urgent can be a major challenge. In this workshop, we’ll explore the idea of “work-work balance” and develop strategies for managing the often competing demands that arise in academic work. Dr. Rebecca Pope-Ruark is the author of Agile Faculty: Practical Strategies for Managing Research, Service, and Teaching (University of Chicago Press, 2017) and Unraveling Faculty Burnout: Pathways to Reckoning and Renewal (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2022).

The Office of the Provost and Dean of the Faculty supports the mentoring of junior faculty members in myriad ways.

New Faculty Orientation

Each year, the associate dean of the faculty and dean for academic development welcomes all new members of the faculty to a new faculty orientation. The primary purpose of the orientation is to provide advice, information, and inspiration while welcoming faculty to the Smith community. Items reviewed include essential college policies and additional resources to complement on-boarding materials included with the hiring letter. The new faculty orientation is an opportunity for new faculty to re-connect with junior and senior members of their department, ask key questions from affiliates across campus, and serves as a medium to engage fellow colleagues as they each embark on a new journey at Smith.

Board of Counselors

The associate dean of the faculty and dean for academic development oversees the Faculty Board of Counselors. The board includes senior faculty members who provide individual and collective extra departmental mentoring to tenure-track faculty members in their first and second years. The counselors are also willing to meet with any recently appointed faculty members who seek advice. Additionally, the board advises senior faculty members and administrators on their work with newer colleagues.

Departmental and Program Mentoring

Departmental mentoring introduces tenure-track faculty and renewable lecturers and laboratory instructors to the culture of the department, college, Five College community, and profession. Departmental mentors support their mentees through regular meetings regarding strategies for prioritizing and performing scholarship, teaching, and service. Mentors address questions and concerns, and assist mentees in building connections and accessing resources.

Departmental/Program Mentoring Plans

Departmental/Program Mentoring Plans

Mentoring Meeting Discussion Topics

Mentoring Meeting Discussion Topics

Mentoring Resources

• National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD) interactive Mentoring Map
• Mentor/Mentee Tips & Topics
• What Do I Need Right Now?
• Top 10 Things New Faculty Would Like to Hear from Colleagues

For the 2022-23 academic year, Benita Jackson, professor of psychology and health scholar and practitioner, will serve as a Faculty Wellness Fellow as part of a pilot program. In this role, she will develop programming to provide faculty with tools to support their pursuit of work-life integration and imagine forms of cultural and structural change in support of those goals.