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Fostering campus culture and creating professional development opportunitiesÌýfor full-time faculty

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This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant numbers 1937035 (Catalyst) and 2204125 (Adaptation)Ìý

ADVANCE Â鶹Æƽâ°æ's Adaptation grant has three distinct initiatives:Ìý

Ìý1) support faculty research and scholarship, with a particular focus on STEM; Ìý

Ìý2) improve campus climate by clarifying and executing new tenure promotion policies that integrate public impact, interdisciplinary collaboration, and inclusive practices in evaluations;

Ìý3) increase faculty members’ feelings of belongingness by providing professional development and mentoring, particularly those in STEM fields.

Current ADVANCE Â鶹Æƽâ°æ Activities:
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Faculty Peer Mentoring Cohorts:

For the second year, ADVANCE Â鶹Æƽâ°æ is sponsoring three faculty peer mentorship cohorts to provide full-time faculty with access and professional support from colleagues across academic units along with guidance from administration leaders. This year there are three cohorts: tenured associate professors, term and continuing appointment faculty at any rank, and term and continuing appointment faculty who are research active. Each cohort is led by an experienced leader(s) who convene the groups and work with them on their mentoring and professional development needs. This year’s faculty peer mentorship cohorts were launched with an intensive retreat at Airlie, VA.

Career Development Mini-Grants:

For the second year, ADVANCE Â鶹Æƽâ°æ is also funding career development mini-grants available to all full-time STEM faculty. These grants will fund faculty research, scholarship, and networking with an emphasis on expanding career pathways in STEM. These grants will fund a variety of projects such as field work, lab supplies, publishing costs, and conference presentations. Ìý

The ADVANCE Catalyst project (20-22) was an intentional, inclusive and intersectional assessment of university full-time faculty, including the structures, policies and procedures that impede faculty retention in STEM fields. NSF’s broad definition of STEM includes physical sciences, life sciences and social and behavioral sciences.Ìý

The Catalyst project documented the institutional barriers full-time faculty of different backgrounds face at medium-sized, urban, private research universities. The need for this data was highlighted in Â鶹Æƽâ°æ’s Catalyst proposal. As a result, nine focus groups with a combined total of 36 faculty were conducted to fill this important informational void. Ìý