Facilitating Mid-Career Faculty Programs: A Guide for Supporting Purposeful Career Development

This resource-rich guidebook supports faculty developers through the process of planning, facilitating, and assessing programs for mid-career faculty. Framing chapters draw from existing scholarship, national surveys, and the authors’ pilot program to prepare faculty developers to launch their own initiatives. The heart of the book details program modules, including their focus (e.g., identifying values, envisioning a meaningful career, claiming agency, advocating for oneself, planning to thrive), instructions for preparing and facilitating a workshop and a faculty learning community, and facilitator reflection questions. Resisting the message that faculty developers should do more, this book eases their workload by providing evidence-based resources that allow for flexibility and creativity. This guidance, supplemented by ready-to-use online materials, equips facilitators to lead their mid-career faculty participants through critical self-reflection, meaningful conversations, and practical activities to plan for their own version of thriving.

Table of Contents:
SECTION I MAPP Program Context and Preparation Introduction: Finding Our MAPP Nancy L. Chick 1 Facilitating MAPP Diane E. Boyd 2 Invitations and Destinations Katherine A. Troyer SECTION II Program Modules 3 Finding True North Diane E. Boyd 4 Envisioning the Path Katherine A. Troyer 5 Navigating the Path Linda M. Boland 6 Advocating for the Path Eriberto P. Lozada, Jr. 7 Thriving Beyond the Path Nancy L. Chick SECTION III Seeing Again for the First Time 8 Adapting MAPP Diane E. Boyd 9 Re-MAPPing the Professoriate Katherine A. Troyer

About the Author :
Diane E. Boyd is the Executive Director and Associate Dean of Faculty Development at Furman University, USA. She researches Threshold Concepts in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, course design for educational equity, and increasing agency and vitality via values-infused mid-career programming. Nancy L. Chick is Director of Faculty Development at Rollins College, USA. After becoming Full Professor of English in Wisconsin, she shifted her focus to the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) and has authored and edited many publications on the results of SoTL projects and on the field of SoTL itself. With Contributions From: Linda M. Boland is a Professor of Biology and formerly served as Associate Provost for Faculty at the University of Richmond where she was also the founding director of a faculty development center for teaching and scholarship. Her research, with undergraduate student mentees, focuses on neural excitability. Eriberto “Fuji” Lozada is Senior Associate Dean of the Faculty and Professor of Anthropology at Davidson College in Davidson, NC. He brings his disciplinary training as an anthropologist to bear on his extensive faculty development and teaching and learning. Katherine A. Troyer is the Director of The Collaborative for Learning and Teaching at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Her bookshelves (which place SoTL books next to horror scholarship) reveal her interest in how spoken and unspoken fears—whether in a horror film or in the classroom—shape thoughts and ideas.

Review :
“Institutions and campus administrators need to provide robust resources and support to faculty developers as critical campus partners — their importance, and our reliance on their expertise, will only grow in the coming years. Facilitating Mid-Career Faculty Programs answers this call and does so in the most informative, accessible way.” Vicki L. Baker, E. Maynard Aris Endowed Professor in Economics and Management at Albion College, USA “This book provides a much-needed road ‘MAPP’ for faculty, faculty developers, and institutions interested in creating meaningful supports to help mid-career faculty thrive. The book offers a robust intervention for addressing mid-career challenges — a thoughtfully designed, evidence-based program that can be implemented as-is or adapted to different institutional contexts. The sample activities and resources help facilitators create time, space, and community for important self-reflection and conversations.” Deandra Little, Associate Provost of Faculty Affairs and Professor of English, Elon University, USA “Facilitating Mid-Career Faculty Programs is an essential exploration into the often-overlooked stage of a faculty member’s career. This book delves into the unique challenges of mid-career faculty, those who have navigated tenure and promotion but are still years away from retirement. It sheds light on the ‘mid-career malaise’ that pervades across disciplines and demographics, highlighting the need for more institutional support and resources for this critical group. A must-read for anyone invested in the future of academia.” Melanie Hamilton, Director, Jane and Ron Graham Centre for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, University of Saskatchewan, Canada “Participating in the MAPP pilot provided both a jolt of energy and a breath of fresh air at a needed point in my career. The program enabled time for valuable reflection. In particular, I have revisited the professional development plan first completed in MAPP as an annual check-in with myself. This practice has helped me refine my decision-making about new projects and develop boundaries around my time and talents.” Rose Stremlau, Charles A. Dana Associate Professor of History, Davidson College, USA