To support faculty at critical stages of their career, and complement existing programs at the school and department level, the Office for Faculty Advancement launched a portfolio of coaching and leadership development programs in Fall 2021. The aim of these programs is to provide coaching support to groups of junior faculty; in-depth leadership training for tenure track faculty at the reappointment stage; and regional networking and leadership training for tenured and non-tenured faculty administrators.
Group Coaching for Early and Midcareer Faculty
Offered by Maria LaMonaca Wisdom
Open to all faculty (tenure and non-tenure track), except full professors. Faculty may self-identify and register for group coaching offered in the fall and spring semesters.
The Office for Faculty Advancement supports a group coaching program for all faculty except full professors. It may be of particular interest to faculty who wish to expand their peer mentoring networks and who might benefit from a structured space to explore topics such as:
- Transitioning to new stages of a faculty career, or other professional challenges
- Enhancing productivity, time management or work/life balance
- Cultivating productive working relationships with colleagues, students or others
- Identifying appropriate long-term goals and creating an action plan
What is coaching?
Coaching is not advising or consulting (which often involves telling someone what to do). Nor is it mentoring (which is usually provided by other people close to your field). Coaching, rather, is a highly structured process that helps people reflect on complex situations, navigate challenges, enhance self-awareness, set goals and exercise accountability for meeting those goals. Through active listening and open-ended questions, a coach engages individuals in a creative process to help them identify and achieve their highest potential.
What is the time commitment?
The coaching consists of six hours of small-group meeting time total (four 90-minute sessions), spaced over about ten weeks.
Who will be in my group?
The groups will be small (4-5 coached individuals total), and interdisciplinary (ideally, no two people from the same department or program). These groups are safe, confidential and nonevaluative.
Where will we meet?
Coaching sessions are offered in a variety of forms: in-person, all virtual or hybrid groups.
Who is the coach?
Maria LaMonaca Wisdom, Ph.D., A.C.C., Director of Faculty Mentoring and Coaching Programs, is a certified professional coach through the International Coaching Federation. (Read about the group coaching she offers Ph.D. students.) Wisdom, herself formerly a tenured faculty member in English and author of a scholarly monograph, also brings several years of experience in faculty development from her previous role as executive director of a humanities institute at UNC Chapel Hill.
How do I register?
Registration for Spring 2022 group coaching is now closed.
1:1 Coaching for Early and Midcareer Faculty
Offered by Maria LaMonaca Wisdom
Open to all faculty (tenure and non-tenure track), except full professors, through recommendation of department chair
The Office for Faculty Advancement offers a one-on-one confidential coaching resource (limited availability, and through recommendation of department chair only) for faculty who would like support with any of the following issues:
- Transitioning to new stages of a faculty career, or other professional challenges
- Enhancing productivity, time management or work/life balance
- Cultivating productive working relationships with colleagues, students, or others
- Identifying appropriate long-term goals and creating an action plan
What is coaching?
Coaching is not advising or consulting (which often involves telling someone what to do). Nor is it mentoring (which is usually provided by people close to one’s field). Coaching, rather, is a highly structured process that helps people reflect on complex situations, navigate challenges, enhance self-awareness, set goals, and exercise accountability for meeting those goals. Through active listening and open-ended questions, a coach engages individuals in a creative process to help them identify and achieve their highest potential.
What is the time commitment?
Varies, depending on goals of the faculty member. In most cases, it would involve five hours of 1:1 meeting time total, spaced over about two months.
Who is the coach?
Maria LaMonaca Wisdom, Ph.D., A.C.C., Director of Faculty Mentoring and Coaching Programs, is a certified professional coach through the International Coaching Federation. Wisdom, herself formerly a tenured faculty member in English and author of a scholarly monograph, also brings several years of experience in faculty development from her previous role as executive director of a humanities institute at UNC Chapel Hill.
When is it appropriate to refer a faculty member?
Coaching is a great investment in faculty and can help sustain productivity, morale, and wellness. It can also be helpful for faculty struggling with specific challenges related to teaching, advising/mentoring, research, or another aspect of their role.
In the latter situation, coaching can only be effective if: 1) the faculty member is willing to commit to the coaching meetings; 2) the faculty member has the sufficient self-awareness to identify problematic behaviors; and 3) the faculty member is committed to making concrete and sustainable changes in mindset, behavior (or both). In such cases, chairs should discuss the situation with Maria Wisdom before making any referrals.
Not all situations or issues can be resolved through coaching. Faculty will take from the coaching whatever they bring to it; they need to be open to the process, and also able to commit the necessary time, energy and focus. It is the discretion of the coach to determine whether a faculty member will benefit from coaching.
How do I recommend a faculty member?
Nominations from chairs should be sent to Maria LaMonaca Wisdom (maria.wisdom@duke.edu) and include the following information:
- Why are you nominating this particular faculty member for coaching?
- What would you hope to see for this faculty member, as a result of the coaching?
- What concerns, if any, do you have about this faculty member’s potential to benefit from coaching?
- What background issues or context might it be helpful for coach be aware of?
We will accept one nomination per chair, per semester. Nominations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Upon receipt of nomination, the coach will reach out to the faculty member for a preliminary conversation about their goals for coaching.
Faculty who move forward with coaching will then commit to four 45-minute meetings spaced out across the semester (total time commitment, including the preliminary meeting, is approximately five hours).
We are no longer accepting nominations for Spring 2022.
1:1 Coaching for Full Professors
Offered by Delta Leadership
Open to tenured and non-tenured regular rank, full professors, Delta Leadership coaches use the Six Domains of Leadership Model to help address issues.
The Six Domains of Leadership views leadership as six interrelated areas of action, each with its own effect on those being led. Faculty who would like to take advantage of this 1:1 coaching opportunity should request nomination by their department chair.
Professional Development for Associate Professors
Offered by Delta Leadership
Associate professors, including professors of the practice, are invited to register for this new annual professional development program, which will delve into how to succeed and lead in research, teaching/mentoring, and service and engagement. Participants will have a chance to interact with prominent scholars and experts as well as their own peers, and learn skills and best practices to position themselves for a successful and fulfilling academic career as scholars and academic leaders.
Dates
- September 13, 2021
- October 11, 2021
- November 8, 2021
- February 8, 2022
- March 14, 2022
- March 28, 2022
Format
- Total of six sessions, three during the fall, and three in the spring semester
- Each session will last for 2 hours: 60-minute presentation and Q&A; followed by 60-minute homework discussion and intro to the homework assignment; one 10-minute break in between
- Sessions will be offered in the evening: 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Sessions
- Introduction to Six Domains of Leadership
Sim Sitkin, Michael W. Krzyzewski University Distinguished Professor in Leadership
September 13, 2021 - Leading in Research
Thavolia Glymph, Peabody Family Distinguished Professor of History
George Truskey, R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
October 11, 20221- Innovation and impact
- Focus and productivity
- Building a team
- Leading in Teaching
Cathy Davidson, Distinguished Professor of English and the MA in Digital Humanities and MS in Data Analysis and Visualization, The Graduate Center at CUNY
Leonard White, Associate Professor in Neurology
November 8, 2021 at 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.- Going beyond personal interests
- Learning vs. teaching
- Flip and virtual: The new instructional world
- Project-based teaching: Bass Connections/inclusive teaching
- Leading in a Department, School, Institution
Valerie Ashby, Dean, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Vincent Price, President, Duke University
February 8, 2022- Overcoming scholarly training
- Beyond programs: Thinking institutionally
- My identity as an administrator: Do you have to give up your research?
- Strategic planning: External constituencies
- Leading in Life
Stewart Friedman, Practice Professor of Management, Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania
Toddi Steelman, Dean, Nicholas School of the Environment
March 14, 2022- What matters in your life?
- Synergies vs. trade-offs
- Dealing with ethical dilemmas
- Leading in a Discipline and Society
Margaret Levi, Director, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS)
Ronnie Chatterji, Mark Burgess & Lisa Benson-Burgess Distinguished Professor of Business and Public Policy
March 28, 2022- What does it take to rise in your field? Scholar/exemplar and leadership service in the discipline
- Why would a scholar want to go/reach beyond their discipline?
- Having impact: What do we bring to the societal party?
How do I register?
Registration is now closed.
Leadership Development for Tenure and Non-Tenure Track Faculty
Offered by the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Leaders Network
ACC Academic Leadership Network Fellows
Open to tenured and non-tenured regular rank faculty who hold an administrative position. Deans and chairs were asked to nominate faculty members in their schools and departments. The nomination period has closed. See the selected Duke ACC ALN Fellows.
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), of which Duke is a member, launched the Academic Leaders Network (ALN), a leadership development program that seeks to build leadership capacity for the participating institution, complement existing campus programs, develop a diverse leadership pool and facilitate succession planning. It also aims to broaden awareness, create distinctive learning opportunities and capitalize on networking and collaborative opportunities in ways that no single university can accomplish on its own. The target audience is faculty who have received foundational leadership training and who have at least one or two years of experience in their current leadership role, such as department chairs, assistant or associate deans, and assistant or associate provosts.
The program consists of three on-site sessions over the course of the academic year, each hosted at a different participating university campus. These sessions are designed to build leadership awareness and effectiveness in the context of higher education, and facilitate conversations over a range of critical topics and issues.
Five ALN Fellows from Duke will be selected from a group nominated by the deans and the provost. The selected ALN Fellows will form a tightly-knit Duke cohort and will also have the opportunity to participate in on-campus activities throughout the academic year that include conversation with key Duke University leaders and stakeholders.
Offered by the Ivy+ Faculty Advancement Network
Ivy+ Provost Leadership Fellows
Deans were invited to nominate faculty members in STEM fields who hold leadership positions in their schools. The nomination period has closed. See the selected Duke Ivy+ Provost Leadership Fellows.
Five Duke University faculty members from four schools have been selected as 2022-2023 Ivy+ Provost Leadership Fellows in the inaugural Institute on Inquiry, Equity and Leadership in the Academic Department. Organized by the Ivy+ Faculty Advancement Network, the institute supports faculty leaders in examining academic routines, centering equity in policies and norms, and ultimately leading more inclusive departments.
Following a kickoff event at Yale, the IPL fellows will engage in equity-centered learning modules on six topics: service and workload; searches and hiring; mentoring; graduate education; culture and climate; and excellence, merit and peer review. Each module, directed by an expert scholar, will involve a masterclass-style video, an online workshop and a debrief meeting among local cohorts. In the spring, all fellows will reconvene at the University of Chicago for a capstone experience. They will ll design collaborative equity projects that are aimed at yielding systemic improvements in diversity and inclusion in the American professoriate. Subject matter experts will be on hand to provide critical input.