Providing Learning Opportunities, Resources and Networking for All Faculty at Duke

Past Workshops

Thursday, September 15, 2022

Fostering an Inclusive Research and Learning Environment for Your Students (Access Resources and View Recording)

Faculty regularly engage with students from different backgrounds while teaching, advising and mentoring. A number of factors can influence the success of this engagement for both the faculty and the student, including the learning environments that faculty create and the way that they incorporate equitable practices into their teaching, mentoring and assessment practices. Join your colleagues to discuss effective strategies and tools to create equitable and engaging environments for students at Duke.

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Taking Stock of Your Faculty Career - For Regular Rank Non-Tenure Track Faculty

Throughout the pandemic, higher ed news outlets such as The Chronicle of Higher Education have been rife with stories of faculty disengagement and burnout. It’s been a stressful couple of years for everyone—and you don’t need a newspaper to tell you that. What you may need, however, is some dedicated time and space to reflect and plan the next phase of your career in ways that align with who you are and what you value now.

This two-hour workshop will provide a supportive space for you to: 

• assess what’s different for you since (or because of) the pandemic
• consider what’s needed to move forward
• consider new priorities and goals
• identify a network of mentors to help you get there

Participants will complete a values inventory and a mentoring map, and spend time in small groups brainstorming with colleagues at similar stages of their careers. Takeaways from this workshop might include greater clarity about priorities and goals, a renewed sense of purpose, and concrete ideas for building a stronger network of mentors, advocates and collaborators.

Thursday, November 3, 2022

Advancement and Promotion (Tenure Track) (Access Resources)

Current and past APT Committee members will discuss the different stages of the tenure and promotion review process, components of a dossier, and tips and strategies to successfully navigate the tenure and promotion process. The workshop is particularly relevant to tenure track assistant professors who are preparing for promotion to associate professor and for tenured associate professors who are preparing for promotion to full professor. It will cover a number of topics, including the standards for evaluating research, teaching, impact, and different types of service and engaged scholarship, the impact of COVID-19 on research plans and progress, recent updates to APT guidelines and the types of biases and other challenges that may potentially impact candidates’ dossiers and ways to mitigate them.

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

Taking Stock of Your Faculty Career - For Regular Rank Non-Tenure Track Faculty

Throughout the pandemic, higher ed news outlets such as The Chronicle of Higher Education have been rife with stories of faculty disengagement and burnout. It’s been a stressful couple of years for everyone—and you don’t need a newspaper to tell you that. What you may need, however, is some dedicated time and space to reflect and plan the next phase of your career in ways that align with who you are and what you value now.

This two-hour workshop will provide a supportive space for you to: 

• assess what’s different for you since (or because of) the pandemic
• consider what’s needed to move forward
• consider new priorities and goals
• identify a network of mentors to help you get there

Participants will complete a values inventory and a mentoring map, and spend time in small groups brainstorming with colleagues at similar stages of their careers. Takeaways from this workshop might include greater clarity about priorities and goals, a renewed sense of purpose, and concrete ideas for building a stronger network of mentors, advocates and collaborators.

Thursday, December 1, 2022

Advancement and Promotion (Non-Tenure Track) (Access Resources)

Experienced colleagues and peers will discuss the reappointment and promotion process for different types of non-tenure track faculty, and provide examples of resources and opportunities for growth and advancement. The workshop will cover a number of topics, including the variability of standards according to disciplines for evaluating progress, teaching, research or administrative excellence and the challenges that may potentially impact promotion and ways to mitigate them.

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Discussing Difficult and Sensitive Topics in Your Teaching and Research Spaces

Discussing contentious and difficult topics in the classroom and in research environments can be an essential part of the learning experience. These topics provide opportunities for deepening understanding of complex issues and learning about different perspectives and approaches, but they can also create dynamics that are not consistent with the values of constructive, respectful and inclusive dialogue. Faculty must also navigate the fine line between the important tenets of academic freedom and respectful engagement with all students. In this interactive workshop, faculty will discuss strategies and best practices to foster learning environments where such meaningful and constructive dialogues can take place, and discuss how to manage challenging conversations and interactions in the classroom.

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Integrating Coaching into Your Mentoring

What’s the difference between mentoring and coaching? In US higher education, “mentoring” often implies role-modeling and offering advice, whereas coaching is an increasingly popular, evidence-based method to empower people to be accountable for their own growth and development. Unlike role models and advisors, coaches listen more than they talk. They ask powerful questions, and create lots of room for people to reflect and see things in new ways.

If you’d like more strategies in your mentoring toolkit—especially in cases where you’d like mentees to take more ownership of their progress—this workshop is for you. We will spend time in small groups developing our active listening skills, and also practice a few basic coaching conversation models. We will also discuss how mentors might apply a “coaching mindset” to their work as mentors more generally.

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Fostering an Equitable Climate in Your Unit as Academic Leaders

In classrooms, labs, committees and meetings, faculty serve as leaders and managers who set the tone and establish relationships with faculty colleagues, staff and students that impact the climate in their schools and departments. This role is critical to both the professional success of faculty and the experiences of our students and staff colleagues. In this workshop, participants will hear from academic leaders who have navigated this topic as teachers, mentors and scholars, both with faculty and staff colleagues and with students representing many different perspectives and identities. They will also discuss strategies and practices that can lead to an improved climate and greater engagement in academic units.

Friday, February 24, 2023

Engaging with Our Community Partners (View Recording)

An increasing number of faculty are involved in engaged scholarship as they leverage their expertise in partnership with the Durham community and other regional, national, and international communities to address their critical needs and priorities. Duke recognizes the value of this form of scholarship and has recently incorporated it into promotion guidelines. In this workshop, participants will learn from faculty about their experiences collaborating with local partners through engaged scholarship. Faculty will share more about their own community engaged activities, while highlighting campus resources and best practices for partnering with communities in thoughtful, respectful and impactful ways through teaching and research.

Thursday, April 6, 2023

What is Coaching, and How Can it Help Faculty?

In this lunchtime information session for faculty and department chairs, Maria Wisdom will discuss her ongoing coaching work with Duke faculty across all disciplines. Learn what coaching is, and what makes it different from mentoring. We’ll discuss the kinds of issues and situations faculty most commonly bring to coaching, and explain how faculty can take advantage of coaching programs in the Office for Faculty Advancement.

Thursday, April 13, 2023

Amplifying Your Voice Inside and Outside the University (View Recording)

Faculty work to gain local and national prominence to successfully advance in their careers, and many use a number of strategies to expand the reach of their scholarship and influence. Some are deeply involved in their disciplinary associations, some hold a large social media presence, some engage with the local community and others gravitate towards engaged scholarship. In this workshop, participants will learn about opportunities to broaden their scope and amplify their voices and scholarship inside and outside of the university. Experienced faculty will share resources and effective strategies that have supported their success.

See previous FAS workshops, including resources.