Seven New Projects to Improve the Faculty Experience
The Office for Faculty Advancement has awarded seed grants to seven new projects led by Duke faculty members. The theme for this grant cycle is “Building Community and Strengthening Networks to Improve the Faculty Experience.”
Faculty were invited to propose innovative initiatives to build community, creative approaches to address specific mentorship needs, and novel approaches to improve the faculty experience.
The seed grant program will provide financial support for these projects through April 2027. Project leaders represent the Divinity School, School of Medicine, School of Nursing, Sanford School of Public Policy and Trinity College of Arts & Sciences.
2026-27 Duke Faculty Advancement Seed Grants
Arts & Well-Being: Building a Creative Cohort Across Trinity and Nursing
Darina Petrovsky, Associate Professor and Elizabeth C. Clipp Term Chair of Nursing; Sarah Wilbur, Associate Professor of the Practice of Dance and Theater Studies
This initiative aims to foster a sense of faculty community across notions of well-being by connecting scholars from Trinity and Nursing. Monthly activities will cultivate interdisciplinary understanding for faculty across disciplines that support well-being. A half-day kickoff retreat will convene faculty from the arts, humanities and nursing around the theme of arts and well-being. The retreat will include keynote presentations and creative engagement activities to facilitate networking and surface shared values, highlighting faculty expertise and catalyzing new collaborations.
COLP: Community for Ordinary Language Philosophy
Cat Tran, Professor of Theological Ethics; Toril Moi, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Literature; Sarah Beckwith, Katherine Everett Gilbert Distinguished Professor of English
This project focuses on building community and strengthening networks to improve the faculty experience through the activity of reading together. The seed grant will fund the middle year of a three-year interdisciplinary and interinstitutional program. COLP centers its activity on monthly and summer gatherings that affirm the deep, life-giving importance of reading together: ordinary language philosophy.
Creative Problem-Solving Workshop Series to Enhance Interdisciplinary Collaboration & Faculty Resilience
Emily Cherenack, Assistant Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
The Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI) convenes a community of interdisciplinary faculty with a shared commitment to health equity. This project will organize an evidence-based workshop series customized for DGHI faculty by Knowinnovation, a company that specializes in developing advanced creative problem-solving skills among faculty. Activities involve four components: creativity assessments, a virtual workshop, coffee chats and a full-day in-person workshop.
Duke Happiness Fest
Bethzaida Fernandez, Senior Lecturer of Romance Studies
While student-focused resources for well-being are extensive, faculty and staff also benefit from initiatives that center their own flourishing. This project will organize a full-day, campus-wide celebration in the fall designed to promote well-being, connection and joy across the academic community, with a special emphasis on the faculty experience. The format combines interactive talks, panels and workshops on mindfulness, gratitude, relationships and communal engagement with cultural experiences such as music and food.
Faculty Learning Collaborative on Children, Families & Community Well-Being
Sarah Gaither, Nicholas J. and Theresa M. Leonardy Associate Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience; Tamar Kushnir, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience; Elizabeth Erickson, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
This project will create a community of practice linking faculty who share an interest in children’s learning, development and well-being. The group will host three seasonal retreats and roundtables where faculty share strategies for community partnership, inclusive teaching and mentoring across disciplines; establish a mentoring network pairing early career and mid-career faculty with senior colleagues; co-create a toolkit summarizing effective approaches to faculty–community collaboration and mentoring; and develop a sustainability plan.
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival Duke Faculty Program
Katherine Hyde, Lecturing Fellow in the Program in Education; Christopher Sims, Associate Professor of the Practice in the Sanford School of Public Policy
The Duke Center for Documentary Studies invites Duke faculty to build community through a cohort experience connected to the annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, as well as share insights on how documentary work can inform and expand their curricular and research interests. Through attending the festival together and engaging in a series of gatherings, the cohort will build community, expand their knowledge and perspectives of colleagues in other fields, and reflect on ways to engage with documentary film across disciplines.
Tuesday Salons: Community & Cinematic Arts
Shambhavi Kaul, Associate Professor of the Practice of Art, Art History & Visual Studies
The new Cinematic Arts Practice Lab has begun hosting co-curricular programming to foster peer exchange and connection among students. This seed grant project extends that model to faculty through Tuesday Salons, a weekly workshop and discussion series held in the lab. Events will include hands-on workshops and conversations open to all faculty. The aim is to cultivate a shared sense of belonging among all faculty who research, teach and practice cinematic arts at Duke.
Main image: Sarah Beckwith, Emily Cherenack, Elizabeth Erickson, Bethzaida Fernandez, Sarah Gaither, Katherine Hyde, Shambhavi Kaul, Tamar Kushnir, Toril Moi, Darina Petrovsky, Christopher Sims, Cat Tran, Sarah Wilbur