Around the Schools: Faculty of Arts and Sciences

The Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) has launched an initiative to assist the professional development of tenure-track faculty. The initiative includes a new handbook called “Professional Development for Tenure-Track Faculty,” which advocates a team approach to professional development, workshops for faculty and department chairs, and a mentoring program.

In announcing the initiative, FAS Dean Michael D. Smith said, “This effort goes to the heart of our long-term viability and strength as a faculty.”

Michèle Lamont, Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies and professor of sociology and African and African American Studies and FAS senior adviser on faculty development and diversity, will manage the initiative, which will ask each department “to devise a plan to help their assistant and associate professors develop as teachers, scholars, and members of the academic community.”

Lamont has developed guidelines that include departmental and individual mentoring plans; a $1,000 grant for each tenure-track faculty member to support their scholarship; practical support from FAS administrative departments; and guidance for department chairs and tenured faculty on how to aid the departmental plan and provide leadership for junior faculty.