2.5 Faculty Development
The University of Virginia offers a variety of faculty development opportunities throughout the year.
Each fall, the University holds an annual new faculty orientation. This orientation provides an opportunity for new faculty to learn about resources available to them, as well as an opportunity to interact with the vice presidents, provost, vice provosts, academic deans, unit heads, and other faculty. The president hosts a reception at his residence, followed by a dinner to provide a social venue for welcome, introduction, and networking.
Pan-University professional development opportunities are provided by the following offices:
Information Technology and Communication (ITC) offers faculty and technology development through the Instructional Technology Group. This group focuses on the University’s teaching mission and assists in teaching through training, consulting, and development of instructional materials and their deployment.
The Leadership Development Center provides a series of integrated programs and services designed to prepare, equip, and support people to succeed in fulfilling their leadership roles.
The Office of the Vice President and Provost acts as a university-wide clearinghouse of those resources to which faculty and administrators can turn for ideas and assistance.
The Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement (VPFA) is a key institutional unit centering on the quality of faculty's professional life, retention, development and advancement needs.
The Faculty Exchange Program provides for faculty exchanges between the University and another institution, whether foreign or domestic.
The Teaching Resource Center (TRC) conducts teaching consultations, programs, and workshops regularly throughout the year.
The University Teaching Fellowships are funded to help faculty develop and refine teaching expertise.
The Excellence in Diversity Fellows (EDF) Program has the primary goal of invigorating the intellectual climate by improving the retention rate of diverse faculty members. EDF offers incoming junior faculty one-year fellowships to help them develop productive long-term careers at the University of Virginia.
The Professors as Writers (PAW) Program supports faculty members' professional development as scholars. It assists faculty at all career levels with publishing and writing-related concerns, to increase success in academic publishing in support of faculty excellence, advancement and development.
In addition to the above pan-university institutional support, promotion of faculty excellence takes many forms. School level requirement and criteria, organizational culture, and expectation of faculty development and advancement differ by discipline. Support for practitioners is particularly heightened in professional schools. It is essential that the intricate work of promotion and support for faculty professional development takes place in individual schools or departments that offer their own programs and opportunities tailored to their faculty members.
University faculty are encouraged to contact their respective department chair and/or dean for information on opportunities for research funding, school-based professional development training, mentoring activities, release time for University service and other faculty development activities.