Faculty Development | Lawrence University

Lawrence offers a variety of opportunities for personal and professional development. Every faculty member is encouraged to participate in a few each year to connect with colleagues and grow as a professor.

Lawrence Opportunities

Teaching development opportunities are offered by the Dean of Faculty Office, the Office of Diversity & Inclusion (including resource groups and events), the Inclusive Pedagogy Committee, the Director of Advising, and the Office of Instructional Technology. Events are announced via email and in the LU Insider.

The Inclusive Pedagogy Committee has announced several Mellon-funded events for 2018-19:

August 29 - Classroom Inclusion Lab: Working Through Difficult Dialogues and Hot Moments in Class (during the Freshman Studies Symposium; led by C.J. Lewis, Program Manager for PowerPlay Interactive Development)
October 19 - Inclusive Pedagogy (led by Dr. Nicole Callahan, who teaches in the Core Curriculum program at Columbia University)
January 8 (8:00 & 11:10) - Panel on Offensive Terms in the Learning Environment (Lawrence faculty discussing issues related to materials in courses or other learning situations that contain potentially offensive language)
May 2 - Student Anxiety and Resilience (led by Dr. Gregory Eels, Director of Counseling and Psychological Services at Cornell University and author of Nature Heals: Connecting with Nature to Improve College Student Health)

Information about these offerings has been emailed to faculty. For more info, contact Dave Burrows, chair of the Inclusive Pedagogy Committee.

Professional development for scholarly and creative activity is supported by travel grants and project grants from the Provost's Office. See Internal Grants for more information.

Other development opportunities include the Learning at Lawrence series sponsored by Human Resources, wellness activities and education from Wellness Services, and groups and events sponsored by the Office of Spiritual & Religious Life.

Other Opportunities

Additional faculty development opportunities are offered by:

the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM)
the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)
Faculty Focus articles and the Teaching Professor conference & newsletter
pedagogy conferences for specific disciplines

Look under Internal Grants for how to apply for funds to attend a professional conference.

New Faculty

Mentoring and programs for new faculty are described on the following page:

New Faculty Mentoring

Improving Student Learning

This guide provides recommendations based on the science of learning:
Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning (PDF)

National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity

Lawrence is a member of the NCFDD, which offers on-demand mentoring, online resources, and writing boot camps. See the flyer below to activate your sub-account:

NCFDD mentoring resources (PDF)

Mentoring Circles

Mentoring Circles are peer-facilitated groups of up to 8 people that meet regularly to solve professional problems and support each other's development as faculty members. Recent circles include:

Faculty of Color - addressing the unique challenges faced by faculty of color
Pre-Tenure Faculty (Years 2-5) - advancing from reappointment to tenure
Support for Scholarship - making progress on research & writing (informal, self-organizing)

For more information, or to suggest a new circle, contact Kimberly Barrett, Vice President for Diversity & Inclusion and Associate Dean of the Faculty.