Creating the Future of Faculty Development

Book excerpt: Efforts to support and enrich faculty work—particularly in a changing context—are critically important to faculty members, institutional leaders, and higher education itself. This book surveys faculty development from its beginnings, summarizes the challenges and pressures now facing developers and higher education as a whole, and proposes an agenda for the future of faculty development. Based on a study of nearly 500 faculty developers from all institutional types, this book offers a vision of what the field might become, addressing several key issues such as the structural variations among faculty development programs; the goals, purposes, and models that guide and influence program development; and the top challenges facing faculty members, institutions, and faculty development programs. Contents include: The Evolution of Faculty Development A Portrait of Current Faculty Development: Personnel and Programs Influences on Developers and Programs Current Issues Addressed by Faculty Development Services Future Priorities for Faculty Development Future Directions for Faculty Development: Open-Ended Responses Faculty Development in the Age of the Network