Faculty Success Initiative: An Innovative Approach to Professional Faculty Onboarding and Development

Abstract

Higher education institutions have been increasingly dependent on adjunct faculty to provide instruction at undergraduate and graduate levels. At professional schools, most faculty begin teaching graduate courses with limited to no formal training or teaching experience as industry expertise is the primary requirement for employment. Despite the availability of ample pedagogical resources to advance teaching, these faculty require additional support during their induction into academia. This paper describes the design and operationalization of the New York University Faculty Success Initiative (FSI), an innovative, semi-structured, faculty-centered onboarding and professional development program that provides quality, longer term preparation to new faculty throughout their first semester of instruction to increase their teaching effectiveness and their sense of connection to their academic unit. An analysis of multiple qualitative and quantitative data sources indicates that FSI led to an increase in teaching effectiveness and played a significant role in transitioning professional faculty from practitioners to educators.