Provostial Funding for the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity’s Faculty Success Program & Post-Tenure Pathfinders Program, 2020-21
To: Principals, Deans, Academic Directors, and Chairs; Divisional Academic HR Offices; Business Officers
From: Heather Boon, Vice-Provost, Faculty & Academic Life
Date: June 18, 2020
Re: Provostial Funding for the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity’s Faculty Success Program & Post-Tenure Pathfinders Program, 2020-21
This memo is intended to remind Deans, Principals, Chairs, and Directors that the University continues to maintain an institutional registration in the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD), which offers “independent professional development, training, and mentoring community for faculty members, postdocs, and graduate students”. Faculty and graduate students may register for a free subaccount at https://www.facultydiversity.org/institutions/utoronto. Over the past 3 years, more than 1,000 faculty and students have registered for a subaccount with the organization. More than 500 have participated in the 14 Day Writing Challenge and 84 faculty members have participated in the Faculty Success Program. Many faculty have let us know that they find the resources and webinars, which we highlight in our Monthly Action Guide, to be valuable.
In addition, I want to remind you that the Provost’s Office will contribute 50% of the cost associated with the NCFDD’s Faculty Success Program provided that the home unit or Dean’s Office contributes the remainder of the funds. I also want to announce that Provost’s Office will contribute 50% of costs associated with NCFDD’s Post-Tenure Pathfinders Program, again provided that the home unit or Dean’s Office contributes the remainder of the funds.
Description of the Faculty Success Program
The Faculty Success Program is an intensive a 12-week online-based program for tenure-track and tenured faculty offered in the fall, spring, and summer of each year. The program is intended to help faculty “improve research productivity through intense accountability, coaching, and peer support and…propel their work-life balance and personal growth.” Faculty work directly with a coach (tenured faculty member) and a small peer group.
Description of the Post-Tenure Pathfinders Program
The Post-Tenure Pathfinders Program is a 12-week online-based program, particularly suitable for Associate Professors in the Tenure Stream. The program runs from time-to-time and is intended to be “a space for a group [of 28] tenured faculty to pause, engage in a discovery process about what’s possible in their next chapter, and build the support network necessary to move powerfully in that new direction.”
Process for Reimbursement for Both Programs
- Faculty members attending the program (or their Dean’s Office) will be responsible for registration and direct payment to NCFDD. We encourage early registration which carries the discounted fee.
- The Dean’s Office will notify the Office of the Vice-Provost, Faculty and Academic Life (VPFAL) of their commitment (or the commitment of the unit) to fund 50% of the cost of the program on behalf of a particular faculty member. Please send notification to academic.hr@utoronto.ca.
- VPFAL will confirm that the candidate is eligible for 50% reimbursement from the Provost’s Office.
It would be more efficient from an administrative standpoint to handle the reimbursement as a one-time transfer of an amount to cover all applications rather than as individual requests. We recommend that Faculties fund the full portion of the expense for approved faculty members. Then, on an annual basis, Faculties are asked to complete a spreadsheet and submit it to academic.hr@utoronto.ca.