The Practice of Faculty Development

Abstract

A two-year-old faculty development program at a large urban university is examined by discussing the strategies employed to facilitate faculty growth, and analyzing, in hindsight, how appropriate or inappropriate they may have been vis-à-vis faculty or institutional needs. Based upon these observations a model is derived that describes faculty development as an evolving process, beginning with low mutual knowledge and trust and an “expert” consulting role, developing into greater mutual knowledge and trust and a more “collaborative” consulting role. Different strategies for assessment, planning, intervention, and evaluation are described as they relate to particular stages of the process.