Imagine 2022 Update: Faculty Development
June 8, 2018
Imagine 2022, Asbury University’s statement of strategic priorities, is well underway and already driving impactful change on campus. With initiatives encompassing the liberal arts, spiritual formation, community, intercultural engagement and much more, Imagine 2022 expresses Asbury’s vision for faithful change. Learn more about Imagine 2022.
Initiative IV, “Explore,” helps strengthen the University’s faculty development strategies, works to recruit and retain faculty and promotes faculty research.
Headed up by Academic Dean Tim Campbell, the initiative includes an in-depth faculty development plan, working primarily on points B and D of initiative IV which state:
B. Implement a comprehensive faculty development plan.
- Achieve sustainable support for faculty scholarship and pedagogical development.
- Design and implement a calendar of deadlines for sabbatical proposals more conducive to advance faculty planning
D. Celebrate faculty achievement.
- Develop incentives for academic achievement for tenured professors.
Campbell notes that the faculty development plan has been written and is now being given budget dollars. He is also working with the faculty development committee to refine the plan with hopes to have a partial launch this fall and a full launch the following fall.
The plan contains six areas of focus including administrative development, professional development, scholarship, community, spiritual and orientation. These six components work in tandem to ensure faculty are not only performing at their highest capabilities but also developing in their personal and spiritual lives.
“Each of those components addresses some of the needs we have in what I would say is our greatest asset,” Campbell said. “There’s some time to reflect and renew oneself so [we are] literally buying time for faculty.”
With the new plan, faculty will also receive more clarity on the logistical support offered to them when it comes to their personal scholarship and research. When professors receive grants, they’ll know exactly who to speak with about assessment reports, budget questions and other grant-related issues.
The University also has plans to offer a two-day retreat to faculty when they are granted tenure so that they can learn more about transitioning into the next phase of their careers. Focused heavily on professional life stages, thanks to the new plan, professors will now have access to resources specific to their career stage. A brand-new professor and a tenured professor have different needs and the University is looking to meet those with the new faculty development plan so that they can both continue to grow and have support throughout the duration of their time at Asbury.
“If we do this right, it has a multiplying effect on the entire place,” Campbell said. “We’ll retain the outstanding faculty we have and attract new ones. The students will benefit and the University will grow.”
To learn more about Imagine 2022: Asbury’s Vision for Faithful Change, and to read the strategic priorities in full, visit: asbury.edu/imagine.