The New Faculty Academy helps all new tenure-track faculty enjoy a productive and supportive start to their academic career at Ball State University.

The program is inspired by a community-of-practice model; it has as its goal to deepen knowledge and expertise through reciprocal mentoring, mutual exchange of ideas, and joint engagement in practice. Throughout the process, this community-of-practice model shapes collegial relationships across campus, sparking engagement and reducing isolation.

Activities

All new tenure-track faculty participate, throughout the Fall semester, by attending weekly sessions facilitated by a team of faculty peers.

Participants and facilitators:

  • work to build and enhance their student-centered pedagogies
  • develop and exchange research and creative project agendas that will lead to high productivity in alignment with tenure and promotion goals
  • imagine and articulate ways University resources can assist in all aspects of faculty work
  • collectively identify and address barriers to faculty success

Program Goals

The members of the New Faculty Academy receive one course release in order to attend to the goals of NFA which include:

  • enhancing the learner-centeredness of their teaching and connecting to campus resources
  • refining and pursuing their research or creative projects agenda in meaningful ways
  • acquiring a working understanding of Ball State’s resources, policies, and practices
  • learning about community organizations and campus initiatives, and considering their future role in the Ball State and Muncie communities
  • reflecting upon their identity as a teacher/scholar to develop a fulfilling career that properly attends to the integration of their research, teaching, and service plans as well as work-life balance and wellbeing
  • building and maintaining a faculty community across campus

Facilitators

Thalia Mulvihill, Director of New Faculty Academy
Professor of Higher Education and Social Foundations of Education
Office of the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Faculty Fellow

Debbie Mix, Professor of English and Director of the University Core Curriculum

Linh Littleford, Professor of Psychological Science and Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Professional Development 

Katie Lawson, Professor of Psychological Science and Assistant Department Chair