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The Chronicle’s Bootcamp for Future Faculty Leaders

Advanced Workshop for High-Achieving Faculty

Midcareer Faculty Header

The Chronicle’s Bootcamp for Future Faculty Leaders

The middle part of a faculty member’s career is a time of excitement and opportunity. This critical inflection point can encompass many career paths, focusing on teaching, scholarship, social impact, leadership, and more. All of these pursuits have a significant impact on institutional success, yet so often faculty are left to ponder this key stage without much guidance beyond the goalpost of achieving tenure.

The Chronicle has partnered with Dever Justice LLC to help midcareer faculty identify their passions and interests in higher ed, and work toward their continued success with those passions in mind. This comprehensive virtual leadership workshop will provide a space for reflection and strategic planning on the next stage of their career, and will offer faculty members the opportunity to build their skills, explore professional objectives that align with their interests, and gain exposure to opportunities in research, teaching, academic leadership, and institutional innovation.

Program Leaders

Carolyn Dever
Founder and Principal
Dever Justice LLC
George Justice
Founder and Principal
Dever Justice LLC
Liz McMillen
Executive Editor, Chronicle Intelligence
The Chronicle of Higher Education

About our Program

Program Overview
Multiple Date Options*

Dedicated Space for Reflection, Skill Building, and Strategic Thinking



This full day program, facilitated by Dever Justice LLC, will help faculty members renew their passion and awaken to their own agency in determining the many possibilities for development and leadership in the years ahead. This program will help faculty reorient to an energized sense of professional purpose as they define new goals.

Who should attend: Faculty members 10+ years into their career looking for “what’s next”

Session Options:



The program will be offered in one full-day workshop session. Registrants can select from the following:
  • Saturday, September 9: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. ET
  • Saturday, September 23: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. ET

Professional Development Primer



Before the workshop session, participants will be provided a Chronicle article collection, Faculty at Midcareer, and a skills inventory which will encourage ideation on the next phase of their careers. These materials will guide participants through the workshop session to the paths that best fit their professional goals, and facilitate the successful completion of the Individual Development Plan.
Workshop
Welcome Plenary
10:00 - 11:50 a.m. ET
Participants will be welcomed into the program with a plenary session led by Carolyn Dever and George Justice. This plenary session will be followed by small group workshops, during which participants can collaborate with their peers to gain deeper insight and new perspective on their professional goals. Drawing on the work participants have completed ahead of the program, this session will help participants develop an inventory of their capacities and interests, mapped against prospective opportunities.

In this session, participants will:
  • Work with peers and facilitators to begin honing their professional roadmap
  • Identify career passions, interests, and opportunities
Seminar
Pathways
12:00 - 1:00 p.m. ET
This candid panel conversation will demonstrate by example the diverse possibilities open to academics, and the personal agency that can be found in each new season of professional opportunity. Panelists from a range of backgrounds will join to discuss the choices that have shaped their career, and the opportunities they have taken to achieve professional fulfillment.

In this session, participants will:
  • Have the opportunity to explore new professional possibilities
  • Gain insight on paths they can pursue from those who have already walked the walk
Seminar
Self-Selected Journey I
1:00 - 1:50 p.m. ET
Participants will be able to select from two moderated discussions in this portion of the program:
  • Scholarship for Social Impact: How can faculty members in any discipline conceive of their research as a public good? How might we work strategically toward social engagement, and measure the impact of our work?
  • Leadership and Identity: How does a faculty member’s identity–their gender, ethnicity, race, religion, or sexuality–shape both access to and performance within leadership opportunities?
In either session, participants will:
  • Consider professional options that align with their motivations and passions
  • Find deeper meaning in their professional context through the lens of social impact
Seminar
Self-Selected Journey II
2:00 - 2:50 p.m. ET
Participants will be able to select from two moderated discussions in this portion of the program:
  • Being Sustainably Human: How can faculty invest in professional success sustainably, with a healthy balance of work life and private life, and a sense of meaning and purpose in both?
  • Evergreen Teaching: How can we reinvigorate our teaching practices periodically, in response to our own needs for variety or to disciplinary shifts or opportunities, and in order to meet students where they are today, especially post pandemic?
In either session, participants will:
  • Explore pathways to greater personal and professional fulfillment
  • Identify methods to avoid burnout
Workshop
Individual Development
3:00 - 4:30 p.m. ET
Participants will return to small-group workshops for guided work on their Individual Development Plan. This space will allow participants to shape goals that are unique to their professional fulfillment, while considering the steps, allies, and resources it will take to move their plans forward.

In this session, participants will:
  • Develop a strategic plan to further goals and pursue professional interests
  • Identify obstacles and opportunities in the execution of their professional plan
Workshop
Closing
4:30 - 5:00 p.m. ET
This closing session, led by Carolyn Dever and George Justice, will focus the lessons from the preceding programming into actionable tools for professional progress - in any shape that may take.