Faculty Events 2025-2026

Momentum to Full

The 2025-2026 Academic Leadership Program, Momentum to Full: Supporting the Associate Professor Lifecycle, is a yearlong workshop series offered through Faculty Affairs & Development. Whether you are newly tenured or have been in rank for some time, this initiative supports your continued growth, clarifies the path to full professor, and fosters meaningful community during the often-overlooked mid-career phase.

The series will offer:

Time and space to reflect on your career goals
Guidance on dossier development and promotion expectations
Dialogue with senior leadership about incentives and impact
Strategic planning around service, mentorship, and sustainable advancement

We understand that professional needs and schedules vary, so Momentum to Full offers two modes of engagement:

Cohort Participation: Ideal for those seeking continuity, community, and deeper engagement. The cohort model fosters peer connection, accountability, and structured support across the year—each session building upon the last.

One-Off Sessions: Designed for flexibility, this option allows you to attend individual sessions aligned with your current needs or interests without committing to the full series.

Friday, September 12, 2025: Recalibrating After Tenure: Developing a Faculty Advancement Plan

(2 hours; 1:30 pm-3:30 pm)
Location: Blow Memorial Hall, Room 201

The post-tenure period can be both liberating and disorienting. With the pressure of the tenure clock behind you, the question becomes: what now—and how do I define success on my own terms? This session invites associate professors to take a step back, reflect on their professional journey, and begin crafting a personalized Faculty Advancement Plan (FAP) that aligns with their evolving goals, values, and ambitions.

Friday, October 17, 2025: This Writing Life: Ten Habits for Productive Academic Writers after Tenure

(1 hour; 11:00 am-12:00 pm)
Location: Zoom Webinar

Whether the project is a second book manuscript, a cluster of new journal articles, a stack of student recommendation letters, or yet another departmental report, writing can feel like a grind for scholars on the pathway toward promotion to full professor. And for good reason: the circumstances and pressures most academic writers face at this career stage are often very different from those at the beginning of one's career. In this webinar, writing coach and editorial consultant Mark Simpson-Vos will help recognize the challenges for what they are and offer a set of proven keystone habits that will help you develop and maintain a productive writing life.

Friday, November 14, 2025: Make It Travel, Make It Count: Messaging and Metrics for Faculty Visibility

(2 hours; 1:30 pm-3:30 pm)
Location: Blow Memorial Hall, Room 201

This session focuses on faculty research and storytelling—how to shape a clear message, place it on the right channels, and convert visibility into dossier-ready, documented impact. Participating faculty will leave with a messaging framework, a visibility checklist, and practical strategies for tracking and quantifying the reach and influence of their scholarship.

Friday, February 13, 2026: Beyond the Title – Understanding Incentives for Promotion to Full

(2 hours; 1:30 pm-3:30 pm)
Location: Blow Memorial Hall, Room 201

Why pursue promotion to full professor? For many associate professors, the answer isn’t always clear, especially when the tangible incentives and symbolic rewards feel abstract or unarticulated. This session brings those questions into the open. In this public dialogue with senior leadership, we’ll explore institutional expectations and strategic priorities around faculty advancement, Tangible incentives, symbolic rewards, the role of full professors in shaping institutional culture and mentoring the next generation, and how the university is working to support equitable and timely promotion.

RSVP for the February 13th session

Friday, April 10, 2026: Service Without Sacrifice: Strategizing Your Mid-Career Commitments

(2 hours; 1:30 pm-3:30 pm)
Location: Blow Memorial Hall, Room 201

At the associate professor level, service demands often intensify—whether through increased committee appointments, mentorship roles, or calls to lead new initiatives. While service is essential to academic life and institutional growth, it can also become a source of overextension, burnout, and stagnation if not navigated intentionally. This session is designed to help associate professors evaluate, accept, or decline service opportunities strategically—with clarity, confidence, and purpose.

Information on additional sessions will be posted as available.

The Writing Pen at Blow

Quiet focus. Shared Momentum.
_{In-person meetings at Blow Memorial Hall, Room 201 |}_{Virtual meetings as detailed below}

The Writing Pen at Blow is a Provost-supported, open writing space designed for faculty at all career stages. Think quiet co-working with a welcoming vibe: arrive when you can, stay as long as you like, and let shared focus move your projects forward. Along the way, light touchpoints with colleagues across units can spark ideas, connections, and future collaborations—without adding another formal meeting to your calendar. In-person and virtual sessions will be offered on select dates.

Thursday, Sep 11 - in-person
12:00 - 2:00 pm | Blow Memorial Hall, Room 201
Tuesday, Sep 23 - virtual
3:30-5:00 pm | https://cwm.zoom.us/j/2015693375
Monday, Oct 13 - in-person
10:00 am - 12:00 pm | Blow Memorial Hall, Room 201
Wednesday, Oct 29 - virtual
11:00 am - 1:00 pm | https://cwm.zoom.us/j/2015693375
Thursday, Nov 13 - in-person**
3:00 - 5:00 pm | **Swem Library, Cox Classroom, in partnership with the Winter Gathering Event on the Front Patio. Enjoy cocoa and cookies!
Tuesday, Dec 2 - virtual
12:30 - 2:00 pm | https://cwm.zoom.us/j/2015693375