V. Professional Development

New Professional Development Programs (Q 31)
Click to view snapshot results of (Q 31)

Finally, faculty had the opportunity to list new professional development programs that they would like to see Purdue offer in the future. They responded to this question by suggesting over 30 program topics. By far the most commonly cited programs were grant writing and teaching effectiveness workshops and training in instructional technology, followed by faculty mentoring and travel grants.

  • Workshops
    “Workshops for new professors to develop research article writing skills in their/or similar disciplines. That is, the programs that encourage professors to form writers’ groups, thus encouraging them to publish and get feedback from peers.”

 “There recently was a teaching workshop led by an engineering professor from the outside.  While it was useful to me, it would be nice to see similar workshops more geared toward liberal arts teaching.”

“Teaching effectiveness workshops, grant writing workshops.”

- Several respondents also mentioned diversity awareness workshops.
  • Instructional Technology Programs
    “More opportunities to learn about teaching and about the use of instructional technology.  There are plenty of programs but they tend to be offered at times I teach -- something like all day Friday or Saturday would work well for me.  I'd like to learn more.  Also the instructional technology programs have too many people in them -- we need a small group format with time for assistance and questions.”
“Program to help faculty members learn and adopt new communication and information technology for teaching.”
  • Faculty Mentoring Programs
    “A strong mentoring program for junior faculty in each school.”

“Tissue engineering faculty mentoring program.”

“New faculty mentoring and faculty development.”

  • Travel Grants
    “Much greater increase in travel grants.”

“Money to visit other academic units nationally or internationally that are engaged in innovative programs.”

“More travel support, international and domestic.”

Differences by Rank

It was interesting to note that different types of programs were mentioned by the different faculty ranks. A number of assistant professors would like to see mentoring programs to help them build their proposal writing, teaching, and general writing skills. Full professors, on the other hand, were more likely to mention an interest in leadership development and instructional technology programs. Also, data from the survey show that all three groups of faculty would like to see increased support for professional travel grants (international and domestic).