Faculty Development

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Project Summary (Faculty Development Core) Cornell University is ideally suited to develop and test innovative approaches to increase faculty diversity and to create a robust culture of inclusive excellence. Its multiple colleges operate with substantial autonomy and are laboratories for innovation, leading Cornell to an enviable track record of designing innovative approaches that have been adopted around the country. These “experiments” have established programming and policies that have resulted in significant and measurable gains in both hiring and retention of faculty from diverse backgrounds, including women. These policies have positively engaged faculty search committees in adopting best practices for inclusive hiring, resulting in increased hiring of women and other individuals from underrepresented or minoritized backgrounds in STEM. Cornell also has a successful track record of combining institutional investments with federal programs to effect institutional culture change and make steady progress in increasing representational diversity of STEM faculty. Effective implementation of the best laid policies can fall short if systemic bias in policies and the academic environment into which we hire new faculty are not considered as part of a holistic process. Using the seed and soil model proposed by Dr. Beronda Montgomery of Michigan State University, we propose a highly innovative Cornell FIRST Faculty Development Program that addresses both the seed (faculty member) and the soil (the community and climate) to ensure that FIRST faculty hires reach their full potential and succeed at Cornell. We hypothesize that a robust, evidence-based faculty development program across Cornell will create fertile ground (culture) for inclusive excellence and belonging and ensure that FIRST faculty are successful. We propose innovative programs for the FIRST cohort and other faculty who are underrepresented or marginalized in their fields by implementing our Faculty Development Initiative. Cornell will build FIRST faculty community by creating a sense of belonging in the discipline and across Cornell. We will connect FIRST faculty professionally and socially across their clusters and cohort, within departmental units and research fields, and across the university through a variety of formal and informal networking and community-building opportunities. Cornell will also foster individual research and career development for all FIRST faculty by providing tailored culturally relevant professional development opportunities to FIRST faculty to facilitate the successful start-up of their research programs, communicate clear pathways for promotion and tenure, and support success in their faculty roles. We expect that the Cornell FIRST program will successfully hire, retain, and support 10 new faculty underrepresented in their fields, while fostering sustainable institutional culture change. These activities will result in increased diversity of the faculty in the biological, biomedical, and health sciences at Cornell, while contributing to the diversity of academy, and future generations of the STEM workforce.