Faculty Development

NCFDD Core Curriculum

Review NCFDD’s Core Curriculum for foundational skill-building before exploring more workshops below.

Beyond Course Evaluations: Documenting Teaching for Tenure & Promotion

Learn about unfair teaching threats hiding in plain sight, the flawed teaching review process most people just go along with but shouldn’t, and tips for overcoming these obstacles to document your teaching excellence for retention, tenure, and promotion.

Being Agile in Uncertain Times: Scrum Project Management for Faculty

In this workshop, Dr. Rebecca Pope-Ruark will introduce Scrum, an Agile project management practice that can be useful for mapping and tracking faculty work even in the midst of change. After introducing the five Scrum values as guiding lights, she will outline the Scrum process and walk participants through setting up their own Scrum project board.

Ten UDL-Aligned Strategies for Supporting Students with ADHD

This ADHD-friendly session will give participants the tools (including at least 10 UDL-aligned strategies), to help instructors more effectively reach and teach their ADHD students by examining instruction through the lens of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework.

Framing and Maintaining Your Research Agenda

From developing a researchable topic to revising and resubmitting a peer-reviewed publication, understanding the complexities of navigating the research terrain is key. The Framing and Maintaining a Research Agenda Workshop will focus on the steps necessary to frame and maintain an active research agenda.

5 Secrets to a Super Productive Semester

Join NCFDD for a webinar where you will learn: how to avoid the biggest mistakes academic writers make during the academic term, how to maximize your research and writing productivity, how to combat professional isolation and create a supportive writing community.

Navigating Uncertainty in Higher Ed: Building Resilience

Participants will identify the core challenges faculty are facing and explore practical strategies for moving forward. Participants will have the opportunity to connect in community, share ideas, and leave with a personalized action plan to support their well-being and professional goals.

Beyond Burnout

Part 1 | Part 2

On many campuses, the mental health and well-being of students is a top priority – but what about faculty and staff? If faculty working conditions are student learning conditions, we have to be taking care of faculty and staff well-being as well. In this workshop, we’ll examine the definition of burnout, learn about the characteristics and consequences of burnout experiences, and look through the lenses of purpose, compassion, connection, and balance for strategies to directly address faculty well-being.

Faculty Success Program

This intensive online program helps tenure-track and tenured faculty with the skills necessary to increase research and writing productivity while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Deans will nominate early career faculty to partipate in the program cohort. Nominations are due by October 27.

Making the Case: Preparing your Dossier for Promotion to Full Professor

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

The purpose of this webinar is to assist mid-career faculty across the academy in navigating through various mid-career transitions and career paths successfully.

Strengthening Your Department Chair Playbook: Spotlight on Faculty Development Strategies

Through a variety of developed lessons, participants can engage in peer learning, access expert mentorship and take part in practical exercises with a group of hand-selected peers.

Rethinking Faculty Mentoring: What Institutions Can Do Differently

Join NCFDD for a candid panel conversation about what’s working, what’s not, and what’s next in faculty mentoring. Drawing on national survey data and real-world examples, you’ll explore actionable strategies to help institutions build a more intentional and sustainable mentoring culture.

I Wished I Would Have Known About Being an Interim Leader

Interim academic leaders can play a vital role in helping departments, programs, colleges, and universities during periods of transition, change, and uncertainty. Recognizing the rise in interim leadership positions in higher education, this panel aims to provide academics with valuable information, insight, and advice.

From the Chair’s Perspective: Insights on Academic Leadership

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

This course series provides an insider’s look at the realities of serving as a university department chair. Over four sessions, veteran chairs will share their experiences and perspectives on this uniquely vital leadership role.

Vincent L. Stephens (he/him/his) serves as the Assistant Provost for Faculty Development and Success and leads BU Faculty Development. Stephens is a seasoned leader and academic administrator who served as the Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the College of Arts & Sciences (2021-25). In this role he advanced CAS’s strategic priorities through launching faculty development initiatives related to mentoring, inclusive pedagogy, and curricular advancement, coordinating professional development for staff and providing student engagement opportunities.  Stephens completed his PhD in American Studies at the University of Maryland College Park and is the author of 2025’s Broads, Sisters, Exes: Feminist Millennial Television (Wayne State University Press) and 2019’s Rocking the Closet: How Little Richard, Johnnie Ray, Liberace, and Johnny Mathis Queered Pop Music (University of Illinois Press), and co-editor of 2017’s Post Racial America? An Interdisciplinary Study (Bucknell University Press). His essays on popular culture have appeared in various peer-reviewed journals, anthologies, and encyclopedias.  He has also written about inclusive pedagogy (Encyclopedia of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Spirituality), peer mentoring (The Chronicle of Mentoring & Coaching), and high impact educational practices (National Forensic Journal). Previously the Director of the Popel Shaw Center for Race and Ethnicity at Dickinson College (2015-21) and Director of Multicultural Student Services (2011-15) at Bucknell University he has presented at national conferences hosted by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), National Conference on Race & Ethnicity (NCORE), and Peer Mentoring Institute. Previously, he held leadership roles in the Pennsylvania Association of Liaisons and Officers of Multicultural Affairs (PALOMA) and the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education (PA-NAME). He is a Lecturer in the College of Fine Arts (CFA), and has also taught at multiple institutions, most recently as a Contributing Faculty member in the Department of Music at Dickinson College (Fall 2018-Fall 2020). 

Naveen Inim (she/her/hers) is the Senior Digital Communications Manager for the Office of the Provost. She previously worked as the Senior Communications Manager for BU Diversity & Inclusion, supporting communications efforts at all the units under Community & Inclusion. As a former student at BU, Naveen worked on communications teams for Boston University Libraries and The Newbury Center. Naveen returned to BU in Spring 2024 after working as the Social Media Content Specialist on the central administration communications team at the University of Southern California. Naveen received a BA in Psychology and BS in Film & Television as well as a MFA in Film & Television Studies from Boston University.