07-06-21 Faculty Development, part 1

One of the leading functions of a university is the nurturing of individuals, preparing them to make contributions to their chosen professions. This is most obviously true for undergraduate and graduate students. Less obvious, perhaps, but no less important are our efforts to nurture future generations of faculty members. An inquisitive, productive, energetic, and engaging faculty is, after all, central to the success of a university.

The college takes seriously its responsibility to nurture or to mentor faculty members as they pursue their professional interests in teaching and research. Formal annual reviews provide feedback to faculty on their professional activities, allowing departments to recognize and support professional development. For newly appointed faculty, several years of intensive reviews create opportunities for helpful discussions leading to decisions regarding tenure and promotion. And, we offer support for professional development through on-campus seminars in teaching and grant-writing, funding for travel to off-campus research sites, and competitive awards for specific research and curricular projects.

With a significant gift from Mr. Ray A. Rothrock ‘77, the college now has an additional program to further the professional development of newly promoted, highly recommended associate professors. Mr. Rothrock’s gift established a program that awards to these faculty members an annual $5000 professional development bursary for three successive years. Three or four Rothrock Fellowship awards will be made every year. Coming in the year that an assistant professor is promoted to associate professor, this award recognizes outstanding achievements in teaching and research, commitments to serve the academic community, and compelling evidence for continued high achievement leading to promotion to full professor in five to six years. Thus, this award is intended to encourage the completion of exceptionally promising post-promotion projects and continued outstanding teaching.

For this coming year, the college has awarded four Rothrock Fellowships. Four outstanding faculty members promoted this year were recommended for the award by the college’s Dean’s Advisory Committee (DAC) – a committee of full professors that reviews all cases for promotion and tenure in the College of Liberal Arts. I have listed this year’s awardees with brief biographies as an enclosure to this letter. I think that you will be as impressed by the accomplishments and potential of these scholar-teachers. The DAC and I believe that they will have an extraordinary impact on their respective disciplines, their departmental colleagues, and the students they teach.

All newly promoted associate professors will, of course, receive an appropriate significant merit increase recognizing the accomplishments that led to their promotion. Many of these faculty members apply for a faculty development leave within a year or two of their promotion to pursue projects that will enhance further their professional credentials. These leaves allow faculty to devote full-time attention to scholarly activities on- or off-campus for a semester, and they do not teach classes or serve on committees during this time. Such leaves are often called sabbaticals, and they are extremely important for the professional development of faculty. This program benefits significantly from privately raised funds provided by the Association of Former Students. I will be discussing faculty development leaves in a future letter.

The Rothrock Fellows program and the Faculty Development Leave program are excellent examples of ways that private gifts strengthen Texas A&M University by elevating the faculty. These programs, and others involving privately funded endowed chairs and professorships, endowed centers, institutes, and departments, and the dean’s discretionary endowments enable the University to invest in faculty professional development. Indeed, these sources of support leverage the base funds generated from state appropriations and university tuition, thereby assuring that students encounter the very best faculty at Texas A&M. And, they assure that Texas A&M faculty are counted among the very best in the nation.

I know that you join me saying thanks specifically to Mr. Ray Rothrock for his gift to establish the Rothrock Fellows program. Certainly, I know that we all also appreciate the Association of Former Students for its support of the Faculty Development Leave program. Please let me know if you have any questions about either program.

Best wishes for a safe and happy summer.

Sincerely,