(385) A cup of comments: spilling the tea on a faculty development program for new hires

Objective: Faculty College is a year-long program for new faculty to aid their learning of academic roles and responsibilities. The objective is to determine which development topics within Faculty College were most beneficial to faculty members.

Methods: An eight-question survey was administered to all faculty members at the college and requested respondents to provide feedback on Faculty College. Background questions queried respondents’ primary department and when they completed Faculty College. Questions assessed the impact of Faculty College on their development, what they recalled from their Faculty College experience, and which topics should be continued, removed, and/or added. Frequencies were reported for all responses. This research was deemed exempt from the university’s institutional review board.

Results: 100% of the faculty members (n=28) completed the survey, with 36% (n=10) from pharmaceutical sciences and 64% (n=18) from pharmacy practice. Eighteen (64.3%) respondents indicated the topic of “overview of the curriculum” should be continued. While eleven (46%) respondents indicated that no topics should be removed, the topic of class technology was suggested by four respondents (15.4%). Suggested topics to include in future iterations were: specific teaching technology (e.g., ExamSoft, MyDispense), promotion and tenure (e.g., timeline, process, requirements), research components (e.g., writing, grants, scholarship of teaching and learning), and writing good test questions and learning objectives.

Discussion: Faculty College was created to help new faculty assimilate to academia. Feedback from faculty members can provide an opportunity to assist in the further development of new faculty. Research on the impact of Faculty College or other faculty development programs for new faculty members should be conducted.