(426) Investing in Faculty and Staff Innovation and Excellence

Investing in the wellness, growth, and development of faculty and staff is vital to the overall success of a College of Pharmacy. At the University of Georgia, this investment starts with our strategic plan. As we set the course for our College, we set one of our key strategic directions as investing in innovation and excellence. Stating this in a plan and moving in that direction are two different things. Our strategic investment includes adopting key elements from the American Council of Education's study on equity-minded faculty workloads. We used this model to restructure our committee work to emphasize faculty workload and agency. We followed the lead from our University's changes to competency-based model of professional development for staff and integrated it into our evaluation processes and development opportunities. We created an Office of Instructional Innovation and Research and they have created and led our signature faculty development series named Faculty Achievement in Classroom Teaching (FACT). These FACT programs have engaged faculty in new and innovative ways to provide instruction for students. We have held regular mindfulness sessions and other passive programming to check-in on faculty, staff, and students. These initiatives are just the foundation for our continued investment in faculty and staff excellence.