2023 Mid-Career Faculty Workshop

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

12:30pm-4:30pm Central/Minneapolis Time
Event will be held virtually

Plagued with growing service expectations, misalignment between workload and reward systems, vague and unclear criteria for advancement to full professorship, increased responsibilities, and varying expectations and demands on their time, many associate professors feel “stuck in the middle” rather than experiencing success or elation from earning tenure (Rockquemore, 2012). This phenomenon is especially poignant for women and other underrepresented faculty members. Although we acknowledge that the criticisms facing the mid-career stage are numerous, we strive to address these challenges by providing a workshop with two goals: 1) offer a counter-narrative of the mid-career stage by looking at the ways in which faculty members and/or institutions can assert themselves to find opportunities to support mid-career faculty within challenging contexts, and 2) provide the needed scaffolding and supports to help mid-career faculty members assume personal agency over this ill-defined stage of the faculty career.
 
The current political and social climate, while alarming, creates opportunities for higher education, particularly the faculty, staff, and administrators who work there to inform effective, sustainable change. We believe mid-career faculty are particularly poised to assume leadership roles and responsibilities, and to be focal (and vocal) leaders on their respective campuses with the appropriate development and resources.  The mid-career stage highlights priority mentoring opportunities, and the need for new and innovative faculty development supports that contribute to outcomes at the institutional, departmental, and individual levels.
 
This workshop brings together leading scholars and practitioners engaged in research and practice on professional development programming for mid-career faculty members.

Who should attend

This workshop is intended for mid-career faculty including associate professors and those faculty members who are full professors, but with 15 years plus remaining prior to retirement. The goal is to provide workshop attendees with tools and resources to navigate the mid-career stage including advancement to full and/or administrative pursuits.

Learning/Program Outcomes

Workshop attendees will:
  1. Discuss and learn useful ideas for exploring career transitions
  2. Engage in goal setting exercises and outline next steps to achieve career goals
  3. Walk away with action steps on how to enhance their mentoring network 
  4. Foster a mid-career community of scholars for support moving forward
There will be an opportunity to share your thoughts on what you need from this workshop during registration. Additionally, we hope you will take this survey to share your thoughts on the needs of early career faculty, mid-career faculty, and academic leaders.

Schedule

  • Welcome/Opening Remarks
  • Session 1 - Activity Session: Now you Have Tenure: What’s Next? SWOT Analysis
  • Break
  • Session 2 - Breakout/Interactive Sessions (attendees join 2 sessions for 30-minutes each)
    • Building Your Mentoring Network
    • Being Strategic with Your Yes's at Mid-Career
    • Work Life Considerations
  • Break
  • Session 3 - Panel: Institutional Level Strategies and Supports: Supporting Mid-Career Faculty
  • Closing Remarks (and session evaluation)

Event Chair

Vicki L Baker
Albion College
vbaker@albion.edu

Please feel free to reach out to the event chair with questions about the content of the event. Questions about registration or event logistics can be directed to the ASHE Office at (202) 660-4106 or office@ashe.ws.

Registration Fees

  • The workshop fee of $30 for ASHE members and $50 for non-members.
  • For current ASHE Member also interested in attending the Academic Leaders Workshop, you may register for both events at a discounted rate of $50.
  • ​While participants can pay the fee, we suggest program directors, coordinators, and/or department chairs sponsor participants through their departments. If you need additional documentation for this, please contact ASHE Executive Director Dr. Jason P. Guilbeau at jason@ashe.ws.
  • Registration Closes and Payment Deadline: January 11th, Noon Central/Minneapolis Time
  • Learn more about accessibility for this event at https://www.ashe.ws/accessibility2022.
  • During registration, participants will agree to the ASHE Events Code of Conduct, provide information about accommodation requests, and answer a few event-related questions.
  • ​All ASHE Professional Development events encourage participants to engage throughout the event in various ways. To provide an environment that is conducive to learning and engagement and to provide a safe space (to the extent possible), Professional Development events are not recorded.