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ADVANCE at UMBC

Faculty Development

Faculty ADVANCEment Workshop Series (2004-Present)

The purpose of the Faculty ADVANCEment workshop is to provide all STEM faculty with the necessary information needed to successfully advance through the ranks of academia.

Topics are chosen based on past evaluations of previous workshops, the relevance a topic has to ADVANCE goals, and the current needs/requests of faculty. Workshops over the last seven years have included information to assist with successful tenure decisions, exploring opportunities for leadership with intentionality, grant writing, resource negotiation, department policies, press relations, work life issues, effective communication techniques, lab management, and scientific writing.

The workshops are advertised to STEM faculty by mailing flyers (at least one month prior to the event), by sending an email reminder (one week prior to the event) and by communicating the information in “Insights”, the UMBC on-line community newsletter.

See below for a list of previous workshops.

  • Tips for Tenure (Spring 2012)
  • Tips for Efficient and Effective Teaching (Fall 2011)
  • Understanding the Contract Review and Tenure Process
  • Promotion to Full Professor in STEM
  • Evaluating Teaching and Creating a Teaching Portfolio
  • Maximizing the Potential of Mentoring Relationships
  • Gender and Professional Development and Negotiation
  • How to Meet the Press
  • Ten Tips for Tenure
  • Scientific Research Centers Inside and Out
  • Effective Grantwriting Strategies
  • Writing Winning Grants
  • Ten Tips for Tenure
  • Roads to Leadership – Exploring Options with Intentionality
  • Effective Communication in Your Lab, Your Classroom, and Your Life
  • The Scientific Writing Workshop Series: Workshop One — Making Prose Work: Clarity, Coherence and Emphasis in Scientific Writing
  • The Scientific Writing Workshop Series: Workshop Two — Making Prose Work: Clarity, Coherence and Emphasis in Scientific Writing
  • The Scientific Writing Workshop Series: Workshop Three — Making Prose Work, Revision and Peer Review Strategies in Scientific Writing
  • Mentoring and Being Mentored
  • Beyond Bias and Barriers: Strategies for an Equitable Hiring Process
  • Effective Communication in Mentoring Relationships
  • Goal Setting for Faculty Development Plans
  • Fundamentals of Proposal Preparation
  • How to Give a Scientific Seminar
  • Strong Women/Strategic Performance: Theatre Techniques for Successful Negotiation & Presentation
  • Fundamentals of Effective Proposal Preparation
  • How to Write a Proposal to the National Science Foundation
  • Preparing a Proposal to the National Institutes of Health
  • Research Assistant Program for Current Faculty
  • ADVANCE Research Assistantship Program for Faculty
  • Guidelines for Faculty
  • ADVANCE Program Goal

Faculty Development Plans (2004-Present)

The goal of UMBC’s Faculty Development Plans is to create a set of clearly defined expectations for tenure and promotion for all newly hired faculty at UMBC, and to establish a relationship with the Chair of the department during the earliest stages of the faculty member’s career. This practice was introduced by ADVANCE as a required activity for the STEM women who received an ADVANCE RA as part of their start-up package.

The Provost drafted a policy and presented it to the Chairs of all of the departments in the fall semester. The policy states that by the end of the first semester all newly hired faculty members will have worked with their Chair to develop a plan that identifies major milestones that must be met in order to have a successful 3rd year review and tenure decision.

The policy for the Faculty Development plans has been incorporated into the written tenure and promotion guidelines required by the Provost from ALL departments.

ADVANCE RA Program (2004-2009)

The ADVANCE program is designed to enhance policies and practices affecting the recruitment, selection, promotion, and transition of women faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) so that female scholars will:

  • Be appropriately represented in all STEM departments.
  • Advance through the faculty ranks and into leadership positions.
  • Reflect the diversity of the UMBC student body.
  • Purpose of the ADVANCE Research Assistantship Program
  • The purpose of the ADVANCE Research Assistantship (RA) Program at UMBC is to:
  • Ensure the success of STEM faculty, particularly women, who are moving through the tenure, promotion, and advancement process at UMBC.
  • Support faculty who have a proven track record of advancing women faculty at UMBC in STEM, or who have a detailed plan to advance women faculty in STEM in the immediate future.

Program Benefits
The ADVANCE RA Program will award up to eight RA positions per year. Each award will support one full-time RA position, preferably a Ph.D. student, to support the research activities of the faculty member for 12 months beginning at the start of the academic year. This funding may only be used to support those graduate students who are in good academic standing.

The RA position will include:

  • Salary support for one graduate student compatible with departmental stipends.
  • Tuition remission for up to 10 credits and UMBC health insurance.

The equivalent of this funding can be used to support a postdoctoral Research Associate in conjunction with some other source of funding. Awards are not renewable.

Criteria for Eligibilty Eligible applicants include STEM faculty

  • Who have a proven track record of advancing women faculty in the STEM fields, or
  • who have a detailed plan to advance women faculty in the STEM fields in the immediate future.

Please note, the focus of this criterion is female faculty not students.

Within this group, priority will be given to:

  • Junior faculty who are nearing their tenure review and whose likelihood of achieving tenure would be significantly enhanced by the ADVANCE RA Position.
  • Associate professors who are nearing promotion to full professor and whose likelihood of achieving promotion would be significantly enhanced by the ADVANCE RA Position.
  • Faculty who can demonstrate that they carry a larger service burden than their peers.
  • Faculty who would like to transition to leadership roles within the university administration.
  • In extraordinary circumstances this funding may be used as bridge support for a current faculty member. Please contact the ADVANCE Program Director for details.

Application Process

In order to be considered for the ADVANCE RA Program, please submit a completed application along with a letter of support from the Chair of your Department and a llist of your most recent publications (not to exceed 10) to the ADVANCE Program Director, Sherawanda Watkins-Esuke (address below).

The application deadline is 5:00 p.m., Monday, May 7, 2007.

Selection
A committee of faculty and staff selected by the ADVANCE Executive Committee and committed to and knowledgeable of issues associated with gender equity in STEM will review all applications and will select those faculty who meet the criterion of eligibility. Of those who meet the criterion, the choice will be based upon the greatest impact the award will have on their career. Decisions will be announced within one month of the application deadline.

Responsibilities of Recipients
Recipients, both the faculty member and the student, supported by this funding are required to participate in ADVANCE activities during the funding period including but not limited to:

  • Faculty ADVANCEment Workshops (faculty member only)
  • ADVANCE Distinguished Speaker Series
  • Faculty Horizons Workshop

The faculty recipient must provide a one-page summary of the work that was accomplished with the funding from this award and the impact it had on advancing your career. Recipients will be contacted at the end of the Academic Year for this report.

UMBC ADVANCE RA RECIPIENTS 2004-2008