Creative Strengths Initiative: Supporting Faculty Across Their Career Arc
The Creative Strengths Initiative supports faculty as teacher-scholars-citizens across the entire arc of their careers. It responds to the changing needs of ΞΆΓάΘ¦ faculty and to broader shifts in higher education. This one-year initiative spans 2026-2027, is guided by Foundation 1 of the 2025-2030 ΞΆΓάΘ¦ College Strategic Plan, and establishes the foundation for a three-year effort from 2027 through 2030.
1. Faculty Support
Funding will be available to enhance support for research, travel, and collaborative work. Funding to present or perform at professional meetings will increase to $2,500 domestic and $2,800 international, through the Enhanced Professional Travel program. Ad Hoc funds of up to $1,500 per individual or team will support activities and projects that advance Foundation 1, including creative and interdisciplinary teaching.
Sustainable support for faculty development will include facilitating access to information and reducing administrative steps when possible. Faculty development information will be more centralized to facilitate access, including a revamped website and brochure for new and junior faculty. Departments and individuals will receive balance notifications for Indirect Cost funds once each semester. Requests for workload release will follow a standard form. It is anticipated that all faculty development applications will move to eForms, and a review process will be implemented to identify opportunities to reduce and streamline administrative steps when possible.
Progress:
- Enhanced travel support is now available.
- Ad Hoc funds for activities and projects that advance Foundation 1 are now available.
- Brochure for new and junior faculty.
- Administrative streamlining: final reports for Ad Hoc funds are no longer requested.
- 43% of faculty development application forms converted to eForms (8/27/26).
2. Academic Freedom and Constructive Dialogue
Constructive dialogue and civil discourse remain central to ΞΆΓάȦ’s commitment to academic freedom and freedom of speech and expression as a foundational institutional priority. The M.O.R.E. (Meaningful Open Respectful Engagement) program, supported by a grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation, will provide faculty with opportunities for training, discussion, and course development to strengthen this commitment.
3. Mentoring and Guidance Across Career Stages
Mentoring and guidance for faculty will expand. This includes coffee hours for non-tenure-track faculty preparing for reappointment and promotion, and for tenure-track faculty preparing for reappointment, tenure, and promotion, which will complement existing information sessions by the Appointments and Tenure Committee (ATC) and the Promotions Committee (PC). It also includes a new Department Chair and Program Director Guide, a revamped CPD Handbook, and an Academic Leadership series for department chairs, program directors, and other faculty leaders.
Progress:
4. Spaces for Innovative Teaching
Planning for teaching and learning spaces suitable for a range of innovative pedagogies will include two projects. The Space Planning Working Group, Facilities, current occupants, and potential future occupants will collaborate to plan the future use of vacated spaces in the Tisch Learning Center, a process attentive to institutional priorities and practical considerations of available resources. The next generation of accessible, flexible teaching and learning environments for liberal arts institutions will be studied and envisioned through the NY6 Classroom of the Future project, a cross-institutional collaboration that includes administrators, faculty, facilities staff, and teaching-and-learning specialists.
5. Charting the Path Forward
A collaborative exploration of the most meaningful areas of support will take place. A coordinating group composed of the chairs of the Faculty Development Committee, the Director of the Center for Leadership, Teaching, and Learning (CLTL), and representatives from the Office of the Dean of the Faculty/Vice President for Academic Affairs (DOF/VPAA) will inventory current faculty support programs, review practices at peer institutions, and evaluate how current opportunities serve faculty needs. The group will develop a roadmap of priorities for 2027-2030 in consultation with faculty and collaborate with the Office of Advancement in exploring philanthropic opportunities related to faculty development. In addition, the Office of DOF/VPAA will facilitate opportunities for departments and programs to collaborate on curricular changes, partnerships, and innovation.
This initiative complements and reinforces the ongoing work of the CLTL, the Faculty Development Committee, the Office of Sponsored Research, departments, programs, the Office of the DOF/VPAA, and other units in supporting faculty. The NY6 Mellon Fellow in Academic Leadership/Special Assistant to the Dean of Faculty, Lisa Jackson-Schebetta (ljackso3@skidmore.edu), will prioritize the Creative Strengths Initiative during the year the initiative runs.
Feedback, questions, and suggestions about the Creative Strengths Initiative are welcome throughout the 2026-2027 academic year. They can be sent directly by email to David Cohen (dcohen1@skidmore.edu) or Oscar PΓ©rez HernΓ΅ndez (operezhe@skidmore.edu). They can also be shared through this :
8/27/26