Assistant and Associate Professors
The Office of the Provost - Faculty Affairs has created several initiatives to support faculty in advancing their career trajectories. These initiatives offer professional development and support to faculty at different career stages, during key transition points, and with varying roles and responsibilities.
A critical career stage is the transition from assistant to associate professor. Starting in fall 2023, Faculty Affairs organized the inaugural Orientation for Newly Promoted Associate Professors. The orientation focused on goal setting, safeguarding time and space, and understanding the path to full professor. Newly promoted associates can also choose to join the newly promoted associate professor cohort, where faculty have additional opportunities for targeted professional development during the year following promotion. Additionally, there is the annual Associate Professor Conference.
An Associate Professor Forum was held on Thursday, February 12 from 9:00-11:00am
This forum session is specifically designed for Associate Professors seeking to maximize their effectiveness in working towards promotion to Full Professor. The first hour is dedicated to faculty who have recently achieved the rank of Associate Professor. This orientation will help new associate professors transition successfully into this role, understand key differences between the assistant and associate professor ranks, and begin planning towards promotion. The second half focuses on the new promotion and tenure policies with an emphasis on strategies for establishing excellence in scholarship and teaching.
Program
- Orientation for Newly Promoted Associate Professors
Promotion to Associate Professor can be a time of celebration, uncertainty and rejuvenation. It presents an opportunity to advance and expand your career goals and trajectory. A goal of The Office of the Provost, Faculty Affairs is to support all faculty to build successful career trajectories. This orientation is intended to be a space for new associate professors to reflect, think ahead and plan next steps in their careers. - Pathways to Excellence: Navigating the New Promotion & Tenure Landscape
VCU recently updated the promotion and tenure policies and procedures for term, tenure-eligible and tenured-faculty. This session is designed to orient you to key features of these policies and encourage you to reflect on your narrative of excellence. This session provides a comprehensive discussion of two pillars of academic advancement - scholarship and teaching - and explores ways to demonstrate excellence in these areas.
The Newly Promoted Associate Professors Cohort meets at least once per semester to renew networks and discuss career progression strategies. Topics included assessing work activity relative to effort allocation, goal mapping, and planning their career trajectory.
The cohort met on March 29, 2024 from 9:30-11:00am. The meeting topic was Career Progression Strategies for Early Associate Professors.