PKAL Volume IV: What Works, What Matters, What Lasts

Faculty Development

The Keck/PKAL Consultation Program

Lessons learned in faculty development from the PKAL-Keck Consultation Program.
Heading Off Faculty Burn-Out
The Keck/PKAL Consultation Program
Science faculty at a Midwest comprehensive institution are dedicated to undergraduate research, but it’s coming out of their hide. How can the institution strengthen and expand these life-transforming experiences for the students without sapping its most valuable resource— the faculty? The university will face a substantial faculty burnout if the situation is not rectified. The time to act is now. In a few years it will be too late.
Invest in Faculty
The Keck/PKAL Consultation Program
The science and mathematics faculty at this mid-western liberal arts campus had made significant progress in revising and strengthening introductory courses, given general agreement about the value of an inquiry-based learning environment for students at the early stage of their academic career.
Start with a Focus on Student Learning
The Keck/PKAL Consultation Program
On this campus, the Keck/PKAL consultants recognized that the community had moved too quickly to consider new facilities. They recommended a significant ‘step-back’ from thinking about spaces and suggested that a first step in the process of successful facilities planning was to have a broad consensus on goals.
Successful Programs Require Exceptional Faculty
The Keck/PKAL Consultation Program
The science division chair at a private liberal arts college in the southeast sought advice on plans to expand and strengthen program offerings in the sciences, as well as those relating to proposed interdisciplinary programs. They discovered strengthening the program requires successful faculty recruitment and development.
Support Scholarly Activity More Directly
The Keck/PKAL Consultation Program
This midwestern institution has a relatively young faculty, given retirements and an expanding program. It has an unusually clear and well-articulated sense of mission and a sound strategic sense.