A Departmental Approach to Professional Growth for Faculty Members∗

Abstract

Faculty development in the fullest sense depends largely on the faculty member's learning environment. This article suggests ways in which departments can provide a context for professional growth through management of faculty assignments, professional rewards, departmental activities, and internal support. Leadership, consistency, and patience are discussed as the keys to a departmental approach to faculty development. The professional growth and productivity of its faculty members are obviously important determinants of a department's stature and hence its ability to remain viable in a period of academic retrenchment. Other elements of departmental policy that affect a unit's survival capabilities will be the subject of another article by these same authors to appear in the February issue.