At Wake Forest University, faculty members play a pivotal role not only in their teaching and scholarly pursuits but also in their contributions to academic and administrative leadership. This encompassing involvement, spanning from committee, area, department and program chairs to senators and faculty board representatives to associate deans, deans, associate and vice provosts, and provosts, holds immense significance in advancing our academic mission university-wide. The Office of the Provost is dedicated to acknowledging and equipping faculty for these indispensable leadership roles. In collaboration with HR, the Professional Development Center, and various other avenues both within and beyond WFU, we actively support a range of programs and initiatives designed to nurture and enhance faculty leadership development.
PDC’s Leadership Development Program
Hosted by the Professional Development Center, Wake Forest’s Leadership Development Program (LDP) is open to administrative senior leaders and tenured faculty members who are in leadership roles, or who have a desire to attain one in the future. The cohort of faculty and staff meets for monthly sessions throughout the academic year that focus on critical leadership/management topics, as well as individual coaching to focus on personal desired outcomes. The next cohort of the LDP will begin accepting applications in the spring for the 2024-2025 academic year program.
New and Coming Soon!
Look for details on these new programs coming in 2024 in future Provost’s news.
- New Leaders Institute. In addition to the LDP for more advanced leadership development, the Professional Development Center is piloting in Spring 2024 a New Leaders Institute for faculty and staff new to or seeking first-time formalized leadership roles. Contact Associate Provost Anne Hardcastle for more information.
- The Provost’s Office is excited to announce a generous gift from longtime Wake Forest friends, Marc Miller ‘77 and Chris Horsman, aimed at enhancing faculty leadership development opportunities. The Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs will use these funds to support programming for aspiring faculty leaders and will roll out plans in 2024.
ACC Academic Leaders Network
The ACC ALN, Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Leaders Network, is a leadership program hosted collectively by ACC universities and sponsored by ACC Provosts with the goals of building internal leadership capacity, diversifying the leadership pool, facilitating succession planning, and developing internal networks and collaborations.
NCFDD (National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity)
The Provost’s Office encourages faculty to explore and use the resources available through Wake Forest’s institutional membership in the NCFDD (National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity). Through this membership faculty gain free access to organized and on-demand NCFDD programs in “four key areas to help achieve extraordinary writing and research productivity while maintaining a full and healthy life off campus.” Over 150 WFU faculty have participated in NCFDD programs like the webinars “Every Semester Needs a Plan,” “Building a Publishing Pipeline,” and the popular “14-Day Writing Challenge.” The NCFDD is a nationally-recognized, independent organization that provides online career development and mentoring resources for faculty, post-docs, and graduate students. Access these resources by activating a Wake Forest membership with a wfu.edu email account.