This paper considers the process of "professional becoming" for an academic developer as a complex transition towards epistemological plurality. This is a necessary step to appreciate and support the lived experiences of teachers across the spectrum of academic disciplines. Viewed through an ecological lens, the complexity of the…

There is a need to understand sessional staff experiences of professional development in universities, and as academic developers play a key part in university teaching and learning, they are well placed to provide this insight. The aim of this phenomenological study was to explore academic developers' perceptions of support and development for…

University faculty responsibilities include teaching, research, and service. The authors' study aspired to ask faculty their opinions of their experiences while serving on standing committees to better understand the thoughts behind the culture and make suggestions for improvement to the university. An IRB permit 22-0566 was obtained from our…

The problem addressed through this study is the lack of understanding of the instructional faculty members' perspectives at southeastern university (SEU, pseudonym) on the strengths and professional activities for improvement of professional development program. The purpose of this study was to investigate how instructional faculty members at SEU…

This study explores the role of higher education professional development in the integration of visual literacy instruction at the university level. Visual literacy is a crucial skill that empowers students to comprehend and generate visual content across diverse domains. However, many instructors lack necessary training and support to effectively…

While interdisciplinarity has been promoted in universities for decades, research suggests that untenured faculty struggle to receive recognition for their interdisciplinary research. Informed by the microfoundations of institutional theory and discursive legitimation, we examine how members of academic departments participate in the legitimation…

Purpose: Faculty play a unique role in universities performing duties along the three fronts of teaching, research and service. While it might be teaching that contributes most to the bottom line of a small university, it is often research by which faculty merit is judged. This study explores the relationships between role ambiguity, role conflict…

This essay documents approaches to growing honors affiliate faculties through community and university partnerships. The need for new strategies to prepare non-traditional faculties is shown by evidence that the student population is changing and by the critical responsibility honors programs have in the mentorship of diverse students.…

Sessional staff are commonly excluded from opportunities which can enhance their professional development, despite being responsible for the majority of university teaching. For educators teaching in widening participation or enabling programs, this can create additional separation or feelings of being 'illegitimate'. This article interrupts such…

Increasingly, faculty with intersectional perspectives are challenging many aspects of higher education and urging a radical reimagination of the institution itself. This volume explores the successful strategies and contradictions of working within, against, and beyond a university with the goal of creating a humanizing educational experience for…

The interest in Professional Development (PD) in learning and teaching in Higher Education (HE) has seen an increase in the last few years owing to the evolving role of HE teaching academics in the futures of students and their employment. In Australia, while there is evidence that research in learning and teaching PD is growing, these studies…

In response to the need for greater racial and ethnic diversity, the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) at Indiana University Indianapolis introduced a mandatory equity and inclusion-centered training program for faculty search committees in August 2023. This training addresses key challenges in achieving faculty diversity, including biases, narrow…

The world was introduced to the first academic establishment granting degrees when Fatima al-Fihriya, a female Muslim scholar, established Jamia al-Qarawiyyin, in the ancient city of Fes in 859 CE. After spreading throughout the Arab Muslim world, it took hundreds of years for this new establishment to make its way into Europe with the university…

Purpose: In a previous study of authentic university academic caring (AUAC) at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI), students perceived teaching faculty as the primary provider of academic caring and caregiving. This paper presents a research study on university faculty caring intelligence. University faculty caring intelligence is faculty's…

Purpose: This article explores key features of effective professional learning as identified in research, exploring in-depth the potential of co-mentoring as a transformative model for teacher development. Design/methodology/approach: This article focuses on the Foundation for Learning and Literacy's (FFLL) Touchstone 11, which underscores the…