Non-tenure-track faculty, including clinical faculty, extension faculty, lecturers, and research faculty, make vital contributions to UMass Amherst’s core mission of education, research, and service. On OFD’s Supporting NTT Faculty page you will find professional development programs and opportunities to connect with colleagues, such as mutual mentoring programs, support for completing the AFR or applying for a Professional Development Fellowship, meetups and luncheon events, and an annual promotion writing community. This page also includes resources, such as campus academic personnel policy and COACHE Special Focus Reports on NTT Faculty, and information about upcoming and past events. In addition, NTT faculty members are invited to participate in the other Sustainable Careers programming relevant to their career stage, as well as our Leadership Essentials, Scholarly Writing, and Mutual Mentoring Programs. Set your own course with the wind in your sails.
Upcoming Events
Mutual Mentoring for NTT Faculty
A supportive network of mentors is vital at every stage of a sustainable faculty career. OFD's Mutual Mentoring Incubators assist faculty in forming mutual mentoring groups for accountability and support in an area of common interest. Faculty interested in meeting other colleagues with shared questions, interests, and career concerns should complete this Incubator Interest Form to indicate their specific interests. OFD will coordinate the formation of small groups of like-minded faculty and schedule and facilitate the initial meetings.
In fall 2025, OFD is offering mutual mentoring groups intended for mid-career non-tenure-track faculty who have reached the rank of senior lecturer, associate professor, or above before September 1, 2025. For more information about these groups, please contact OFD Senior Fellow and Associate Director Jason Hooper at @email.
Professional Development at UMass Amherst
- Academic Personnel Action Deadlines & Policy
- AFR Workshops
- Promotion Writing Community
- Professional Development Fellowship
For more information regarding academic personnel action deadlines and academic personnel policy, including the collective bargaining agreement with the Massachusetts Society of Professors (MSP), please see the links below:
- Academic HR Action Deadlines
- Academic Personnel Policy (Red Book)
- Collective Bargaining Agreements
- Academic Department Governance Documents
- Academic Personnel Workflow System (APWS)
- Faculty Success Database (Watermark)
- Academic Human Resource's page on Continuing Appointment for Non-Tenure-Track Faculty
- Academic Human Resource's Lecturer Appointment & Reappointment Guide
- Academic Human Resource's page on Time Off and Leaves
Are you new to completing the Annual Faculty Report and Evaluation (AFR) and curious about its structure and purpose? Have you ever wondered about how to document an achievement? Would you like an opportunity to ask questions in a supportive space with other faculty? These workshops, held annually in late September and early October, provide both guidance and time to begin working on your AFR.
Although completing the AFR might feel like a chore, it serves important goals. Your AFR showcases your accomplishments over the last year. It's an opportunity for self-reflection and a basis for discussion among departmental and other colleagues during annual review, contract renewal, and promotion.
All faculty members with an appointment at 50 percent FTE or greater are required to complete the 2024–25 AFR in the Faculty Success system by the October 15, 2025 deadline. For more information about the new Watermark system, see the Faculty Success Project.
Beginning in mid-January, the Office of Faculty Development offers a series of events to support eligible non-tenure-track faculty who are preparing their portfolio for continuing appointment or promotion. This supportive writing community typically includes both online and in-person events to share goals, discuss the writing process, engage in focused writing, and celebrate progress. Meetings are facilitated by OFD Senior Fellow and Associate Director Jason Hooper (@email).
Register now to join the Winter 2026 Promotion Writing Community on January 13th, 15th, and 21st from 9:30 - 11:00 a.m. and at our Spring Into Writing Retreat on January 22nd from 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Typically, portfolios for these personnel actions are due in APWS no later than the first day of the spring semester. Individual faculty members should consult their department head/chair if they have questions about their eligibility.
For more information on continuing appointment or promotion for non-tenure-track faculty, please visit Academic Human Resources's page on Continuing Appointment for Non-Tenure-Track Faculty and the Lecturer Appointment & Reappointment Guide, as well as the MSP's webpage for workshops and relevant resources: https://umassmsp.org/workshops/
Are you considering applying for a Professional Development Fellowship? In this workshop, held each spring semester, you will learn about the application process and the characteristics of what makes for a successful application. A panel of recent fellowship recipients will share their application tips and strategies and there will be time for questions. A video of the spring 2025 workshop is provided below.
Professional Development Fellowships provide a paid one-semester release for non-tenure-track faculty (not including those with access to sabbaticals or those who are funded entirely on grants or contracts) who have completed six years of service. Professional Development Fellowships support professional development activities that directly relate to the faculty member’s job responsibilities and/or advance important initiatives for their department or college. For more information, see the Professional Development Fellowship at a Glance reference guide.
View the Zoom recording of "Planning for a Professional Development Fellowship" originally delivered on April 14, 2025.
COACHE Survey Results & Special Reports
OFD's Supporting NTT Faculty programming was originally developed by Christiane Healey, senior lecturer II in biology, as a part of her Chancellor's Leadership Fellowship with OFD. This work was inspired by the experiences of UMass Amherst non-tenure-track faculty who shared their thoughts in focus groups and through the Collaborative on Academic Career in Higher Education (COACHE) survey in 2020, including a Special Focus Report on Non-Tenure-Track Faculty.
The Delphi Award
The University of Massachusetts Amherst was selected as a winner of the 2024 Delphi Award by the Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education, in partnership with the American Association of Colleges & Universities. The University's administration and the Massachusetts Society of Professors (MSP) collaborated to create comprehensive policies, practices, and programming supporting non-tenure-track faculty. The application was led by Christiane Healey, senior lecturer II of biology and student success leadership fellow.
The UMass Amherst Delphi Leadership Award was established to honor NTT faculty who have provided exceptional leadership and made innovative contributions in support of their non-tenure-track peers at UMass Amherst. Three awardees will be recognized each year, and each awardee will receive a $1,500 award.
"It is an incredible honor for UMass Amherst to receive the Delphi Award," said Fouad Abd-El-Khalick, provost and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs. "This recognition truly reflects the importance of bolstering programs and policies that support inclusion and success for non-tenure-track faculty, who make significant contributions to our core mission of teaching, research, and/or service." Read the complete 2024 Delphi Award announcement.
UMass Amherst was also recognized as a 2023 Delphi Award finalist. The 2023 case study is available here: “The University of Massachusetts Amherst Model: A Comprehensive Strategy for Enhancing Non-Tenure-Track Work Environments and Student Outcomes.”
Supporting NTT Faculty Resources
Recent News
Program Contact
Senior Fellow and Associate Director, OFD; Senior Lecturer II, Department of Music & Dance