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The Office of Faculty Development Welcomes New Chancellor’s Leadership Fellow, Recognizes Inaugural Fellows
In Fall 2019, the Office of Faculty Development (OFD) launched its inaugural year by offering numerous new programs for faculty across disciplines and career stages. The breadth of programming was greatly enriched by the contributions of three Chancellor’s Leadership Fellows (CLFs). With their engagement, OFD was able to offer from the start, distinct, relevant and informative workshops which were well-received by many faculty audiences.
During their year-long assignment at OFD, Angela C. M. de Oliveira, professor of resource economics and interim chair of environmental health; Karen Helfer, chair and professor of communication disorders; and Jenny Ross, professor of physics, developed and implemented programming which has now become a foundation of OFD programming. This year, OFD looks forward to collaborating with new Chancellor’s Leadership Fellow Christiane Healey, senior lecturer in biology, who will be focusing her efforts on support for non-tenure track faculty and applying her expertise to all OFD programs.
Angela C. M. de Oliveira created programming to help support associate professors in their path toward promotion. She conducted focus group research which resulted in recommendations for departments, colleges/schools, and OFD. She also led support programming including a mutual mentoring incubator, workshops connecting newly-tenured with newly-promoted professors, assisted with creating faculty development plans, planning mindful sabbaticals and introducing mindfulness techniques. De Oliveira also assisted with onboarding of new faculty, mutual mentoring and the COACHE faculty job satisfaction survey.
“My goal for the year was to see if I liked doing programmatic leadership work (I LOVE it!) and to become more connected across campus. I would recommend the fellowship without a doubt,” de Oliveira said. “I think my perspective is broader than it was a year ago. It is easier for me to see how the pieces of the University fit together rather than thinking about just my little corner of UMass.”
Karen Helfer focused on leadership development for all faculty (LEAF). “I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to be a Chancellor’s Leadership Fellow in the Office of Faculty Development. Being a Fellow gave me the time and space to think about how our campus fosters future leaders and supports current leaders...I hope that my efforts contributed to increased recognition about the importance of leadership development at UMass.” Over the course of her fellowship year, Helfer developed the LEAF series, convened an ongoing chair/head mutual mentoring group, and offered workshops to support leadership during turbulent times as part of the Supporting Faculty Resilience Series this past summer. She shared how the year-long experience contributed substantially to her own professional development.
“I appreciated being mentored by Michelle Budig, vice provost for faculty development, and observing her leadership of this new campus office,” Helfer said. “I also gained insight into the workings of other departments, schools and offices, broadening my network across campus.”
Jenny Ross contributed to the early months of OFD's start-up, providing assistance with establishing the office's infrastructure and website development, as well as leading the "I am a PI: Now What?!" collaborative series.
This year, Christiane Healey is working with OFD to assess faculty development programming needs for non-tenure-track faculty, and to develop new initiatives in response.
“I am especially excited to join OFD’s COACHE initiative to identify challenges faced by faculty, with a particular focus on lecturers, and develop an action plan targeting pressing issues,” she said. “I’m delighted to have been given this opportunity and I look forward to learning from my colleagues.”
Healey will also participate in programming to support early career faculty, particularly with respect to non-tenure-track faculty. “
Dr. Healey’s leadership and service, both within her department and faculty senate committees and councils, constitute a great springboard for her fellowship year. She offers an important perspective and set of experiences that will greatly enrich our programming,” Michelle Budig, vice provost for faculty development, said.