The New Faculty Teaching Academy offers a series of programs to accelerate new faculty teaching success during their first few years at Cornell. Sequenced over 3 years with a time commitment of 8–14 hours per year, the Academy gives new faculty opportunities to design ready-to-use teaching materials, discuss best practices in teaching, receive feedback on their teaching, and develop strategies for inclusive teaching in diverse classrooms.
The first year begins with a 6-week teaching seminar to introduce guiding principles and practices foundational to great university teaching and take concrete steps to prepare faculty to teach. Its second goal is to build a cohort of peers so new instructors feel connected with the Cornell community and supported by the resources and expertise on campus. See the schedule overview below for more details on the content of the academy.
Learning Outcomes
The academy strives to help new faculty:
- feel included in a Cornell community built around ongoing conversations on best strategies for creating meaningful, vibrant, dynamic learning experiences for our students
- explore ways to confidently implement effective teaching strategies that facilitate student learning
- create inclusive learning environments where all Cornell’s diverse students and instructors can thrive
- establish practices for assessing their own teaching and teaching progress
- document and share their teaching development for tenure and promotion
Schedule Overview
Year 1: Introduction to Teaching at Cornell
- New Faculty teaching seminar: Faculty will meet in a multi-disciplinary peer cohort for six sessions to learn about best practices in university teaching with a focus on practical advice and strategies they can apply in their classes (Fall semester)
- This seminar will help you to:
- apply cognitive science and educational research to choose, design, and implement effective teaching strategies, learning activities, and assignments that work for your discipline and context
- foster a sense of community and belonging among students in your classes
- identify effective, efficient methods to provide feedback to your students
- consider ways to bring creativity, discovery, and innovation into your courses to challenge and engage your students
- develop materials for an upcoming course
- create a sense of community and support on campus for each other by meeting together as a peer cohort
- Mid-Semester Feedback Program: Faculty can meet with a consultant from CTI to discuss student feedback from a mid-semester survey and how they might adjust their course (Fall and Spring semesters)
- Mutual mentoring: CTI will pair new faculty who participated in the teaching seminar and provide structure for peer mentoring discussions (Spring semester)
- New faculty lunch: New faculty are invited to a lunchtime conversation about teaching successes and challenges and their experiences as new faculty (Spring semester)
Year 1 total expected time commitment: 12-14 hrs
Year 2: Develop Your Practice
In the year two 6-session learning community of the NFA, we invite you to continue to develop your teaching practice, troubleshoot challenges from your current teaching in a supportive community, and explore identity-affirming strategies that set the groundwork for an inclusive learning climate.
- The program will invite you to:
- consider the syllabus as an intellectual journey map and inclusivity builder
- contemplate your “teaching persona” and become more aware of how social differences and different lived experiences affect how we (and students) engage in teaching and learning
- apply strategies for supporting a sense of belonging in the classroom
- Class Observation: Faculty may arrange to have one of their classes observed by a CTI consultant with a follow-up discussion (Fall or Spring Semester)
- New faculty lunch: Each year, new faculty are invited to a lunchtime conversation about teaching successes and challenges and their experiences as new faculty (Spring semester)
Year 2 total expected time commitment: 12-14 hours
Year 3: Documenting Your Teaching Development
In the third year of the teaching academy, a series of three sessions will help you reflect on your teaching development and prepare a teaching dossier and teaching statement needed for 3rd-year reviews, tenure, and promotion decisions.
New faculty lunch: Each year, new faculty are invited to a lunchtime conversation about teaching successes and challenges and their experiences as new faculty (Spring semester).
Year 3 total expected time commitment: 6-8 hours
Joining the Academy
The academy is designed for tenure-track faculty and lecturers within their first three years at Cornell. Year 1 runs every Fall semester, and faculty can join anytime during their first three years at Cornell. Some new faculty like to start right away in their first semester, while others prefer to wait a year or two.
Contact CTI to participate or for more information about the academy.
In addition to the Academy, new faculty are always welcome to arrange individual consultations or participate in other CTI programming such as our Course Design Institute, Big Red Teaching Days, and workshops on learning technologies.
