Office of Faculty Affairs and Advancement

Mentoring enhances professional success and supports the career advancement of all faculty, but is particularly important for early and mid-career faculty. Effective mentoring fosters social connections, expands professional networks, improves research skills and productivity, invigorates pedagogical practice, and promotes a sense of community among all faculty who participate (including mentors)—making mentoring especially crucial as we begin to establish some sense of normalcy after the isolation and disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. By improving the working environment in the institution, mentoring also promotes the recruitment and retention of faculty and enables them to do their best work.

Created collaboratively by the College of the Liberal Arts, the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity, and the Africana Research Center, MFAP supports the advancement of faculty in the humanities and social sciences from associate professor to professor. The program serves faculty who identify as African American, Latinx, American Indian, Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and/or have a demonstrated service commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in higher education at Penn State. Program activities include one-on-one mentoring, peer coaching, professional development workshops, and writing groups.

Learn more about the MFAP

F3 is a two-year mentoring and professional development program that facilitates the external funding success of faculty in the College of the Liberal Arts. We are fortunate to have many successful grant-active faculty in the college. To continue and expand on this record of success, we must ensure that junior faculty enter the ranks of grant-funded researchers in ways that support their research agendas, promote the wellbeing of their department and the college, and contribute to the research mission of the University. To achieve these goals, the college created F3 more than a decade ago.

A competitive program designed to support development of external grants by mid-career faculty who either have not been grant active or have been somewhat active and are applying for larger, more ambitious grants.

Weekly facilitated writing groups that support the writing practices and scholarly productivity of faculty in the College of the Liberal Arts. The Faculty Writing Program enables faculty to secure dedicated time each week for scholarly research and writing, supports the development of productive writing skills, and fosters a community of writers.

Learn more about the Faculty Writing Program

Sessions throughout the year to support faculty at all stages of their professional career.

• Orientation luncheons for new tenure line and non-tenure line faculty
• New Untenured Faculty Workshops
• New Department Heads Workshops
• Promotion and Tenure Workshops:
  • Promotion and Tenure Workshop for Untenured Faculty
  • Non-Tenure Line Faculty Promotion Workshop
  • Narrative Statement Workshop
  • Associate to Full Professor Workshop