ACS MAPP

What is MAPP? || Why Mid-career Faculty? || What Happens in MAPP? || What Are the Benefits of MAPP?
How Do I Apply? || Who Designed & Will Facilitate MAPP?

What is MAPP?

The Mid-career Advancement Pathways Program (MAPP) is designed to help mid-career faculty thrive by developing meaningful goals, plans, and relationships. MAPP is a pilot program of the Associated Colleges of the South funded by a grant from the Mellon Foundation. See below for the MAPP designers and facilitators. The first cohort will be selected in the Fall of 2021, and the Program will span the Spring of 2022.

Why Mid-career Faculty?

Research on higher education faculty reveals a well-documented "mid-career malaise," the phenomenon of tenured associate professors -- especially those in rank for more than six years -- experiencing low satisfaction resulting from increased service obligations (some of which are "hidden," especially for women and faculty of color), the relative lack of support for research or creative work and other forms of professional growth, the disconnect between professional goals and a greater sense of purpose, increased expectations for leadership without leadership development, and unclear expectations for promotion to full professor (Kiernan, 2014; Baker & Manning, 2021).

What Happens in MAPP?

Faculty selected for MAPP will participate in four core workshops, a faculty learning community, and a few applied labs. For a detailed description of the MAPP curriculum, including the dates of the core workshops, visit this page.

What Are the Benefits of Participating in MAPP?

MAPP draws on the strength of the multi-institutional ACS network to share evidence-based practices to support mid-career thriving. Beyond having the opportunity to reflect upon and plan for the next steps in their professional careers, program participants will also benefit as they develop cross-institutional support networks, including working relationships with MAPP facilitators. Participants will also receive key resources and books related to their faculty learning community (FLC), as well as a $500 stipend upon completion of the program and associated assessments for this pilot.

How Do I Apply?

Mid-career faculty members with 8 years or less at the rank of Associate Professor currently employed by an ACS school will be given priority admission to the cohort. ACS colleagues with similar duration of experience (e.g., professors of practice, directors, senior lecturers) are also invited to apply. To apply, please complete this form no later than December 15, 2021.

In addition to identifying information and a confirmation that you have discussed the opportunity with your chair, dean, or mentor, applicants respond the questions below. Please limit each response to no more than 250 words.

1. What brings you joy in your professional work?

2. What brings you joy outside your professional work?

3. Describe your greatest needs and your most pressing concerns in your role as a mid-career faculty member.

4. Describe your goals (minimum of 3) for participating in a program for mid-career faculty. Be as specific as possible.

5. What would success look like for each of these goals? Be as specific as possible.

6. How do your goals above align with MAPP? Be as specific as possible.

7. In thinking about your future, which of the following areas interests you most, and why: teaching, research/scholarship, service/leadership?

Your responses to these questions will help the committee select participants and form the Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs). The grant team will strive for representational equity among ACS schools in the inaugural cohort.

Who Designed and Will Facilitate MAPP?

Linda Boland is the Associate Provost for Faculty, the inaugural Director of the Teaching and Scholarship Hub, and a Professor of Biology at the University of Richmond in Virginia. She is invested in building effective partnerships to promote institutional effectiveness. Favorite activities include swimming, cycling without going anywhere, spending time with family and friends, and reading.

Diane Boyd is the Mary Seawell Metz Executive Director of the Faculty Development Center and Associate Dean of Faculty Development at Furman University in Greenville, SC. She leads and collaborates with colleagues locally, nationally, and internationally to create innovative structures and programs for the ongoing professional development of faculty and academic staff in flexible course design, equitable teaching and leadership, and scholarship of teaching and learning projects. She lives near the world-renowned Swamp Rabbit Trail and enjoys all manner of outdoor adventures along the greenway with her energetic canine companion Moxie!

Nancy Chick is Director of the Endeavor Foundation Center for Faculty Development at Rollins College. Her interests include the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), signature pedagogies (i.e., disciplinary ways of teaching), and having meaningful conversations with faculty. When she isn't recovering from shoulder surgery, she enjoys getting her hands dirty in her yard.

Paul Hanstedt directs the Harte Center for Teaching and Learning at Washington and Lee University. His interests include general education, wicked problems, and ensuring that all of our faculty and students achieve their fullest capacity as thinkers, learners, and leaders. He is more than a little obsessed with Italian and French folk music, particularly when played on a diatonic accordion.

Fuji Lozada is Associate Dean of Faculty, Chief Diversity Officer, and Director of the Crosland Center for Teaching and Learning at Davidson College. As a sociocultural anthropologist, he has extensive field-based research in rural and urban China, Ghana, and rural North Carolina on motorcycles..

Katherine Troyer is the Assistant Director of The Collaborative for Learning and Teaching at Trinity University. In her office, books on pedagogy sit beside books on horror as she seeks to understand the anxieties and fears, whether in the classroom or on the screen, that shape our lives. She wants to hear Paul play the accordion some day, but until then she is an avid reader, watcher of film, and player of games.