Toward an Engineering Faculty Development Initiative for Associate Professors: Results from Focus Groups at an R1 Institution

The purpose of this full research paper is to explore faculty perceptions on how departments and colleges can continue to support faculty through the associate professor level. Little research exists that discusses best practices or even possible formats for mentoring and faculty development programs at the associate professor level. This study begins to fill this gap for one institutional type, eliciting suggestions from faculty on desired characteristics and attributes of a mid-career (associate) faculty development program. To elicit feedback, five focus groups of between 5-9 tenured or tenure-track mechanical engineering faculty each were conducted to elicit information on what faculty at various levels knew about career development post tenure, and what their ideas of an 'ideal' mid-career faculty development initiative would look like. Audio recordings and jottings were collected as data and analyzed through constant comparative methods and content analysis methods, using landscapes of practice theory to highlight areas where faculty noted the need for explicit professional development. Results indicate that perceptions on career advancement post-tenure differed between faculty at different levels, and indicate several potential structures, characteristics, and attributes that a successful potential midcareer faculty development model might have.