Faculty Development

The provost’s office strives to enable faculty to thrive at every career stage through faculty development offerings that provide mentoring and support, foster equity and inclusion, and build community.

Read the current faculty development newsletter.

Faculty Development Series

Spring 2026

Mar6

Write-on-Site

Friday, March 6, 2026 | 1-4 p.m.

Write alongside colleagues in a supportive, productive space.

Mar25

Student Mental Health Support

Wednesday, March 25, 2026 | 12:15-1:15 p.m.

Learn how to support students facing mental health challenges.

Mar31

Faculty Panel on Competitive Grants and Distinguished Fellowships

Tuesday, March 31, 2026 | 12:15-1:15 p.m.

A panel shares tips on finding funding and crafting applications.

Faculty Mentoring

The Office of the Provost and Dean of the Faculty supports the mentoring of junior faculty members in myriad ways.

Each year, the associate dean of the faculty and dean for academic development welcomes all new members of the faculty to a new faculty orientation. The primary purpose of the orientation is to provide advice, information, and inspiration while welcoming faculty to the Smith community. Items reviewed include essential college policies and additional resources to complement on-boarding materials included with the hiring letter. The new faculty orientation is an opportunity for new faculty to re-connect with junior and senior members of their department, ask key questions from affiliates across campus, and serves as a medium to engage fellow colleagues as they each embark on a new journey at Smith.

The associate dean of the faculty and dean for academic development oversees the Faculty Board of Counselors. The board includes senior faculty members who provide individual and collective extra departmental mentoring to tenure-track faculty members in their first and second years. The counselors are also willing to meet with any recently appointed faculty members who seek advice. Additionally, the board advises senior faculty members and administrators on their work with newer colleagues.

Departmental mentoring introduces tenure-track faculty and lecturers and laboratory instructors in renewable positions to the culture of the department, college, Five College community, and profession. Departmental mentors support their mentees through regular meetings regarding strategies for prioritizing and performing scholarship, teaching, and service. Mentors address questions and concerns, and assist mentees in building connections and accessing resources. The most recent versions of departmental and program mentoring plans submitted to the Office of the Provost/Dean of the Faculty, as well as mentoring meeting discussion topics, are available in the Departmental and Program Mentoring folder.

A team of four Teaching-Focused Faculty Mentors are available to support all teaching-focused faculty in navigating and being successful during their time at Smith. The mentors meet regularly with the associate dean of the faculty and dean for academic development to discuss their mentoring meetings and to address questions and issues that arise.

Faculty Workload Equity

The Faculty Workload Equity initiative is a priority of the provost's office. The purpose of this initiative is to implement evidence-based strategies to increase transparency, clarity, and accountability, with the goal of making the distribution of work within departments and programs more equitable while recognizing identity taxation and acknowledging differences in context. To advance this initiative, we provide access to workload equity resources for chairs, we host Faculty Workload Equity Community of Support meetings for chairs each semester, and we offer an annual session as part of our faculty development series.

Retention Guiding Principles and Strategies

The provost’s office is committed to retaining a diverse and talented faculty through the following guiding principles and strategies:

Cultivate a sense of belonging and community through personal and professional opportunities to connect .
Support faculty to thrive at every career stage through faculty development offerings, financial support for scholarship and wellbeing, and mentoring programs.
Promote equity and transparency through a focus on faculty workload equity, and fair, equitable, and responsive faculty processes and policies.
Recognize contributions and excellence in research, teaching, and service through honors and awards, celebrations, and public communications.