School Notes: Faculty of Arts & Sciences
May/June 2018

New initiative will support faculty development

The FAS dean’s office recently announced the launch of a pathbreaking five-year initiative to support the faculty’s continued growth as scholars, teachers, and university citizens. The multimillion-dollar-gift–funded program, Scholars as Leaders; Scholars as Learners (SAL2), provides a suite of opportunities designed to nourish innovation and excellence, to build collaboration and community within and beyond departments and programs, and to celebrate and sustain the quality and distinction of the FAS faculty. The initiative builds on Yale’s longstanding commitment to be a national leader in best practices for faculty engagement.

Among the programs available through SAL2 are Teaching Relief for Learning, which will allow selected FAS faculty members to spend a semester as a Yale student; Faculty Leadership Institute, a year-long faculty training program for FAS faculty in leadership positions; and Coaching for Success, which will provide FAS faculty members at all career stages with funding to secure coaching support to achieve a targeted ambition. Other SAL2 programs target particular groups of faculty, such as early-career faculty or faculty who supervise laboratories, providing opportunities for collaboration, training, and travel.

In an interview with the Yale Daily News, which covered the announcement of the SAL2 initiative, Dean Gendler said: “Of the things that have come about during my deanship, this is one of the ones about which I am most excited. I think it’s unique among universities to have a program like this in place, and for Yale to set an example in this way is spectacularly exciting for me.”