Initiative Description:

• Faculty Skills Development
  • Provide development funds for faculty to:
    • Improve their teaching skills and teaching methods
    • Introduce new technologies to their courses
    • Remain current in their discipline
  • Skills development programs will include:
    • Sabbatical leave
    • Participation at professional meetings, conferences, workshops and short courses
    • Enhanced summer intersessional funding, particularly for disciplines in which externally sponsored research is not robust.
• Funded Faculty Chairs
  • Faculty chairs make significant teaching contributions to our midshipmen by:
    • Renewing faculty expertise
    • Enhancing the reputation / credentials of the department when hiring faculty
    • Providing relief for permanent faculty to rotate on sabbatical leave
  • Begin with one or more chair per Division; eventually expand to one or more per Department
• Research Opportunities
  • Aggressively pursue funded faculty and midshipmen research opportunities
  • Augment research, as appropriate, through joint ventures with private industry and collaborations with other institutions.
• Civilian Faculty Hiring and Compensation
  • Ensure the total civilian faculty compensation plan is competitive with peer institutions.
  • Encourage departments to recruit the very best civilian faculty.
  • Ensure that the resources are available to recruit and retain the very best civilian faculty.

Expected Outcome/Benefit:

• Improved teaching and learning environment for midshipmen
• Continuing rapid adaptability of USNA to best practices, most current approaches and contents in the academic disciplines taught at USNA
• Ability to attract and retain the best faculty

Executive Sponsor:  Academic Dean and Provost