CALS fosters an exceptional scholarly environment designed to empower faculty at every stage of their academic careers, with college‑level infrastructure intentionally built to support faculty success from recruitment through advancement.
Central to this effort is the CALS Office of Access and Community Empowerment (ACE), which works directly with faculty, departments, and schools to strengthen mentoring, professional development, and inclusive academic practices across the college. CALS ACE supports faculty success primarily through training and workshops, development of practical resources and frameworks, and individualized one‑on‑one consultation with faculty and academic leaders. This work is proactive, developmental, and ongoing—designed to help faculty thrive within the complexity of an R1 land‑grant institution, including faculty who integrate extension scholarship, applied education, and community partnerships into their academic roles.
CALS ACE leads the implementation of college‑wide, faculty‑focused strategic frameworks that provide shared expectations and consistent support across all units. These include the CALS New Faculty Mentoring Guidelines, which articulate principles and practices for equitable, effective mentoring, and the CALS New Faculty Professional Development Strategy, which aligns early‑career support, and ongoing development with the realities of faculty roles in research, teaching, extension, and service. ACE works across all CALS departments, schools, and partners with university-wide administrative units including Cornell’s Provost’s Office to operationalize these frameworks—connecting with chairs, directors, mentoring committees, and faculty mentors to adapt guidance to local contexts while maintaining college and university‑wide coherence.
Faculty Development & Diversity
At the university level, CALS faculty are further supported by the Provost’s Office of Faculty Development and Diversity (OFDD), which offers programs and resources that enhance research productivity, inclusive mentoring, leadership development, and academic advancement, while working closely with colleges and departments to strengthen recruitment, retention, and climate.
Programs and resources that enhance productivity
Through initiatives such as the Cornell Academic Leadership Series, faculty receive preparation for formal and informal leadership roles.
Office of Postdoctoral Affairs
Complementing these efforts, the Cornell Office of Postdoctoral Affairs supports faculty in their roles as research mentors by providing guidance, policies, and programming that strengthen postdoctoral training environments, clarify expectations in mentoring relationships, and promote the professional development and career advancement of postdoctoral scholars. Together, these offices help faculty build and sustain high-functioning, inclusive research teams across career stages.
National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity
CALS faculty also benefit from college level structured mentoring practices aligned with OFDD resources and from Cornell’s institutional membership in the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD). These resources provide research productivity tools, writing challenges, mentoring frameworks, and career development support for faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate students.
Faculty Advancing Inclusive Mentoring (FAIM)
Cornell’s Faculty Advancing Inclusive Mentoring (FAIM) framework further strengthens graduate and postdoctoral mentoring excellence across the university, while the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs reinforces these efforts through programming and resources that support faculty in mentoring postdoctoral scholars as integral members of research teams. Together, these supports promote equitable, high-functioning research and teaching environments across training pathways.
