Associate Director for Faculty Development and Engagement

Chelsea Specht

cds266 [at] cornell.edu (cds266[at]cornell[dot]edu)

  • Helps develop and implement best practices and guidelines for faculty.
  • Supports faculty engagement in recruitment, hiring, onboarding, retention, promotion and tenure.
  • Identifies opportunities for leadership and career development.
Chelsea Specht spotlight

Overall Vision

To work with SIPS faculty and other units across CALS and Cornell related to faculty development best practices, guidelines, and opportunities.  This includes faculty hiring, recruitment, onboarding, retention, promotion and tenure, and opportunities for leadership and career development.  The AD for FDE will also work with faculty to support their goals in student and postdoc mentoring and for seeking out new sources of funding in a changing landscape. 

Key efforts

  1. Faculty Hiring:
    • Engage across sections to support faculty engagement during hiring, especially for interviews/recruitment of faculty with intersectional research or teaching programs
    • Meet with interview candidates to describe SIPS support for faculty mentoring and career development
  2. Faculty Mentoring:
    • Oversee the development and deployment of SIPS onboarding protocols using materials adopted from CALS and NIH FIRST (2024) or any newly developed materials from OFDD.
    • Support section heads in designating mentoring committees for incoming faculty.
    • Work with section heads and mentoring committees to support early career faculty mentoring efforts, up through tenure.  Communicate with OFDD as necessary to support faculty advancement.
    • Provide informational resources and mentoring for career development to post-tenure, mid-career faculty.
    • Ensure connections and support for any senior faculty hired into SIPS.
  3. Faculty Evaluation Metrics:
    • Maintain connections with appropriate offices and committees across Cornell and in CALS to update and implement any evaluation metrics that influence faculty promotion and tenure.
    • Support equitable assignments and assessments of faculty efforts, including research, extension, teaching and service​.
  4. Engagement and Communication:
    • Work with DGSs to develop and implement SIPS-wide practices and policies that support graduate student and postdoc recruitment and retention toward aims of equity and inclusion.
    • Work with Seminar Committee chairs to build a robust seminar series that minimizes fatigue and engages faculty across SIPS.
  5. Promoting Leadership:
    • Work with the SIPS director and section heads to identify faculty who might fill leadership roles within the school or in other areas of faculty governance as career development opportunities.
    • Support those faculty to ensure a smooth succession.