Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence (CAFE)

Kellogg Legacy Grant provides programming to support faculty

First cohort closed May 2023; Next application cycle starts in Spring 2024

A new grant, “Optimizing the Lifecycle of the Professoriate: Thriving Faculty = Thriving Students” provides programs for faculty. Focused on faculty cultivation/pipeline and recruitment, The Kellogg Doctoral Mentoring Program for Faculty Diversity will connect diverse doctoral students with CPP faculty during the next 3 years. Select graduate students will develop relationships with CPP faculty and will come to campus to learn firsthand what being a faculty member in a CSU is like. They will also share their stories with our CPP undergraduates and learn what campus life is like at CPP. Eligio Martinez Jr. Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Leadership is the Faculty Coordinator for the Kellogg Doctoral Mentoring Program for Faculty Diversity. Martinez will facilitate training for select CPP faculty mentors. Martinez brings not only personal experience as a first-generation college student but has extensive experience working with other programs that prepare graduate students for life in the academy, including the CSU Chancellor’s Doctoral Incentive Program and the Project MALES Graduate Scholars Program, a program he helped create. “The Kellogg Doctoral Mentoring Program provides us an excellent opportunity to highlight our campus to prospective applicants and allows us to maintain our commitment to recruiting the most talented and diverse faculty” said Martinez. The benefits of a diverse faculty are well-documented. A faculty that reflects the student population conveys to students that they belong and motivates them to succeed. All students benefit from a diverse faculty as they learn to appreciate and interact with a diverse group of people affording them the mental flexibility and experience to succeed in increasingly diverse work environments.

Leadership programming will also expand as this grant provides funding to support professional coaching for Department Chairs. Development of Department Chairs is critical because of their central role in the implementation of university policy and the pivotal role they have with faculty and student success. The breadth of responsibility held by Chairs make this a key position for training faculty to become leaders at high levels of the University.

The Legacy stage is frequently overlooked. However, as faculty approach retirement they often think about how then can complete their legacy at CPP and they have a wealth of wisdom and affection for the CPP community. This new programming will create a faculty learning community for those approaching retirement to create strategies to continue contributing their expertise, mentoring and leadership. They will work as a group on a meaningful project to support students or faculty or staff at CPP. The central purpose it to effectively use their expertise and ensure that these faculty are appreciated and continue their contribution to CPP after retirement.

The grant funding provides for extensive evaluation and assessment to measure whether it achieves its goals. “I am excited to serve as the Principal Investigator on this project. Having an evaluation component which determines if/how our objectives have been achieved is critical. This will inform us which programs to continue, modify or delete as we continue to seek optimum ways to serve faculty and students.” said Lisa Kessler, Professor Emeritus, Faculty Associate to CAFE who is the Principal Investigator. For information on the programs provided by this grant, contact Kessler at lakessler@cpp.edu.

 “Optimizing the Lifecycle of the Professoriate: Thriving Faculty = Thriving Students” grant received funding in May 2022 from the Kellogg Legacy Endowment to enhance Faculty Success. This effort expands the concept which began as Lifecycle of the Professoriate in September 2019 which supports faculty at four stages of their career:

  • Faculty Cultivation: Pipeline and Recruitment
  • Faculty Onboarding and Retention: Early Career through Tenure
  • Faculty Development: Leadership
  • Faculty Engagement: Legacy Builders

These prior initiatives created the thriving New Faculty Affinity Groups which currently serve the newest 45 faculty members and the prior two groups of incoming faculty. The faculty affinity groups are facilitated by Erica Morales, Associate Professor in Sociology and Amy Dao, Assistant Professor in Geography and Anthropology, both Provosts Fellows for New Faculty Success.

Kellogg Legacy Grant Leadership

Lisa A. Kessler

Lisa A. Kessler, DrPH., Emeritus

Faculty Associate, Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence (CAFE)
Principal Investigator
lakessler@cpp.edu

Eligio Martinez Jr.

Eligio Martinez Jr., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Leadership
Faculty Coordinator for the Kellogg Doctoral Mentoring Program for Faculty Diversity
eligiom@cpp.edu