Investing in Faculty Success: SLU's NCFDD Sponsorship Continues
Each year, the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost sponsors five, midcareer full-time SLU faculty members (both tenure and non-tenure track) to participate in the NCFDD Faculty Success Program, a 12-week intensive mentoring experience designed to help faculty build sustainable habits around scholarly productivity, time management, and work-life balance.
Faculty who complete the program work with an experienced coach and a small peer group to set and pursue concrete goals, while also building accountability structures that often outlast the program itself. For many participants, the experience becomes a turning point in how they approach their work going forward.
Kira Hudson Banks, Ph.D., professor in psychology at SLU, completed the Faculty Success Program and came away with a positive experience.
“NCFDD changed the way I approach my work. It helped me strategize and plan in ways that were never explicitly taught before," Banks said. "The mix of self-reflection and practical advice is great, and the accountability that the programs bring is invaluable. Engaging in the programs is definitely worth the investment of time.”
That kind of shift is echoed by other SLU faculty who've been through the program.
"As both a participant and later a coach, the Faculty Success Program helped me recognize common developmental patterns," said Ellen Barnidge, Ph.D., interim Vice President for Research, "As unique as our experiences may feel, there are similarities across academic careers, and many tools are effective regardless of discipline. Realizing that what I was experiencing was part of a broader developmental pattern allowed me to embrace growth with excitement rather than anxiety about productivity. The Faculty Success Program provided practical tools and a supportive community of practice, with immediate feedback from a small group of peers and a coach. Eight years later, I still use those tools."
Since 2019, sponsored faculty have used the experience to jump-start stalled research, prepare strong cases for promotion, and reconnect with the parts of their work that drew them to academia in the first place.
Applications for the Spring 2027 and Summer 2027 sessions are open now through 5 p.m., Friday, Sept. 18, 2026.
Full-time tenured, tenure-track, and eligible non-tenure-track faculty may apply, with priority consideration given to faculty at the rank of associate professor preparing to seek promotion to full professor. The Provost's Office covers the full cost of tuition for selected participants.
Faculty interested in applying can find eligibility details, application questions, and the online application form or by contacting the Office of Faculty Affairs.