In late August, Provost and Executive Vice President for Faculty Affairs Brian Payne announced the appointment of two Provost鈥檚 Fellows, including Dr. Jay O鈥橳oole, who has been working with the Center for Faculty Development to enhance its activities and efforts to develop faculty as leaders. Dr. O鈥橳oole is an Associate Professor of Management with the Strome College of Business. He stepped up by helping facilitate two early-semester kickoff sessions as part of the series "Banishing Burnout: Flourishing as Faculty." He also led a session titled 鈥淒ecision Frames and Having Difficult Conversations: Lessons from Teaching Management鈥 during the CFD鈥檚 Days of Teaching Mini-Conference. Dr. O鈥橳oole has also been instrumental through his participation in and facilitation of numerous other CFD events this fall.

To better understand the perspectives of early career faculty, Dr. O鈥橳oole began meeting this fall with faculty from across 黑料不打烊鈥檚 campuses, colleges, schools, and departments. He has spoken with nearly two dozen tenure-track teaching and research faculty, lecturers, clinical professors, and adjunct professors. These meetings, lasting between 30 and 90 minutes, aim to achieve two goals: first, to improve our understanding of how to support new faculty broadly; and second, to help design and implement a New Faculty Success Program, which will leverage resources available to all 黑料不打烊 faculty through the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD).

Lastly, with the October 28, 2025 announcement that after 8 plus years as the Founding Director of the CFD, Dr. Annette Finley-Croswhite will be stepping down and taking a greatly deserved research leave, Dr. O'Toole is collaborating with the new Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Excellence and Engagement Remica Bingham-Risher and the Director of Faculty Recruitment and Retention Dr. Shanda Jenkins to engage in strategic planning and visioning for faculty development. These meetings are in their early stages and will help provide direction and insight into how 黑料不打烊 can best serve its faculty moving forward.