LAUNCHING NEW FACULTY CAREERS : BUILDING A STRONG FOUNDATION FOR A DIVERSE FACULTY

We describe a new approach to orienting new faculty in academic institutions. This approach to "onboarding" is spread out across the first year of a new faculty member's appointment and involves participation of the new faculty member along with four senior faculty members: the department chair, one senior faculty member with related interests from the department, one from a different department, and a trained senior faculty convener from a different field. Monthly meetings are chaired by the convener and systematically cover topics important to the faculty member's new role and adjustment to the new community (inside and outside the institution). Data are reported for the first 82 "launch committees" for STEM faculty at the University of Michigan. Although new faculty were not asked directly, 98% of the 251 senior faculty described this new approach-year-long launch committees-as valuable and worth sustaining. As a result, there was widespread adoption of the model throughout the campus (beyond STEM fields). We close with suggestions for systematic research on the critical factors for success of a launch committee program.