Faculty Forward: A Learning Community for New Faculty

Faculty Forward is a supportive program designed specifically for early-career faculty who want to build a strong foundation in teaching. Faculty Forward is open to faculty and instructors in years 1-3 at WCU.

Through a series of interactive sessions, you’ll explore effective, evidence-based strategies to create engaging learning environments, foster student success, and grow your teaching confidence. You’ll also connect with peers from across campus who are on a similar journey – because good teaching doesn’t happen in isolation.

Fall 2026 Meeting Dates:

Wednesdays & Thursdays (times TBD)

Wednesdays: 09/16, 09/30, 10/21, 11/04
Thursdays: 9/17, 10/01, 10/22, 11/05

Faculty Forward Successes

2022-2023 Successes

Participating faculty showed a statistically significant increase in teaching confidence scores.
Increased cohort size by 100%.

2023-2024 Successes

Presented A Kick-start for First Year Faculty: The Faculty Forward Program at the UNC Learning and Technology Symposium and published proceedings in the UNC System Learning and Technology Journal.
Increased faculty interactions from previous year by 17.5%.

2024-2025 Successes

Published Anchors Away: Building Community, Mindfulness, Equity, and Reflection, an article about our six-anchor engagement model, in Scholarly Teacher.

You are doing a fabulous job! It is very important to me that you continue to lead and involve individuals who are so supportive and encouraging; I truly feel motivated, inspired, and encouraged to step outside of my comfort zone, which will not only benefit me, but also my students! People are the most important aspect of any experience, and it was because of you that I enjoyed this experience so much and feel much more confident in myself and in knowing that I have a supportive cohort of individuals who truly care about doing their jobs well and helping people, including students and faculty. Thank you! – Faculty Forward Participant, 2024-2025