Consortium for Faculty Diversity: The Liberal Arts Faculty Experience

The residential liberal arts colleges of the Consortium are committed to promoting excellent teaching for undergraduate learning. As part of their intellectual vitality, interactive teaching and active learning environments, Consortium member schools seek to build rich intellectual communities of students and faculty members. Through a variety of faculty development programs, ranging from research leaves, curriculum development grants, and support of scholarly expenses to teaching roundtables and travel to professional meetings, Consortium member schools encourage and support the creative and scholarly work of their faculty members.

At our schools, a passion for teaching is a “must,” as is significant effectiveness in a variety of pedagogical settings. Faculty members at Consortium member schools can expect to devote a substantial amount of time to teaching and advising undergraduate students. Because our campuses and departments are small, faculty members are encouraged to undertake inter-departmental and inter-disciplinary curricular projects, including the design and teaching of interdisciplinary courses, first-year seminars or courses for non-majors. Use of innovative pedagogy that supports student learning, such as collaborative group work or inquiry learning, may also be expected.