The Office for Faculty Excellence fosters and facilitates success and growth throughout the year, and doesn’t slow down on professional development during the summer. Summer 2025 offerings include NC State SPARK: Summer Programs: Aspire, Renew, Kindle, an asynchronous professional development offering for faculty, staff and graduate students.
These summer programs are a series of email blasts, delivered weekly during the month of July. Each week is designed to help the reader/listener work through a different aspect of getting ready to start the fall semester by offering original content, journaling prompts, mini-podcasts with subject matter experts, and curated resources such as videos and readings that support the central theme of the week.
Materials are developed to be accessed at your own pace, in your own time, and using your favorite device. Here’s what you can look forward to this summer:
July 2025: Building Your Network: Mentors, Coaches, and Sponsors for Faculty Success
Academic success in higher education is all about relationships, from research collaborations and learning from teaching experts to connecting with students; building a robust network throughout your career is crucial for scholarly and instructional development. The SPARK 2025 program, Building Your Network: Mentors, Coaches, and Sponsors for Faculty Success, is designed to help faculty, staff, and graduate students discern their current needs and strategically cultivate a powerful network of mentors, coaches, and sponsors to achieve career goals at every stage.
Over four dynamic weeks, you’ll receive a podcast, printable resources, and a blog post each week, covering topics like understanding your support needs, the nuances of mentoring and coaching, and the power of sponsorship, while also gaining tips on how to be a better mentor, coach, or sponsor yourself. You can also engage in conversation around these topics with other participants using social media channels, fostering a collaborative learning environment. By the end of July, you’ll walk away with a solid plan to enhance your existing network to meet your future aspirations. Our program this year is a collaboration between NC State and Georgia Tech. Enroll today!
Faculty, staff, and graduate students will have the opportunity to read or listen at their own pace, share their experiences, receive insights and feedback from peers, and engage as much as they want as they work in building or enhancing their networks. Participants will also develop a plan for finding mentors, coaches, and sponsors.
