Overview

The Garnet & Black Associate Professors Program is a mid-career professional development initiative designed to invest in the personal and professional success of associate professors at the University of South Carolina. The program is open to tenured Associate Professors on the USC Columbia campus who have been tenured for no more than 8 years. Through a strategic professional development experience, faculty are provided an opportunity to thoughtfully refocus and recharge, strategically identify and plan new professional directions, and develop the critical skills needed to thrive in the next stage of their career.

Having achieved tenure is a significant professional accomplishment! The mid-career stage of a faculty member’s journey is a time of celebration, pride, and accomplishment. This career stage also offers an important opportunity to reflect, refine, and refresh professional goals. Mid-career faculty represent a significant and important community of experts, researchers, artists and scholars who will advance knowledge, innovate practice, and provide highly skilled service to global communities through the strategic pursuit of their life passions. 

The experience begins with a one-day “Impact & Possibility: Mid-Career Faculty Symposium” held in-person. The opening symposium is followed by participation in the Provost’s Mid-Career Faculty Institute which is a series of 2-hour monthly sessions throughout the academic year. Institute sessions are synchronous professional development meetings with both in-person or virtual attendance options.

By participating in the program, faculty are provided an opportunity to strategically advance their professional goals, explore leadership opportunities and new possibilities for professional pathways, learn effective strategies for navigating professional and personal life challenges, obtain professional training to help navigate the contemporary academic landscape (social media platforms, brand identity, public engagement, media relations), and gain assistance with developing a strategic professional support team. The program also helps to demystify the process of promotion to full professor.

Program Goals for Faculty

1. Determine new goals and directions: Faculty reflect on and align their career trajectory (past, present, and future), personal passions/priorities, and new professional interests to map an authentic new direction for the next career stage. 
2. Engage and develop an awareness of institutional resources and well-being practices available to help faculty and their families navigate both personal and professional challenges.
3. Understand skills, knowledge, and practices that are critical for next stage career advancement.
4. Establish a team of multiple sources of personal support including mentors, sponsors, and peer advisors/collaborators. 

Program Nomination Process

The program is limited to 20 participants. Deans may nominate up to three faculty per year. Nominating units determine their own processes for selecting nominees. However, nominators should keep in mind that the program is designed for all faculty representing a broad range of professional development needs and strengths. Nominators complete a short nomination form.

Nomination Form
2024-2025 Nomination Deadline Monday April 22, 2024

Nominees might exhibit one (not all) of the following strengths and characteristics:

• Faculty demonstrating continued potential but who desire opportunities to explore innovative possibilities for the next phase of their career;
• Faculty seeking successful academic careers through less traditional pathways;
• Faculty that are highly productive in the traditional areas of research or teaching;
• Faculty that are highly engaged in the service arena

Program Eligibility

• USC Columbia tenured faculty members at rank of associate for no more than 8 years
• Available to attend 2024-2025 cohort-based professional development sessions

Program Benefits

Annually, 20 scholars will be selected as Garnet & Black Associate Professors. Selected scholars will hold the designation as Garnet & Black Associate Professors for two years and receive the following benefits:

• Participation in the Provost’s Mid-Career Faculty Institute, a cohort-based professional development initiative with monthly sessions and activities organized by the Office of the Provost (see below). 
• Optional one-semester service sabbatical (release from campus-based service obligations for one semester during the two-year fellowship). Scholars may choose not to take this release if desired. 
• In the second year, Garnet & Black Associate Professors who successfully completed the campus-based program are eligible for competitive funding consideration to participate in a nationally prestigious professional experience.