Early Pathways to Career Success Program

The CWIMS-Early Pathways to Career Success program is a year-long program for new faculty, identifying as women, to elucidate early pathways of academic success. Skills training in advocating for yourself, education about key best practices for obtaining promotion and tenure, faculty resources for wellness, balance, and peer mentoring are shared, in addition to specific logistics related to human resources such as FMLA, disability, stop-the-clock, and others. The program consists of small cohorts that meet for 1.5 hrs monthly over one academic year starting in November (November-August). Meetings are typically held remotely over Zoom between 8-9:30am.

Interested in participating in an all-genders cohort? The Office of Faculty Affairs has scaled up our program and is now offering additional opportunities through their OFA Early Pathways to Career Success program.

Questions? Contact CWIMS at cwims@umn.edu

• When faculty feel connected, supported and a sense of “home” within a small group of colleagues, they are more likely to experience personal wellness and professional success

• When faculty are engaged with peers and institutional programs, they are more likely to be retained in their positions

• There are key skill sets that can support the success of academic faculty in their careers. Some of these skills expand beyond traditional academic career development and include factors such as work-life balance and financial wellness. 

• Faculty who identify as women experience unique barriers to building these skill sets

• Increase average rates of retention for new faculty identifying as women through increasing new faculty engagement, creating a sense of small group connection, and promoting strategic peer mentoring  

• Provide early pathways to career success for new faculty identifying as women through skills training, opportunity sharing, and peer mentoring 

• Increase the success of promotion and tenure in women faculty