Professional Growth and Renewal for Mid-Career Faculty.

Nationwide, over half of higher education are mid-career. While they play roles sustaining their institutions, relatively little systematic attention has been paid to meeting their particular needs. This paper describes a professional retreat program tailored to this group of (Chang, 2006). It is grounded in theoretical constructs of generativity (vs. stagnation) (Erikson, 1964/1993), of agentic and communion-oriented senses of self (Bakan, 1964, Grossbaum & Bates, 2002), and of or mastery (vs. fixed) mindsets (Dweck, 2006). Detailed analyses of reflections of 47 retreat participants before, during and after program are presented and discussed.If a man does not know what port he is heading for, no wind is favorable. (Seneca, Roman philosopher, 1st century BC)With these words, Seneca captures an important insight about critical need to establish explicit goals, to guide us as we make our way along our personal and professional journeys. In what follows, we describe a professional growth and program for mid-career designed to help them identify and then chart a course for their port.The problem. Nationwide, over half of higher education are at mid-career. These keystone faculty are, in many ways, backbone of their institutions (Baldwin, Lunceford, & Vanderlinden, 2005; Chang, 2006). Ensuring their vitality and continued engagement is critical if colleges and universities are to fulfill their missions, but this swath of rarely receive adequate support or recognition from their institutions1. Over three-quarters of respondents to a largescale survey of tenured felt their institutions' priorities had changed significantly over preceding five years but barely half felt they were receiving sufficient support from their chairs to adjust to changes, and even fewer (less than a third) felt they had support from their deans to make such adjustments (Trower, 2011a). While mid-career are often called upon to assume difficult and unpopular roles within their institutions and while they are responsible for more than half of teaching, research and professional outreach conducted on their campuses, they are frequently ineligible for many forms of institutional recognition - internal grants and awards and incentives are typically directed toward junior still working their way to tenure, or toward senior soon to retire (Nottis, 2005). Many feel stymied by a generation of what they perceive to be poorly motivated, easily distracted and under-prepared students (Bourke & Mechler, 2010). It is no wonder, then, that mid-career is often perceived as an unrewarding, unproductive and unhappy stage of one's professional life (Alstete, 2000; Wilson, 2012).Faced with these kinds of challenges, some midcareer seem to flounder; they are described by their colleagues as stagnant or stuck (Boice, 1993), or in need of renewal of spirit (Murray, 1994). Fortunately, others appear to flourish; they are described by their peers as vital (Baldwin 1984; Clark & Lewis 1985); they are productive scholars and active university citizens; they are inspired and inspiring teachers and mentors (Baldwin & Chang, 2006). A critical task, then, is to identify and provide kinds of support that can make difference - that can enable mid-career to (re)be(come) vital, engaged and productive members of their professional communities.Keys to the solution. Just over half a century ago, John Gardner (1963/1981) wrote eloquently and passionately about need to nurture all humans' ability for self-renewal. In discussing university in particular, he spoke of need to strive for motivation to try, courage to fail, and most importantly, desire to continually evolve.The literature provides strong evidence that one important component of promoting self-renewal and vitality is assisting in delineating practicable goals as well as means by which they might achieve them. …