Individual Development Plans (IDP)

At the heart of our faculty development program is the belief that faculty are effective at directing their own development. The Individual Development Plan (IDP) is a self-generated plan that allows
faculty to guide their own development in the context of a Christian academic community. We view IDPs as foundational to professional growth.

Contents: IDPs should state:

• What faculty members want to do. This should be a statement of short- and long term goals. Short-term goals may be those that can be accomplished within a year or two. Long- term goals are those that take three years or more
• Why they want to do it. This can be a personal narrative but should include a statement of the personal and community needs the goals are intended to meet.
• How they and others will know whether they have actually achieved their goals. Faculty must provide an adequate means of assessing whether the goals have been accomplished.
• How are they integrating Faith & Learning. Faculty should be attentive to how each of these goals relates to their on-going professional growth as Christian scholar-teachers and should articulate how these goals connect to their efforts to integrate their faith, scholarship, and teaching.

Frequency and Timing of Updates

IDPs must be updated annually. To ensure that faculty complete their IDPs, they must forward them to their department chairs by September 10 of each year. Department chairs should read and sign the IDPs for department members (department chairs should forward their own IDPs to their school deans).

Whenever possible, department chairs should meet individually with faculty to discuss the goals listed in the IDP (school deans should likewise meet with department chairs). These discussions should be viewed as part of the mentoring process to help develop Christian scholar-teachers who integrate Faith & Learning. This session is also a time to explore funding needs that faculty may have in order to accomplish those goals. They can help faculty find funding through their departmental budgets, through appeals to the administration, and through knowledge of available grant sources. Note also that requests for Professional Improvement Allowance funds over and above the basic allotment must be justified through Individual Development Plan documentation (see Part Three, Section III. E. 1. a. for details on the Professional Improvement Allowance).

The department chairs/school deans should forward copies of all IDPs for members of their departments to the chief academic officer by October 1, where they will be kept in respective faculty members’ files. Faculty members are responsible for keeping their annual IDPs in their Professional Portfolio (see Part Three, Section IV.A.1. for details on the Professional Portfolio).