Position Overview and Context

The Faculty Director for Duke University’s Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL) serves as the senior faculty leader for advancing teaching and mentoring excellence, pedagogical innovation, and faculty development across the university. As a newly established, university-wide center, the CTL partners closely with schools, departments, and faculty to strengthen teaching practice, mentoring, and instructional effectiveness in service of Duke’s academic mission.

In this role, the Faculty Director provides academic vision and leadership, builds strategic partnerships, and helps ensure CTL is deeply aligned with school-driven priorities and responsive to faculty needs across diverse instructional contexts. The Faculty Director serves as a thought leader and partner, convener, and advocate for high-quality teaching at Duke, with broad responsibility for shaping academic direction, priorities, and standards for CTL programming, including advancing Teaching and Mentoring Excellence recommendations from Duke’s 2030 Teaching Excellence & Innovation Initiative and the AI at Duke Initiative (report forthcoming) as it pertains to offering faculty support on incorporating innovative trends and tools (such as AI) in their teaching.

The role is intentionally focused on evidence-based faculty development, teaching and mentoring, and learning innovation. While the role does not include responsibility for digital education strategy, online program growth, or revenue-generating instructional initiatives, the faculty Director will collaborate with CTL’s leadership team on overall CTL strategy and priorities.

The Faculty Director reports to Vice Provost Joe Salem, works closely with CTL’s senior staff leadership, and provides oversight of the faculty development team. The role includes one direct report, who manages the team’s day-to-day operations.

This is a half-time (0.5 FTE), term-limited administrative appointment for a three-year term, with the possibility of renewal following review. The individual must remain an active, regular-rank faculty member throughout the term. The role includes summer responsibilities, with a flexible schedule to be negotiated. The Faculty Director will receive an administrative supplement and/or appropriate course or service releases, determined in consultation with their school and department, and is expected to remain actively engaged in teaching and scholarly or creative work within their home unit.

Key Responsibilities

Academic Vision and Faculty Leadership

  • Articulate and advance a clear academic vision for faculty development and teaching and mentoring excellence at Duke, aligned with institutional priorities and school-specific needs.
  • Serve as a visible faculty champion for high-quality teaching, student-centered course design, and inclusive, evidence-informed pedagogical practice.
  • Provide intellectual leadership for the CTL’s faculty-facing mission, ensuring programs are grounded in disciplinary diversity, instructional realities, and the needs of Duke students.
  • Serve as a strategic advisor and thought partner to CTL leadership and university leaders more broadly on trends in higher education pedagogy, faculty development models, and emerging instructional needs, and actively represent Duke’s values in national and peer conversations related to teaching and learning.

Faculty Development in Teaching and Mentoring Excellence

  • Guide the design and evolution of core faculty development offerings, such as:
    • Programs supporting new and early-career facultyResources and tools for class observation and feedback, and mentoring programs tailored to the specific needs of the faculty member.
    • Workshops, learning communities, and cohort-based programs focused on teaching practice
  • Encourage faculty co-creation of CTL programming, including serving as facilitators, mentors, and contributors to shared teaching resources.
  • Support teaching innovation that enhances student learning, engagement, and belonging, across modalities and class sizes.

Partnership with Schools and Faculty Communities

  • Work with CTL leadership to strengthen partnerships with schools and departments, ensuring CTL offerings are responsive to school-defined priorities and gaps in teaching support.
  • Engage regularly with faculty leaders, deans’ offices, and school-based teaching communities to surface needs, opportunities, and emerging challenges.
  • Help position the CTL as a trusted partner for schools with limited internal teaching development capacity, promoting equitable access to support across Duke.
  • Elevate innovative and evidence-based practices occurring at schools and departments as exemplars

Strategic Alignment and Collaboration

  • Partner with related units (e.g., Office of Faculty Advancement, Office of Undergraduate Education’s Bass Society of Fellows, and school-based teaching initiatives, etc.) to reduce duplication, share best practices, and maximize collective impact.
  • Advise on the alignment of CTL programs with Duke-wide priorities (e.g., inclusive teaching, mentoring, experiential learning), while avoiding mission creep into areas outside faculty development in teaching and mentoring excellence.
  • Contribute to the ongoing refinement of CTL scope, ensuring pedagogy remains primary and technology serves as a supporting – not driving – element.

Visibility, Communication, and Culture

  • Serve as a key ambassador for the CTL, helping communicate its purpose, offerings, and value to faculty across the university.
  • Support efforts to improve the visibility, clarity, and accessibility of CTL programming, including participation in faculty outreach and events.
  • Foster a culture of reflective teaching practice, cross-school learning, and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

Required:

  • Current regular-rank faculty member at Duke University.
  • Demonstrated excellence in teaching and a strong commitment to faculty development and pedagogical improvement.
  • Experience mentoring faculty, leading teaching-related initiatives, or contributing to instructional innovation within a school or department.
  • Proven ability to work collaboratively across disciplines, schools, and administrative units.

Preferred:

  • Prior experience in academic leadership or service roles related to teaching, mentoring, curriculum, or faculty development.
  • Familiarity with current trends in teaching pedagogy and practice, and experience with educational program development and assessment.
  • Strong interpersonal and facilitation skills, with the ability to build trust and credibility among faculty peers.
  • Interest in and familiarity with digital pedagogies and the future of learning.
  • Demonstrated scholarship in teaching, learning, or mentorship 
  • Experience leading and mentoring academic staff.

Application Process

Interested faculty should submit the following materials by Sunday, March 15 EOD to Stefany Sanders, Chief of Staff for the Center for Teaching and Learning, at stefany.sanders@duke.edu, with the subject line “Application for CTL Faculty Director: [Your Name]”:

  • A brief letter of interest describing relevant experience and approach to faculty development and teaching leadership.
  • Curriculum vitae.
  • Applicants who advance to the interview stage will be asked to arrange for three confidential letters of recommendation to be submitted to the search chair. The search committee may contact referees directly for finalists.

Additional details regarding review timeline, selection process, and compensation will be provided as part of the internal search.

Contact for Questions

Questions about the position may be directed to the designated search committee chair or the chief of staff for the CTL:

Scott Dyreng (Search Chair)
Senior Associate Dean of Innovation and Professor of Accounting
The Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
scott.dyreng@duke.edu

Stefany Sanders (Search Support)
Chief of Staff
Duke Center for Teaching and Learning
stefany.sanders@duke.edu

About the Center for Teaching and Learning

Duke’s newly established Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) serves as the university’s central hub for advancing excellence in teaching, learning, and academic innovation. Reporting through the Office of the Provost, the CTL partners with Duke’s schools and faculty to strengthen teaching practice, improve learning effectiveness, and support the thoughtful use of digital and emerging pedagogical approaches.

Created as part of a broader institutional realignment, the CTL brings together expertise in faculty development, digital education strategy, and learning design to better align support for teaching with Duke’s academic mission. The Center operates through a partnership model in which its priorities and work are shaped by the needs and goals of Duke’s schools and faculty.

The CTL aims to support faculty across the arc of their careers – from foundational teaching support to advanced pedagogical development. Its work includes collaborating with departments to enhance student learning through evidence-based and inclusive teaching practices; helping faculty explore and apply new approaches, including artificial intelligence; and partnering with academic units on curricular and programmatic initiatives.

As a new and evolving unit, the CTL is building sustainable models of support and deepening partnerships across the university, with the goal of ensuring Duke faculty have the expertise, resources, and collaboration needed to deliver exceptional educational experiences for Duke students.

View the CTL Org Chart (NetID required)