The purpose of professional development is to allow faculty to be effective at rank. The form of the professional development does not align to specific ranks. Instead, the impact of the professional development activity aligns with rank.

Professional development can occur in many forms. Some of the forms that have been observed include

  • Doing coursework
  • Obtaining graduate degrees
  • Obtaining/maintaining certification
  • Participating in trainings (in house and externally)
  • Attending conferences/seminars/workshops (locally, nationally, internationally)
  • Performing research (original research, reading professional material, etc.)
  • Maintaining professional organization membership