Implementing a Cross-Discipline Early Career Faculty Learning Community: A Case Study

This research was conducted to determine the effect of Faculty Learning Communities (FLCs) on the experience and satisfaction of faculty early in their career development. FLCs are cohorts of faculty, graduate students, and/or staff who meet over an academic year to engage in collaboration and discussion about teaching and learning based on a specific theme or topic. During the 2017-2018 academic year, seven (n=7) early career faculty and two mentor faculty formed a New/Early Career Faculty Learning Community at a mid-sized university in the southeast. Through interviews and surveys of these members, it was determined FLCs increase scholarly activity, fuse connections between interdisciplinary faculty, and foster higher levels of collegiality within an institution. Finally, implications of the benefits and suggestions of developing FLCs are provided.