Investing in junior faculty: The teaching improvement program (TIPs)

One way in which institutions can assist junior faculty members is to facilitate appropriate nurturing through senior faculty. The Teaching Improvement Program (TIPs) at The University of Georgia was designed and implemented with this aspect in mind. This paper describes the philosophical base as well as the design, administration, and evaluation of this unique program that matches new junior faculty with senior faculty mentors. Despite some problems in scheduling, participants in the program received valuable suggestions on how to improve their classroom performance.He is a former Lilly Teaching Fellow.His office provides a wide range of instructional and professional services for faculty and academic administrators in the university's thirteen schools and colleges.The authors would like to thank Gina Dress for all her assistance in the TIPs program and three anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions.