Faculty Professional Development Workshops

New Faculty Workshop

Next workshop: July 23-26, 2025
ACS Headquarters, Washington, D.C

The New Faculty Workshops focus on sharing and developing essential skills that faculty need to successfully navigate the early years of their research and teaching careers. There is a strong emphasis on implementing active learning strategies in the classroom.  

Since 2012, more than 680 chemistry faculty have attended the New Faculty Workshops.

Applying

Application: Available until May 16, 2025

This is a competitive application process, and unfortunately we are limited in the number of participants we can invite to attend these events.  We limit each event to a maximum of 30 participants.  Additional events may be added if there is interest.

This workshop is intended for faculty in the first three years of their first tenure-track or fixed-term position.

If you have questions about your eligibility or the application process, please contact us at nfw@acs.org.

Scholarships

A limited number of full and partial scholarships are available if department funds for professional development aren't available.

Please contact us at nfw@acs.org to request scholarship funds.

Registration & Travel

Once accepted into the workshop, registration must be completed no later by the due date in your acceptance letter. 

Registration fee: $900 covers meals, lodging, and workshop materials.

Travel:  For folks flying into DC,  Ronald Reagan Airport (DCA) is the most convenient to the DC Metro Area and is a short Uber/Lyft/Cab ride to ACS Headquarters.

Resources

Testimonials

Facilitating the ACS NFW is giving back and sharing with a new cadre of faculty my experiences and methods I gathered as an attendee (Fall 2019). Most of the active teaching and learning techniques I implement in my courses were ideas gathered from the workshop and have served to create a conducive learning environment for our diverse student body. The experiences shared by the (Fall 2019) facilitators were eye-opening and instrumental in navigating my early years as a faculty. These, and the diversity nuggets received, are my raison d'etre of facilitating ACS NFW.

Dr. René Fuanta, NFW Alum
Associate Professor at East Stroudsburg University

I introduced active learning in my chemistry courses when I realized that despite beautiful and “engaging” lectures, students could not demonstrate learning the material. As a facilitator. I love sharing my experiences of transforming my classes, hoping to inspire and help others appreciate the value of active learning. In the process I learn from others.

Professor Milagros Delgado, Florida International University

Very great atmosphere - friendly, welcoming, organizers were incredibly kind, patient, and helpful.

Beyond all the well-crafted sessions, the teaching demonstration was very helpful and informative to practice in a real-world scenario. I really appreciated the facilitators modeling real behaviors that students will display in the classroom.

I facilitate ACS NFW because I believe in the transformative power of teaching for both students and instructors. Teaching is a skill that can be learned, and all instructors deserve access to opportunities to increase their confidence, skill, and satisfaction with teaching.

Dr. Lynn Mandeltort, University of Virginia, Center for Teaching Excellence

 

Sessions included in previous workshops

  • Developing and fostering a growth mindset
  • Just in Time Teaching
  • Backward Design
  • Active learning strategies & resources
  • Assessment
  • Working with students, faculty, colleagues
  • Developing a CURE (course based undergraduate research experience)
  • Establishing an Inclusive Classroom/Lab Environment
  • Supporting and maintaining a safety culture
  • Mentoring and being mentored
  • Making the most of meaning service activties
Group photo of participants in the new faculty workshop.
We all get a little silly at the end of two full days of workshopping!
Facilitator leading a group of workshop participants
Dr. Austin Scharf from Oxford College, a two-year undergraduate campus of Emory University, leads a discussion on assessment.
Man in light blue shirt and glasses teaching active learning to a group of 5 students sitting around a table.
Dr. Casey Londergan, Haverford College, discussing active learning techniques with participants in the New Faculty Workshop.
Participants at the new faculty workshop discussing their projects with facilitators.
Participants discuss their projects with facilitators. Each participant creates a 15 minute active learning module that they can use in their classes.