In late August, Provost and Executive Vice President for Faculty Affairs Brian Payne announced the appointment of two Provost’s Fellows, including Dr. Jay O’Toole, who has been working with the Center for Faculty Development to enhance its activities and efforts to develop faculty as leaders. Dr. O’Toole is an Associate Professor of Management with the Strome College of Business. He stepped up by helping facilitate two early-semester kickoff sessions as part of the series "Banishing Burnout: Flourishing as Faculty." He also led a session titled “Decision Frames and Having Difficult Conversations: Lessons from Teaching Management” during the CFD’s Days of Teaching Mini-Conference. Dr. O’Toole has also been instrumental through his participation in and facilitation of numerous other CFD events this fall.
To better understand the perspectives of early career faculty, Dr. O’Toole began meeting this fall with faculty from across ODU’s campuses, colleges, schools, and departments. He has spoken with nearly two dozen tenure-track teaching and research faculty, lecturers, clinical professors, and adjunct professors. These meetings, lasting between 30 and 90 minutes, aim to achieve two goals: first, to improve our understanding of how to support new faculty broadly; and second, to help design and implement a New Faculty Success Program, which will leverage resources available to all ODU faculty through the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (NCFDD).
Lastly, with the October 28, 2025 announcement that after 8 plus years as the Founding Director of the CFD, Dr. Annette Finley-Croswhite will be stepping down and taking a greatly deserved research leave, Dr. O’Toole is collaborating with Director of the Quality Enhancement Plan Initiatives Remica Bingham-Risher and Director of Faculty Recruitment and Retention Dr. Shanda Jenkins to engage in strategic planning and visioning for faculty development. These meetings are in their early stages and will help provide direction and insight into how ODU can best serve its faculty moving forward.