Reignite Coaching Program for Mid-Career Faculty

The Reignite Coaching Program for Mid-Career Faculty is being piloted by Faculty Development and Engagement and the Faculty Women's Forum with support from the Provost's Office, to promote Stanford faculty’s career satisfaction, wellness, and advancement.

Coaching is increasingly offered as a benefit for leaders and high-performing individuals across various sectors, including academia. Although mid-career faculty constitute a large and highly productive group, it is a career stage in which faculty may disproportionately experience burnout or disconnect from the excitement and passion that launched their careers. The FWF proposes professional coaching to recognize and support mid-career faculty who want to enrich or regain excitement for their careers in ways that align with their personal and professional goals and priorities.

Coaching for Faculty

What is professional career coaching?

Coaching is a collaborative, action-focused process designed to help faculty achieve their highest personal and professional aspirations. The individual coaching will be provided by Leader Academic, an organization that specializes in coaching professors and leaders at elite research universities. Your personal coach will provide you with the support and structure to reflect, plan, and take action to achieve your goals.

Each participant will be provided ten 45-minute coaching sessions which will either take place by phone or video conference. Participants will determine the topics of greatest interest to them, and anything discussed is confidential. Coaching topics may include (but are not limited to):

Renewing your energy and excitement about your career
Managing career transitions
Maintaining scholarship while balancing new leadership roles
Developing a clearer sense of career direction
Enhancing scholarly productivity
Mitigating burnout and enhancing wellbeing
Positioning oneself for leadership opportunities
Improving communication and conflict management strategies
Increasing comfort and skill with negotiation
Improving your team/research group’s dynamics or performance
Developing more robust networks and connections
Achieving work-life alignment
Knowledge translation/impact
Strategizing how to fund your research in the current climate

Program Details

Who is eligible?

The pilot program is open to all UTL and UML faculty members from across the university who are either associate professors or have recently been promoted to full professor. Up to 10 eligible faculty members will be randomly selected to participate and have seven months to complete 10 individual coaching sessions with a professional coach.

Requirements for participation

Participants must commit to attending ten 45-minute sessions. Most faculty will meet with their coach twice a month; however, you will establish your individual meeting schedule together with your coach based on your needs and availability. If you need to change a scheduled meeting, please give your coach at least 48 hours notice. If you cancel without sufficient notice, you may forfeit the coaching session.
If selected, participants are expected to complete a short intake survey and a post-coaching evaluation. This feedback will be essential to helping us assess the value of the program and whether to continue beyond the pilot.

How will faculty be selected?

After determining eligibility and ability to fully commit to the program, participants will be randomly selected within each school, ensuring broad participation across the university.

Applicants will be notified if they were selected for the pilot program in early May.

Applicants not selected this year will be given priority in future coaching cohorts should Stanford continue the program beyond the initial pilot.

How will faculty be matched with a coach?

During the application process, faculty will be asked to write a brief statement describing their main objectives and topics of interest. If selected, this statement will assist Leader Academic in matching faculty with a coach whose skills and experience are a good fit for their goals.

If for any reason the assigned coach is not a good fit for the faculty member, a change in coach may be requested.