Incoming faculty members often design and deliver their courses through trial and error, investing significant time in developing their courses and updating inherited material. This work is often done in isolation, which can be both frustrating and discouraging. The University of Washington's College of the Environment has created the Environmental Faculty Fellows (EFF) program to support early-career faculty in developing their teaching. By providing mentorship, time, space, and community to cultivate best teaching practices, the program aims to help instructors become both effective and efficient.

In the first quarter of the academic year, we meet biweekly to discuss evidence-based teaching practices and to co-develop an achievable plan for their course and syllabus. For the rest of the academic year, and beyond, we meet every three weeks for informal lunches to discuss pedagogy and teaching-related successes and challenges. The fellows work alongside a cohort of other early-career faculty within the College of Environment, fostering cross-departmental relationships and a greater sense of community.

To date, the EFF program has supported 34 early-career faculty members over four academic years (starting in Autumn 2022). The purpose of this poster is to share how we developed this program, how it benefits early-career faculty, and how, by formally supporting faculty, we aim to build a strong teaching community across the college.