From Practitioner to Professor: Individualized Faculty Development Bridges the Gap from Content Knowledge to Teaching Excellence

Hiring practitioners as faculty is not a novel practice in higher education. In their decision to shift from the private sector to the classroom, many practitioners enter the professoriate with little to no formal training in pedagogy. The question for faculty developers is how might Teaching and Learning Centers (TLCs) bridge this gap from practitioner to professor. One initial step is to abandon one-size-fits-all faculty development for a model that supports the individual needs of each practitioner. This article aims to provide recommendations for how Teaching and Learning Centers (TLCs) can serve as the conduit to teaching excellence for practitioners.