Good educators have a habit of seeing things before other people do.
They notice the student who has not yet discovered her own confidence. They recognize the question behind the question. They know when a student needs encouragement and when encouragement is precisely the wrong thing and a harder challenge is required instead.
They introduce one student to another, open a door, say You should apply, or simply ask, Have you thought about this?
Much of student development begins in moments nobody ever puts on a syllabus.
The Sullivan Faculty Forum is an investment in the people who create those moments. Held during Sullivan Weekend, the Forum gives faculty and staff from across the Sullivan network time to learn from one another, exchange practical ideas and think more deliberately about how their work influences student development.
“Faculty members are doing some of the most important work in student development every day, but they do not always have enough opportunities to step away from their own campuses and learn from one another,” said Dr. Jody Holland. “The Faculty Forum gives them that space. We want faculty to exchange ideas, talk honestly about what is working and what is not, and leave with practical approaches they can use with students when they return home.”
That last phrase matters: when they return home.
The Forum is not intended to produce three interesting days that remain at Lake Junaluska. Its value should travel.
A teaching practice gets adapted. A campus partnership begins. A faculty member borrows an idea. Two educators continue a conversation months later. Something learned in October appears in a classroom in November and changes the experience of a student who never attended Sullivan Weekend at all.
The Faculty Forum also benefits from happening alongside Ignite and Fellows.
“There is also real value in having the Faculty Forum take place during Sullivan Weekend,” Holland said. “Faculty can see the student programming happening around them and connect their own work to a much larger developmental pathway. It reminds us that faculty development and student development are not separate conversations. They strengthen one another.”
There is a certain symmetry in that. At one part of Sullivan Weekend, students are being asked what they might contribute. Nearby, faculty are asking how they can create better conditions for students to discover the answer.
Both forms of work matter because sometimes the most consequential contribution a person makes is helping someone else discover what they are capable of contributing.
Faculty Forum: October 9–11, 2026
Registration Deadline: September 9
Registration: $575
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