FACULTY DEVELOPMENT CORE – Project Summary The goal of the Faculty Development Core (FDC) of SDSU FUERTE or Faculty Unified towards Excellence in Research and Transformational Engagement is to employ a comprehensive Faculty Development Model with centralized and coordinated resources to support a newly hired FUERTE Faculty Cohort to establish their research independence and thrive and advance at SDSU. The Faculty Cohort will benefit from multi-perspective, team-based mentoring (Senior Faculty Mentor, Sponsor and Peer Mentor). Faculty Cohort members will specialize in Latinx health disparities in the areas of Addiction Science, Environmental Health, and Obesity/Physical Activity/Nutrition research. SDSU offers many important faculty development resources to improve faculty research productivity and the climate of DEI excellence. However, these resources are delivered by siloed units across the university, and SDSU does not currently have a comprehensive and centralized faculty research training and Faculty Development Plan (FDP). To close this gap, the SDSU FUERTE FDC will develop new activities as well as unify existing campus faculty development activities and resources in such a way as to provide faculty with a structured approach to faculty development that will help them maximize efficiencies and advance at an accelerated pace towards their research independence and professional advancement. The SDSU FUERTE Faculty Development Model (FDM) will serve as the roadmap to guide all activities under the FDP. The FDM integrates evidence-based and best practices for the comprehensive and unified promotion of research and academic advancement, mentorship, wellbeing, and retention of diverse faculty. Through a dedicated team of mentors who will support the Faculty Cohort starting from their transition and entry to SDSU until they reach research independence and promotion to tenure status SDSU FUERTE will build in research trajectory planning and an individual development plan developed by the Faculty Cohort with input from their Mentoring Team that will guide them to reach milestones that should ensure their ability to be successfully promoted and obtain tenure. The Faculty Cohort will have protected time coupled with research and faculty development training in FUERTE’s structured Core Curriculum that will enhance and accelerate their achievement of research independence and ability to become thriving faculty at SDSU. The SDSU FUERTE FDP has strategically built-in efforts that will support the Faculty Cohort in fostering meaningful relationships with peers and the campus community, specifically through the Core I seminars that include a new ‘Peers and Pláticas’ (pláticas means ‘chats’ in Spanish) monthly peer gathering after the Core I “Community through Diversity” session for the Faculty Cohort to meet and network with other peer faculty. SDSU FUERTE uses evidence-based retention strategies including a mentoring team; providing requisite research and...