Professional and Organizational Development (POD)

Opportunities for Professional Growth

Sierra College’s Professional and Organizational Development (POD) department provides opportunities for professional growth, fulfillment, and excellence for all college employees.

POD’s goal is to support and empower an equity-minded community of professionals where every employee is supported and valued for their contributions to the success of Sierra College and its students.

POD Resources

On this page, you can find:

• Employee Core Competencies
• Employee Onboarding
• Ongoing Professional Development Training
• POD Advisory Committees
• External POD Opportunities
• ProDev

Employee Core Competencies

To focus our professional development offerings, each constituent group—classified professionals, faculty, and managers—developed job-specific core competencies, which are skills and abilities for the effective Sierra College employee. A cross-constituent group also created shared core competencies for all employees. View our college’s core competency path and core competency outcomes.

Employee Onboarding

Sierra College has a robust onboarding program for new employees. Here are a few examples of what we offer:

• New Faculty Academy (NFA) is a semester-long cohort training for all new tenure-track faculty. In this first-semester experience, new faculty learn about the college, discuss ways to improve their learning environment practices, and participate in equity and inclusion training designed specifically for faculty.
  
• Sierra College Communication, Creativity, and Collaborative Culture training (SC4) is a 3-day training for employees that introduces people to Sierra College’s collaborative culture. In SC4, classified professionals, faculty, and managers build relationships with people across the college and are empowered with the tools to fully participate in the college community.
  
• Sierra College Orientation Program for Employees (SCOPE) is a half-day activity for all new employees that provides information, useful tips, and support for the college’s newly hired classified professionals, faculty, and managers.

Ongoing Professional Development Training

POD offers workshops and professional development activities throughout each semester for all employees. The college also offers the following professional development opportunities:

• Flex Week occurs each semester the week prior to when classes begin. During this week, workshops, communities of practice, and other activities are featured to welcome employees back to the college and help them prepare for the upcoming semester.
  
• Distance Learning trainings for effective online instruction are offered throughout the semester by the college’s Distance Learning department. Also available to faculty is Distance Learning (DL) Live, which are live open help sessions to provide faculty and staff just-in-time assistance with any online issues. View the Faculty Resource Guide for Online Teaching [Canvas log in required], which offers links to distance learning live help sessions, online training schedules, faculty discussions, Canvas tutorials, and more.

POD Advisory Committees

• Classified Professional Development (CPD) Committee. A subcommittee of the Classified Senate that assesses the needs of and develops professional development activities for classified professionals.
  
• Faculty Professional Development (FPD) Committee. An Academic Senate Standing Committee that develops policies for faculty professional development activities with a focus on andragogy, equity, faculty orientation, the improvement of instruction and student services, and more. Learn more about our councils and committees.
  
• POD Council. Comprised of classified professionals, faculty, and managers—identifies gaps and makes recommendations for professional and organizational development opportunities for all Sierra College employees. Learn more about our councils and committees.
  

External POD Opportunities

• Online Network of Educators, or @ONE, offered through the California Community College Chancellor’s Office, provides training and professional development to support the effective use of digital tools and platforms. 
  
• CCC Webinars, Conferences and Events [log in required] offered through the California Community College Chancellor’s Office website, features webinars on topics of interest to community colleges, such as cultural change for equitable student success.

ProDev

ProDev [log in required] is Sierra College’s employee learning management system. Current employees can register for institutionally planned activities through the Workshop Calendar and access an abundance of searchable online trainings and videos to meet their professional development needs.