Gillian Gualtieri-Miller
Gillian is Director of the CFA’s Faculty Cluster Initiative.
My role in the CFA
I oversee all of the activities related to the interdisciplinary Faculty Cluster Initiative across many of the schools at NYU. I also develop and enact programming for our faculty in the clusters, especially writing supports, including our Fall Fridays events and our small writing group program. Additionally, I serve the Center for Faculty Advancement through a series of other programs and initiatives, including conducting large- and small-scale research projects related to faculty development and advancement. I then use the data I collect to develop evidence-based supports, strategic planning and policy recommendations, and programming to address emerging needs among a variety of faculty populations. For example, I met with many faculty members in the clusters in focus groups and one-on-one interviews throughout the 2023-24 academic year. Through those conversations, I identified shared needs and goals around writing and collaboration, and our Friday open writing hours events emerged from those conversations.
Most enjoyable thing about my work
I love being able to collaborate with a lot of different stakeholders and faculty members to learn more about their day-to-day work lives, and their long-term aspirations and goals. These ambitions affirm NYU’s position as a leading research university in the field of higher education.
Because I trained as an organizational sociologist, I’m really interested in how individuals come together and interact across an organizational setting. I have relatively omnivorous interests, so being able to talk to an art historian, an education scholar, a scientist, and a librarian in the same day, and identify commonalities and unique perspectives, including across NYU’s global network, is a welcome challenge that keeps me excited and inspired. I also genuinely like my colleagues who are knowledgeable, pragmatic, and visionary leaders, and who all work really hard to make a diversity of projects happen, often making it appear effortless. It’s invigorating to work with people who like their work and are good at what they do!
I love being able to collaborate with a lot of different stakeholders and faculty members
Gillian presenting to faculty at NYU Scholars Convention in June 2023
Proudest recent accomplishment at work
In the spring, I distributed a reflection survey among faculty members working in the clusters, and learned a lot about how they engage with each other and the work that we do at the CFA. Reading their stories about articles written at our open writing hours, grants they achieved after working on their applications at the CFA, and new friends and collaborators met through some of the events that I organized was really gratifying. Additionally, it was so helpful to learn about the gaps in our offerings and to respond by developing new pilot programs for this year to better support faculty. It’s affirming when your work is meeting the needs it sets out to meet, and when you are able to get creative and think about new projects that have a concrete purpose, impact, and audience.
Proudest recent accomplishment outside work
I am really proud that alongside my work at the CFA, I have been able to maintain my personal research agenda as a sociologist of creative work. This year, I was able to publish two co-authored pieces Happy Cooks Make Good Food: Management Lessons from the Kitchen and What makes a book “good”?, two solo-authored research reports as part of ArtTable’s Pay Equity project, and present my new research-in-progress projects at disciplinary conferences and working groups. I also am pretty sure that I have mastered my homemade focaccia recipe after (I’m not kidding!) ten years of research and development.
What I’d do at NYU if I could switch jobs for one week
I started my career in the classroom as a sociology professor, and I do miss regular interactions with students. I especially like supporting students in the research process, so I think I’d like to be teaching a graduate research methods or research design class, especially in an interdisciplinary department that would allow me to stretch my brain and research skills and continue to learn from the next generation of researchers. It would be great to do this kind of work on a larger scale by collaborating with colleagues in the many departments across the Office of the Provost to support and foster the awesome research that our faculty members are doing.
Mike Hoa Nguyen
Assistant Professor of Education Administration, Leadership, and Technology
Working with Gillian has been an incredible experience. Her welcoming nature and genuine care shine through in every project, creating an environment that is both supportive and thoughtfully attentive to our needs. Thanks to her dedication, I’ve been able to remain highly productive, including successfully writing my fellowship proposal in the space she created. Gillian’s strategic insights were also essential in planning my research-practice partnership convening, which included helping me access NYU resources to make it a reality. I am deeply grateful for the positive, collaborative atmosphere she fosters, making a lasting impact on our work and success.
Audrey Celestine
Associate Professor of History (Institute of French Studies and History)
Throughout my first year at NYU, Gillian has been invaluable. I spent the first 11 years of my career in the French university system, and while I have experience in teaching and research, navigating a complex environment like NYU’s proved challenging. I could count on Gillian’s solicitude, sound advice, attentiveness, and support from the first weeks. She knows the world of research and the administrative issues involved in being a faculty member at a university like NYU. In addition to providing advice on research, event funding, publication, and career development, she has set up a privileged space for her colleagues to write and discuss career issues. Our exchanges made my first year much easier, and I can’t thank her enough.