One of the most enjoyable aspects of being a department chair is mentoring junior faculty members. At the U of Minnesota I set up regular meetings with a group of tenure-track faculty and one contract assistant professor. The structure of each meeting: a check in about research projects in progress, discussion of a topic I thought may be of interest, open discussion, and then a check out about action items. My new college is small enough for me to be able do the same here at UW-Parkside, and yesterday was the inaugural meeting for three new tenure-track assistant professors and one lecturer in his first post-graduate school academic appointment. The associate dean also attended and shared great advice. For some of the future meetings we’ll invite the other junior faculty members in the college. My topic of discussion was an advice for new assistant professors article from InsideHigherEd.com. Please let me know if you come across additional articles that I can share!
Comments 3
Candance — September 18, 2013
I wish I could have been among the attendees. As a new tenure-track faculty member myself, I find myself up to my ears in suggestions of how to prioritize my energies with many conflicting messages. Just having a space to process some of these swirling thoughts among peers AND mentors would be helpful. It sounds like you've crafted a nice space. Also, I read the article linked and found it to be very helpful. Thanks for sharing and good luck with your group. Count me in as an attendant in spirit!
Candance
TT1 (1st year tenure-track)
Rachel — September 18, 2013
You are an excellent mentor - I can say this from working with you when I was a graduate student. The article you share has great tips, but I think that face to face contact is really key to trustworthy mentorship. As Candance mentions in her comment above, often new faculty are given totally conflicting advice from various folks. I find how you navigate the university and your requirements vary on who you are and your type of expertise. I imagine your new faculty may be initially nervous about being called in to a meeting with the Dean, but probably realize quickly that to see an administrator who can share exactly what the expectations are is quite wonderful.
Recently the senior faculty and Chair of my department did a T&P workshop that was extremely helpful. While they wouldn't put a number on tenure requirements, they did give very specific instructions on the best way to present your materials so that the committee doesn't have to think hard about your tenure case... and, when asked about what number, a junior faculty member joked that, "The number you need for tenure is n + 1, with n being whatever number of publications that you have." Folks laughed nervously... but left the room feeling like we all know what we need to do!
Love your blog! Keep up the great posts!
TT5 (go up for tenure next year!)
Walt Jacobs — September 18, 2013
Thanks Candance and Rachel!