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There is much more to being a college professor than just teaching and doing research. Most new faculty struggle because they have to figure out how to juggle a complex mix of activities that are dominated by the human and institutional structures they live within--from departments up to international professional communities.
Your Future as a Faculty Member: How to Survive and Thrive in Academia discusses these human elements that are core to surviving and thriving as a faculty member. It guides readers through lessons in building successful and supportive relationships with communities of students, campus colleagues, professional peers, and university administrative and support staff.
List of contents
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Table of Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The Nature of Academe
- Section 1 Intro: Your Individual Path as an Academic
- 1 Postdoc: A Postdoc's Job Is to Get a Job
- 2 Assistant Professor: Making It to Tenure
- 3 Success: Tenure
- 4 Thriving in Academe When You Are Not a White, Heterosexual Man
- 5 Non-tenure Track Teaching Faculty
- Section 2 Intro: University Operations
- 6 University Administrative Systems
- 7 Working with the Staff
- Section 3 Intro: The Next Generation
- 8 Mentoring 1: Vision and Philosophy
- 9 Mentoring 2: Specific Challenges
- 10 Teaching: Being Good While Surviving
- Section 4 Intro: Professional Communities
- 11 Publishing Ecosystems
- 12 Who Put the Peer in Peer Review--Being Part of the System
- 13 Professional Communities
- 14 Conclusion: Thriving in Academe
- Appendix 1: Useful Resources
- Appendix 2: Mottoes for Memorable Mentoring
- Literature Cited
About the author
Joshua Schimel received his Ph.D. in soil science from University of California, Berkeley, and became an assistant professor at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, before moving to the University of California, Santa Barbara. He studies how soil processes regulate ecosystem function, particularly in the Arctic and in dry California systems. He has served in many roles including Chair of the Environmental Studies Program, Chair of the Univerisity of California Systemwide Council on Planning and Budget, and as Associate Dean of Sciences. He is the author of Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded (OUP, 2012).
Summary
How are the human and institutional systems fundamental to succeeding in academia?
In graduate school we are trained how to be scholars, and maybe how to be effective teachers. But there is much more to being a college or university faculty member--and most of it is left to figure out on one's own. This job isn't hard because the core scholarship is hard, but because of the complex mix of activities that scholars must figure out how to juggle. These are dominated by human and institutional structures within departments, universities, societies, and professional communities. Succeeding and thriving as an academic calls for developing wider, "non-academic" insights and skills into how these operate and how to operate effectively with, and within, them. Functioning as an academic is about the relationships we develop with our communities of students, campus colleagues, professional peers, and our university administrative and support staff--the people who enable faculty members to function.
Your Future as a Faculty Member: How to Survive and Thrive in Academia is organized into four sections, each focusing on one aspect of the human systems that are fundamental to succeeding as an academic. Section 1 starts in the center with new professors, as they build their career. Section 2 looks at university administrative systems and the staff who manage them. Section 3 focuses on teaching and training roles. Finally, Section 4 looks at wider professional networks outside of university, publishers and academic communities.
