Helpful Resources
Ways To Be Strategic About Service
In this Chronicle of Higher Education article, the author enumerates five considerations for selecting committee work that brings some measure of satisfaction: (a) consider all the options, (b) remember long-term career goals, (c) chose work that is meaningful to you, (d) use service to build “social capital,” and (e) do more than the minimum.
Evaluation After the Pandemic
The author of this Chronicle of Higher Education article makes several suggestions for re-evaluating how school policies and procedures related to faculty evaluation. He believes that this is the time to show empathy, opt for flexibility and innovation, and revise the process of faculty evaluation.
Promotion Plan
In the Chronicle of Higher Education article, the author maps out strategies faculty members can use for planning for their next promotion. She recommends (a) learning about the promotion requirements, (b) reviewing your teaching portfolio, (c) revising your research agenda, (d) being strategic about disciplinary engagement, (e) assuming leadership positions, (f) creating your “brand,” and (g) seeking supporting from others.
Seeking Promotion to Full Professor
This article in the Chronicle of Higher Education lists considerations for determining readiness to apply for full professor: (a) know and understand the written and unwritten rules, (b) look at and compare yourself to recent models, (c) seek advice from senior colleagues, (d) evaluate the strength of your scholarly productivity, (e) make a case for the quality of your teaching, in the context of institutional values, (f) pursue service that is meaningful to you, become a leader, and establish a good reputation, (g) be collegial and reliable in interactions with other faculty members and administrators, and (h) devote the necessary time and hard work to build the case for this promotion.
Academic Conferences
In this Chronicle of Higher Education article, the author provides advice on navigating academic conferences – what to do before, during, and after – to make them into a productive experience. He also touches on what not to do while attending a conference.
Managing Up
This article by an academic administrator in the Chronicle of Higher Education lists and explains some things he believes faculty members need to know as they learn how to manage their relationship with their academic bosses. These include understanding the bigger picture, being judicious about complaints, not making threats, doing a fair share of the work, not getting involved in fractious feuds, not being argumentative, and learning to let go of an issue when things don’t go your way.
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
The author if this Chronicle of Higher Education article suggests ways faculty members can overcome imposter syndrome in academics, find ways to feel better about who they are and what they have done and, as a result, achieve more. The author points out that “the phenomenon hits especially hard among scholars who are members of minority groups and/or are studying topics that are marginalized in academic culture.”
Avoiding Social Isolation
The author advocates for the importance of making social connections for scholarly productivity – even during a pandemic. In this Inside Higher Education article, he lists ways academics can stay in touch with colleagues and developments in their field. Among them are reaching out to friends and family, taking time for hobbies, seeking out virtual social communities, attending professional development courses, attending networking events, and volunteering services.
Deciding To Become An Administrator
In this article (the first in a series in the Chronicle of Higher Education), David Perlmutter discusses factors to consider in deciding whether to pursue work in academic administration. He formulates these as questions to ask yourself to determine if you are “ready to lead.” He concluded that it is important to have a realistic understanding of what you will bring to the position as well as what you can expect from it.
What the Best Presenters Do
The author of this brief column in the Harvard Business Review stresses the importance of telling a story when presenting. He suggests five storytelling strategies: (a) crafting a narrative, not just a PowerPoint; (b) using pictures rather than only text; (c) humanizing rather than “dumping” data; (d) surprising audiences instead of being predictable; and (e) rehearsing out loud rather than silently.
The Best Career Advice My Mentors Ever Gave Me Aaron Basko, an administrator at the University of Lynchburg, in Virginia, uses this Chronicle of Higher Education article to describe the advice he would give to mentees. These include: (a) find the work you love; (2) execute, execute, execute; (c) under promise and overdeliver; (d) seek out people of substance; and (e) learn to let it go.