This panel session was run by Tracy Camp (Colorado School of Mines), Joan Francioni (Winona State University), Mary Lou Soffa (University of Virginia) and Mary Jane Irwin (Penn State).
This was an odd session for me to attend. I am not, and I probably never will be an Associate Professor. This role doesn't exist in the same way in the UK, and so knowing what to do after I became one was perhaps a little unnecessary for me. In an odd way everything under discussion was alien to me, and I had to work my head round the differences in the English and American Academic systems. However, the talk was still interesting and there were many commonalities between the responsibilities of an academic in the UK and the US. I found myself taking copious notes.
The talk was split into three main sections 'Activities towards Promotion' (Mary Lou), 'Undergraduate Institutions' (Joan), and 'Achieving Leadership' (Mary Jane).
Mary Lou talked about role progression, and the responsibilities of teaching, research and scholarship and service and leadership once you have tenure. I found myself fighting with two terms 'tenure' and 'service', both of which are established in the American academic lexicon but not in mine (I heard 'tenure' mentioned on House once, but I don't think that counts). 'Service' I established was just a term for administration, just more formally labelled and acknowledged. I quite approve, as admin is a major part of any academics role.
I vowed to look up tenure as soon as the lovely GHC-Juniper network connection started back up again, as I was struggling to understand what it meant beyond just being permanently employed by an institution. Somehow your job is more secure? I still fail to fully grasp it, and would love to have someone explain the underlying premise to me! It seems like the concept of tenure would reduce movement of faculty between institutions, and leave departments somewhat stale. (I am happy to be wrong on this point!)
Once you have Associate Professor status (and thereby tenure) you are free to do the things you would like to do. You must be careful to:
- Balance teaching and research
- Not switch research areas
- Not take on too much admin and organisational work
Joan spoke about the differences in the skills needed to progress in research vs. undergraduate institutions. This parallels the differences in the UK between teaching and research focussed universities. In undergraduate institutions the focus is on excellence in teaching and scholarly activity as well as leadership. I found it interesting that she noted that many undergraduate institutions tended to be more closely linked to the local community, and wondered whether this was true back home. Is Brighton Uni more closely tied to the city than Sussex University?
Mary Jane spoke (and she admitted it was very US-centric) about leadership roles in research institutions. It is worth watching out for roles which are too demanding, or might pull your focus. After a detailed look at someone of the professional roles you could take on she made some clear points of advice, which I am sure are true everywhere:
- Be proactive
- Let people know who you are and what you are doing
- Be positive and confident
- Prepare an elevator talk
- Go after awards
- Make sure your webpage is up-to-date and professional!
- Stay focussed and keep your balance
- Don't forget to have a life
- And, afterwards, don't forget to pay it forward.
In the questions session, after a discussion around being explicit about your contribution in any collaboration, the topic was raised of saying 'no' (a common discussion point in my research group, and something I am notoriously bad at).
Saying no is important:
- Be clear
- Don't feel you have to
- Point out things you already do or suggest alternatives that would help your career
- Possibly show that you are willing to consider it for a few days before saying no.
All in all a very interesting talk, even for someone who is not an associate professor!
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Johanna Hunt
Official GHC 2007 Blogger
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