Your Future on the Faculty: How to Survive and Thrive in Academia

by Joshua Schimel

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780197608852
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	02/01/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

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).

Table 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