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Last Updated on: 30th August 2022, 04:50 am
Congratulations, you’ve landed a new job as a professor. You have made it through the interviews and reviews of your materials–way to go! Maybe it’s your very first professorial job,
You’ve probably prepared yourself in all the ways you know how. But what about the ways you don’t know? Having worked in academia for over 30 years, I can tell you that there are some things I wished I’d known before stepping into my office for the very first time. These things would have made my life a lot easier–that’s why I’d like to share them with you. Here are some things to remember when starting your first job as a professor.
1. Stay Independent
I’ve heard that “the reason that academics fight so hard is because what they are fighting about is meaningless.” Whether or not this is totally true, one thing definitely is: universities are not free of drama. All the focus on objectivity in research does not necessarily extend to relationships between coworkers. This is especially true in highly competitive environments.
Until you know the landscape of the workplace and who likes and doesn’t like whom, stay independent. Don’t try to “take the winning side.” Rather, I believe it’s better not to play sides at all in workplace relationships. Simply doing a good job and being congenial will get you a long way.
It is also important to be aware of the workplace dynamics so that you don’t unintentionally step on anyone’s toes or befriend the sworn enemy of your department head. Remember, everyone who is tenured will get a chance to vote on whether you get tenure. Treat everyone with respect.
2. Get Familiar With Evaluations
You may be a fantastic professor right out of the gate. You may have the most inspiring lectures or innovative teaching methods. You might even be a genius, bestowing priceless gifts of wisdom upon lucky students. However, you might not make it to your second year if you don’t pay attention to how you will be evaluated.
Find out the basis upon which you will be evaluated first, and tailor your approach to that.
If your institution uses student evaluations, ask to see the evaluations so that you can know what is important. At many schools there are key questions in student evaluations that carry more weight–find out what those questions are.
If publishing is part of your evaluation, find out which publications they value most highly and focus your efforts there.
Finally, service is important at most schools, so make sure that you become involved in committee work, both in your department and at the school level. Save university-level committees until you have been there a few years.
In the same way you asked to find out the criteria on which your grade was based as a student, it’s important to know how you will be “graded” as a professor.
3. Remember: Your Syllabus is a Contract
Does your institution require that certain information be put into every syllabus? Many schools are doing this to make sure that they are covered if any lawsuits arise. So, make sure that you put all required material into every syllabus, as that will go into your evaluations as well.
Remember, your syllabus is a contract with your students. Just as students are expected to follow the required assignments, you must comply with everything that you have put into the document.
4. Go Beyond the Book
Will you be teaching a course that you have never taught before? If so, go beyond the book that they give you and any materials that come with the book. Get a competing textbook to come up with different examples to use in class. This will be more interesting for you and the students (and the more interesting you are the better you student evaluations will be).
In my experience, the first time you teach a course, it’s hard and time consuming. The second time is better, but still takes a lot of time because you make changes based on what you learned teaching it the first time. Starting with the third time, you begin to get more comfortable with the material and how you will present it effectively.
5. Be of Service
It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day and forget the bigger picture. Don’t. Remember that it is a privilege to be in a position to teach, guide, and support young people. Every day, you have the opportunity to be that professor that changed someone’s life.
Ultimately, when you look back on your career, it won’t matter how many publications you have or whether you got tenure or a promotion. Okay, maybe it will matter a little bit. But truly, that is all on the superficial level of your career. What will really leave you feeling fulfilled and satisfied on a deep level is knowing that you have been of service to people during a formative time in their lives.
This doesn’t just mean teaching them the material, though of course that’s part of it. Looking back on the professors you remember, it wasn’t just that they were good teachers, it’s that they brought something else to the job, too. They were invested in your growth as a human being, not just in the growth of your mind. Strive to be this person for others.
Many people go into their career as a professor with these ideals but lose motivation in a climate of poor management or competition between colleagues. Sometimes just getting through the semester (or day) is all you feel like you can do.
You will have moments like this–as have I, and as have the professors that I coach. But it’s important to continually remember why you are here. If you keep returning to your purpose, you will have a much more fulfilling and enlivening career.
6. Make Connections
Collaborative research, writing, and teaching is becoming increasingly valued at universities, and the skill of multidisciplinary research could put you over the top for tenure, job retention, or a new position at a different university, should the need arise.
Start making connections with other professors in your university interested in similar topics seen through the lens of their discipline. Business professors often collaborate with their colleagues in sociology or psychology. Education research may benefit from a management perspective. Social work professors have been known to work with archeologists; veterinary science profs with paleontologists.
Universities can benefit in many ways from increasing connections with the town or city in which they’re located. Might students be of service to locals in some way, as they learn about a problem relevant to their studies? Who in the community has “boots-on-the-ground” experience to share?
Making connection a primary value, as you begin your new job will have you asking useful questions about both research and teaching. Expanding your horizons beyond your “bear cave” in your department will continually spark new questions and offer new solutions to keep you coming to your work fresh and excited.
