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Last Revised June 12, 2000
The focus of this symposium was to supply some insight and advice about the experiences of college chemistry faculty members who were earl in their academic careers. An effort was made to include speakers who were in non-tenure track positions, those who had taken "non-traditional" routes to tenure track positions, and those who had accepted an academic position immediately following graduate s chool or a postdoctoral position.
John Schaumloffel of Washington State University and Mary Dillingham of Lander University who are currently employed as instructors, emphasized that because there is no institutional pressure toward tenure, it is critical for each person in a non-tenure track position to have realistic goals for the position. It is also important to develop a plan for what should be accomplished yearly and how those accomplishments may be used to acquire a more desirable position. G aining teaching experience, participating in curriculum development, becoming involved in service work in the local area, and making professional contacts are all items that strengthen a job candidate's vita.
Joyce Whitehead of Dickinson College discussed the issue of coming to a tenure track position via a sabbatical replacement position. She advocated becoming an active member of the temporary department in spite of the short time s pan. She also pointed out the importance of finding a cause or important issue in any department because a cause such as strengthening writing across the curriculum, sets a faculty member apart from his or her colleagues and often provides unusual opportunities.
The cause chosen by Scott Van Bramer of Widener University is the use of technology in the classroom. He emphasized the need to make sure in advance that adopting technology was n ot going to hurt a faculty member's chances for tenure. If the use of technology will not absorb time that is crucial for getting research accomplished, and if it will not generate resentment among other faculty members, it can be quite beneficial both to students and to the faculty member.
Mentoring was the topic of the talk by Laura Pence from the University of Hartford. She emphasized that young faculty should be looking not for one o r two mentors, but for an entire group of mentors since no one or two people will understand all the aspects of a particular position. Potential mentors include senior faculty in chemistry or other departments, young faculty at the same or different schools, former advisors and colleagues, and even family and friends.
The importance of matching personal goals with the type of position sought was stressed in the talks given by Steve Watton of Virginia Commonwealth University, a school where teaching is important for tenure evaluation, and by John Protasiewicz of Case Western Reserve where research is substantially more important than teaching. Watton arrived in his tenure track position via a visiting professorship at UCLA which allowed him teaching experience with large undergraduate classes as well as research experience with undergraduates who need a large amount of attention to be productive. Protasiewicz indicated the importance of starting a single short-term research project and a single long-te rm research project and of not trying to take too many students in the first year.
Sue Clark of Washington State University, suggested that one method for maintaining a balance among research, teaching, service, and personal priorities is by developing and regularly updating a Personal Professional Plan. This helps a faculty member to balance short term and long term goals and to avoid neglecting one area in favor of the others.
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