New Faculty Members, How’s Your First Year Going?

As the spring semester begins, new faculty members have settled into a teaching routine at their university.  Unfortunately, many new assistant professors have been inundated with course preparation and service opportunities.  All too frequently this comes at the expense of establishing a writing routine or research agenda.  Sometimes new assistant professors do not even begin to write articles based upon their dissertation during the first year at a new University.  This can, and perhaps should create anxiety within new faculty members as they begin their journey toward tenure and promotion to associate professor.  Literature reviews become stale, and new data become available within the knowledge base when assistant professors put off writing based on their dissertation.

In order to maintain consistent progress toward a successful penultimate review, assistant professors need to establish habits and form a plan for their first six years of faculty life. New assistant professors have approximately 63 – 66 months from the acceptance of a job until they must turn in their dossier for penultimate review.  For those that care, that is approximately 1,980 days, or, more precisely, 47,520 hours.  How have you spent your time during the first semester on the job?  What is your routine each day or week?    What percentage of time do you spend on teaching activities, on writing, and on service?  Do you always feel too busy?  How is your family/social life going? These are not rhetorical questions.

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