Scientists landing their first faculty job at a research university are well prepared to pursue their science. But many are not prepared for all the ancillary problems involved in becoming a faculty member and eventually being successful in getting tenure. Those from under-represented minorities face additional hurdles. A fortunate few will have had good advice from a mentor or programme, but for the rest I offer some practical advice that may help in the quest for tenure.
Highly recommended is a written plan with realistic annual goals for the first three or four years. Write down your own measures for success (hiring staff, getting funded, generating data for papers, publishing). After a year, review your plan and modify it as needed.
By speaking with those who have recently gone through the tenure process in your department, you can learn about numbers of papers, amount of grant funding, level of service, national visibility, presentations at meetings, and so on, that the department and school expect for the award of tenure. You might share your plan with one of them, perhaps suggesting that they become your mentor, to get some frank feedback.
In your own lab you will set the tone for those you hire as technicians and train as postdocs and grad students. From work hours to radio stations, from lab meetings to socializing, your initial decisions are crucial because once the tone is set it's not likely to change.
Managing time is the most critical element to success as an assistant professor. Those with teaching responsibilities can expect to spend — believe it or not — about 10 hours of preparation time for each hour lecture the first time they teach the course.
Serving on a departmental committee is a double-edged sword. Too much, or the wrong kind, becomes a time sink that hinders your progress. Too little and your colleagues won't consider you one of the team. I recommend volunteering to be on the graduate admissions committee or the seminar committee (or the equivalent at your university). The seminar committee provides a way to document the national visibility component in your tenure file.
Network with your friends who have recently been hired and arrange for reciprocal invited seminar visits. Some national service enhances both your service record and your research. Accept invitations to be an ad hoc grants reviewer for the NIH, the NSF or private funding agencies. You may join a department where there are political camps and feuding faculty. Stay low; try not to be enticed to join one camp or another. Keep your opinions close at first until you learn more about the faculty and their issues.
For under-represented minorities and women there are extra problems. New female assistant professors tend to be at the age when the biological clock is ticking. Ask questions about whether the tenure clock is halted for birth or adoption. Ask about day care.
Women need to look at the department to see whether women got tenure and were then promoted to full professor. How thick is the glass ceiling for women in the department? What efforts have been made to address the local career path for women in your institution?
Minority faculty are so rare at research universities that they face both expected and unexpected challenges and barriers not faced by their white colleagues. Don't be surprised if, as a new minority faculty member, you're called by the dean, the provost or the president asking you to serve on an important task force or committee. My advice: learn to say "no" politely. Tell them that you'll be glad to be on such a committee after you get tenure; it's best to focus your energies on your research at this stage of your career. Even if you offend them, don't worry — the half lives of administrators are so short that they will probably be gone by the time you come up for tenure.
" Learn to say 'no' politely. Tell them that you'll be glad to be on the committee after you get tenure. "
David Burgess
Minority science faculty are also sought after by all the minority students for advice, friendship and mentoring. Try to limit these richly deserved opportunities as best you can — again until after tenure, when your lab is established and you have more freedom. Minority faculty often get invited to serve on more national committees than others; pick those that will enhance your research career.
Women and minorities also have to contend with being judged by different standards from their white male assistant professor colleagues. A white male is expected to be assertive or aggressive, but a minority person or a woman who acts in the same way is regarded by some as being uppity, rude or too aggressive. Recognize that some of your colleagues have never been around successful and brilliant women or minorities and will act accordingly.
Finally, keep focused, remember your family and make time for them. And, if at all possible, enjoy yourself.
