Shaping Faculty Careers

Published November 16, 2018

Faculty life is challenging. Professors juggle teaching and advising students, research, committee assignments and much more, creating a difficult road for early-career faculty trying to get tenure. To help remedy this, Drs. , Laura Henriques and  have recently published "Shaping Your Career: A Guide for Early Career Faculty", which outlines challenges and offers insights to gaining tenure.

The book offers tips that budding professors might not have learned in their educational programs. They hone their skills in conducting research, but often other skills are left unaddressed, like teaching a full load of classes, working on projects, fulfilling requests from the dean and protecting their boundaries. How can they put themselves in the best position to get tenure?The work stems, in part, from Haviland鈥檚 research. 鈥淚 followed several faculty for six years as they went through the tenure process,鈥 Haviland said, 鈥渞ecording their triumphs and challenges and the things that tripped them up.鈥

鈥淵ou can鈥檛 say 鈥榶es鈥 to everything, but how do you say 鈥榥o鈥 in a way that鈥檚 professional and collegial?鈥 Haviland said.

The authors hope the book will give newer faculty a game plan for proactively managing their careers and providing them with tools for success.

Ortiz, who has authored a range of publications, has centered her research primarily on ethnic identity development and multicultural education, while Henriques has served as the secondary science credential coordinator.

鈥淒on鈥檛 feel like you don鈥檛 have choices,鈥 Haviland said. 鈥淕rab the steering wheel and drive your career.鈥

 

This article was reproduced from , a publication of the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at California State University, Long Beach.