Anal Bioanal Chem (2006) 384: 10291033

DOI 10.1007/s00216-005-0285-1

BUILDIN G A PROFESSIONAL CA REER

Patricia Ann Mabrouk

Advice to a new faculty member

Published online: 14 February 2006

# Springer-Verlag 2006

First, please accept my sincere congratulations and Manage others effectively. As a graduate student and
welcome to the Academy! Personally, I cant think of post doctoral student, likely you accomplished everything
any career more rewarding than that of being a college yourself. You wont last long if you try to do things this
professor. Where else do you get paid to read, learn, and way now. If you arent a people person, I suggest you
grow intellectually, socially, and professionally all while become one. To be effective you will need to learn how to
working alongside enthusiastic, talented and hardworking build teams, facilitate effective teamwork, and how to be a
young people? That said it is a very demanding and leader. There are many excellent books on these topics. If
sometimes unforgiving profession. Much will be de- you are short on time and arent yet convinced of the
manded from you at the outset and very little direction importance of this subject, I suggest you start with the
will be provided. The pay isnt all that good and the hours classic by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson
are very long. Oh and did I forget to mention that you get to entitled The One Minute Manager.
travel to all sorts of interesting places? Master your emotions. At some point, one or more of
What I would like to do in the space available to me is those balls in the air is going to fall. I guarantee it. The key
provide you a roadmap for how to navigate the new, at is to be able to deal with it in a mature way when it
times turbulent, and unfamiliar waters of Academe. In happens. Learn how to relax. Recognize that you are bound
essence this article could more accurately be titled What I to make mistakes now and then and be sure to give yourself
Wish I Had Known When I Started Out in Academe. a break when it happens.
Listen and think carefully before becoming involved in
department and campus politics. You have too much to do,
General and you want to avoid making enemies at all costs. I wont
say that poor relationships with your colleagues will cost
Socialize. Huh? What did you say? Yes, socialize. Become you tenure, but I will guarantee that it will needlessly make
familiar with the academic culture and climate at your the process complicated and possibly adversarial.
institution. Take time to become acquainted with your Expect to be very busy and to work long hours, not only
colleaguesin your department, college, and university during the week but on weekends, and some holidays, too.
not just the ones in your field. If there is a faculty lunch Yes, you will see some senior colleagues who appear to be
room or cafeteria, take at least one meal each week there doing nothing. Dont worry about them. They probably
and socialize with other faculty. This can be an invaluable already have tenure or arent on the tenure track. You dont
method of identifying internal funding sources, non- have tenure and you want it, so focus on yourself and do
academic resources including child care, local area what you need to do to get the projects you care about done
employment opportunities for trailing spouses, realtors, and done well.
etc. Be positive in your attitudes toward others, including
Multitask. If you dont know how, take the time to learn colleagues, staff members, and students. Let go of negative
how to manage multiple tasks at the same time effectively. thoughts. Negativity will only sap you of precious energy
You are going to need to keep many different balls in the air and waste your limited and very valuable time.
and do it with grace. Remember everyone is watching you. Build a support network both inside and outside your
institution. Seek out mentors. Identify as many mentors as
P. A. Mabrouk (*) you feel you need. Note that they dont have to be faculty
Chemistry & Chemical Biology,
Northeastern University, nor do they have to have residence at your institution.
Boston, MA 02115, USA Be proactive about finding collaborators. Identify young
e-mail: [email protected] colleagues who share similar research and teaching
1030

interests and try to identify activities that you can do with Institute for Science Educations College Level One team
them that will benefit all involved. has developed an invaluable web-resource on classroom
Dont forget to play. If you dont exercise, may I strongly assessment techniques nicknamed FLAG (Field-Tested
and firmly suggest that you take up a sport. Exercise will Learning Assessment Guide) that includes a primer on
not only give you the stamina you will need for the long assessment and a fairly comprehensive database of class-
haul but it will help your focus, creativity, and mental room assessment techniques that can be readily imple-
health, too. mented with minimal effort. If you have the time, I strongly
Make sure at the outset that you understand what the recommend that you read Barbara Walvoord and Virginia
criteria are both officially and unofficially in your Johnsons classic text on assessment entitled Effective
department and at your institution in terms of tenure and Grading.
promotion. Dont assume that you knowfind out exactly Critically assess the infrastructure available in your
what the criteria are. Ask for, read, and annually critically department to support your teaching efforts. If it will
review (these things do change) a copy of your institutions benefit you, your research program, and for example you
tenure packet time-table and content check list. You should have expertise in HPLC and your department needs a new
be able to obtain these materials from your Chair. Find out teaching HPLC, it could be a good idea to apply for
if your institution and/or department has an official funding to obtain a new instrument. Submitting a grant
mentoring program that matches a junior hire with a application to the NSF DUE CCLI program to acquire
tenured, senior faculty member for the purpose of needed teaching instrumentation is an excellent way to
acclimating the junior hire to the institution. That said, learn the ropes of the grant application process and to build
no matter what kind of academic institution you are at- a track record of federal funding.
public, private, four-year college, comprehensive univer- Dont teach a new course every semester if you dont
sity or graduate research university, it all boils down to have to because its incredibly time consuming the first
teaching, research and service. So, lets discuss what you time through. Teach one course two or three times through
should and should not do in each of these three areas. before volunteering to take on another new course. It is
very important to demonstrate that you are an effective
teacher, and its difficult to do this if youre starting a
Teaching course from scratch every time.
Educate yourself about your chosen profession, teaching
Find out what the teaching expectations are in terms of and strive to become proficient at it. Take the time to learn
tenure and/or promotion in your department. For example, how to teach and how to do it well. Read articles and books
in some graduate research universities junior colleagues are on teaching. I strongly recommend Bill McKeachies
expected to teach a section of a large service course before timeless McKeachies Teaching Tips and Parker J.
coming up for tenure. Make sure that you know how Palmers inspiring and challenging Courage to Teach.
teaching is formally evaluated on your campus. Does the Since good teaching is really about delivering good
institution use peer evaluations? Student evaluations? Will customer service, I also recommend Ron Zemkes classic
you be required to submit a teaching portfolio as part of Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service. Ask around
your tenure dossier? If so, it is never too early to start work and find out who the respected (note popularity and respect
on your dossier. Peter Seldins The Teaching Portfolio is are not the same things) teachers are on your campus and
the definitive resource on this subject. attend (with their prior permission) one or more of their
Once you learn what your teaching assignment will be classes. Most institutions today have some sort of center in
for the year, find out who in your department previously support of teaching. Find out what services are available
taught those courses. Ask them for a copy of their course and make use of them. Attend workshops on different
syllabus, the names of the local book representatives, and forms and styles of teaching at your institution and at
any other teaching materials that they may be willing to neighboring institutions. Attend conferences on teaching
share with you. Your first time out, endeavor to work with including the Gordon Conference, the Lilly Teaching
the existing curriculum for your assigned course-lectures Conferences, and the Biennial Conference on Chemical
and laboratory experiments. Hold off on designing new lab Education.
experiments, revising or writing new lab write-ups, etc. Be
careful not to take too much upon yourself at the outset as
you will have enough on your plate as it is simply getting Research
the lay of the land, so to speak.
You will find it extremely useful to keep a journal about Again, make sure that you understand what the criteria are
your teaching endeavors in which you record, assess, and in terms of research. They are likely to include
reflect on your activities. Its very likely that youll be
demonstrating that you can obtain and sustain some
asked to write a self-evaluation at the end of each year that
level of external funding in support of your research;
will be included in your tenure and promotions folder.
developing a productive (as evidenced by publications
Having specific evidence to support statements will
and presentations emerging from your laboratory)
strengthen your self-assessment. So, it is important to
research group constituted of a mix of postgraduate,
assess your experiments in the classroom. The National
 1031

graduate, and undergraduate students if you are at a soon as possible. Dont look only for grad students but
graduate research university); partner with undergrads. They have enormous enthusiasm
publishing at least several (and at graduate research and a willingness to work hard, and if recruited early an
universities many) peer-reviewed papers focused undergrad student may work in your laboratory for four
around a central theme in high quality technical years.
journals; and How can you recruit students? Glad you asked. Talk to
presenting your work at professional conferences and students in your own classes about your research interests.
at colleges and universities here and abroad (if at all Ask your colleagues if you can speak for 5-min at the end
possible if you are at a graduate research university). of one of their classes. Volunteer to give a departmental
seminar outlining your research interests. Volunteer to give
In terms of obtaining funding for your research program, a guest lecture on your major research area in your
there are a number of programs earmarked specifically for colleagues class. Take prospective students out for a cup
new faculty (see the reference section at the end of this of coffee and let them know of your interest in them as
article). Apply early and often! Dont sit back and wait for potential group members. Dont expect students to come to
your Chair and/or colleagues to nominate you. Prepare you.
your dossier, proposal (if required for the program), and Remember the old adage Beware Greeks bearing gifts.
cover letter and offer these to your Chair. Dont accept new students blindly into your research group
Collaborate. Identify individuals who have expertise and simply because they are overly excited about you and your
interests complementary to your own. Telephone, email or new research program-find out about their interests, ask
otherwise contact them and find out how you can work them why they want to work specifically for you, and
together to advance your interests. If you teach at a check their academic background. There is nothing worse
primarily undergraduate institution, dont be afraid of than a bad student. If you are at a graduate research
introducing yourself to faculty at graduate research university and looking to hire a post doc, telephone the
universities. advisor and inquire about the applicants strengths and
Look broadly for funding in support of your research weaknesses. Ask the advisor whether or not they would
program. In analytical chemistry, industrial support is not hire the student if they were in your shoes (new Assistant
uncommon. Find out what services your institution Professor working at your academic institution). If you can
provides in support of faculty development. They may afford to financially, invite the post doctoral applicant in for
have small grants to support pilot research projects, travel an interview. If not, interview the candidate by telephone.
grants, matching programs in support of capital equipment A bad post doc, graduate student or undergraduate may
purchases, etc. hurt your productivity by breaking costly equipment,
Your best bet no matter what kind of funding you seek is wasting precious materials, reagents, and your limited time,
to obtain preliminary results demonstrating that your and/or poisoning your labs positive, collaborative
research ideas are feasible and that you are best qualified atmosphere.
to do the work before you apply. If your research laboratory Once you have attracted good students to your labora-
is not ready, ask if you can use a colleagues laboratory or tory, take the time to mentor them. Consider this an
consider working at a neighboring college or university. If investment in your and their future. If you teach them well,
you dont have students, do the work yourself. If you seek then you will be able to leverage them to teach future
federal funding such as NSF and NIH, telephone the students. Be accessible, be patient, listen well, give them
agency and speak with the program officer in your research explicit direction, and delegate tasks to them responsibly.
area. If your institution will foot the bill (ask!), set up a visit Let your students tell you when you are over explaining
so you can speak in person with the relevant program something; thats better than wrongly assuming they
personnel. They can provide you with invaluable informa- understand. Allow your students to assist you in your
tion such as whose work they fund, what specific projects grant writing, setting up the lab and equipping it, etc. All of
their program funds, whether your program fits their these activities are useful training exercises and will give
research portfolio, etc. An excellent resource on how to your students invaluable experiences that will benefit in the
write a successful federal grant is Liane Reif-Lehrers long term in their career development. An excellent
Grant Application Writers Handbook. resource on mentoring students is the National Academies
Seek feedback from colleagues before you apply for Adviser, Teacher, Role Model, Friend.
funding. Once you have written a draft (yes, a draft) of a Publish. If you have results, write them up and submit
research proposal, ask senior colleagues in the department them for publication in a quality peer reviewed journal
in your research area and your mentors (above) to read and the sooner the better. As with grant applications, solicit
critique your research proposals before submitting them to feedback on drafts of your first paper from your mentors
the funding agency. Dont do this if you dont plan to take and colleagues in your department and be sure to take their
their advice seriously. Do make sure that you thank them criticisms to heart in revising your manuscript. Remember
for their time and effort and let them know the outcome of that research is work in progress so dont wait until you
your submissions. have the perfect opusthat time may never come or it
Recruit, recruit, and recruit! If you are at a graduate may come too late in terms of tenure and promotion. Your
research university, identify some graduate students as
1032

colleagues will want to see a body of quality work count toward merit review and tenure, then consider the
published before you come up for tenure. assignment. If not, then you would be wise to turn the
Never give up! You will submit a grant and have it be assignment down. You can always revisit the opportunity
rejected. You will submit a manuscript for consideration of later. Remember there is life after tenure.
publication and see it slammed by reviewers. The key is in Take advantage of the growing number of resources and
your hands and centers on how you deal with your response programs that are available in support of women and
to these situations. First, dont call up the program officer minorities in academics. I enthusiastically endorse Geri
or editor to lambaste them (if you need to do this, write a Richmonds group, the Committee on the Advancement of
letter but dont mail it for any reason). Do contact them if Women Chemists (COACh) and its mentoring programs
something is unclear or if you need additional information (see URL: http://coach.uoregon.edu)
in order to determine your next course of action. If you can,
read the reviews you received critically and carefully and
identify the areas of deficiency. If you cant, put the Concluding comments
reviews away for a day or two and then read and evaluate
the problems. Then, get to work trying to fix the problems, As I said at the outset of this column, there really is no
if they can be fixed (this may mean additional experi- career quite like that of a college or university professor
mentation, analysis, or simply rewriting some text), and both in terms of the opportunities, benefits, and challenges.
resubmit. It is difficult for me to believe but I have now been a
professor for over fifteen years. My how time flies! I
promise you if you take my words to heart, you will save
Service yourself from making many costly mistakes and you will
enjoy your career a whole lot more. Again, welcome!
Be careful not to take on too much too early. If at all
possible wait at least a year before taking on any serious
service assignments but only do this after speaking with Resources
your Chair and finding out how service counts toward
tenure, promotion, and merit review. Look for opportu- General
nities that allow you to serve others but also benefit your
interests as well. Serve on departmental committees where John Fetzer. Career Management for Chemists. Berlin:
your service benefits you and your career interests. For Springer, 2004.
example, service on admissions and seminar committees Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson. The One Minute
tends to have a serious time commitment. If you are at a Manager. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc.,
graduate research university, serving on the graduate 1982.
admissions committee, though, could prove invaluable, Making the Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific
giving you an opportunity to meet, showcase your research Management for Postdocs and New Faculty. Bonetta,
interests and recruit talented prospective graduate students Laura, Ed. Burroughs Wellcome Fund (Research Triangle
into your group. Park, NC) and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Chevy
Become involved in a local area professional organiza- Chase, MD) (2004).
tion. I would like to put in a special plug for the American Sophie L. Wilkinson. Starting from Scratch: New
Chemical Society but the Electrochemical Society, Materi- Professors Share Their Experiences. C&E News (2000)
als Research Society, Society for Applied Spectroscopy, 78 (25), 4147.
etc. all have local section meetings. I would also like to put
a plug in for the opportunities for service, leadership, and
networking available as a member of the working Board of Journals
Directors in support of a number of the analytical
conferences including FACSS, Eastern Analytical Sympo- Chronicle of Higher Education. Avail. URL: http://www.
sium, and PITTCON. chronicle.com
Journal of College Science Teaching. Avail. URL: http://
www.nsta.org/college
Advice to women and minority faculty Science Next Wave. Avail. URL: http://nextwave.sciencemag.
org
Academe is not utopia. Accept it. You will encounter The Chemical Educator. Avail. URL: http://chemeducator.
racism, sexism, and homophobia. There is no value in org/
being shocked and outraged. Dont allow these issues to
distract you from your professional goals and to bench you
from the game. Focus, young Jedi! Conferences
Be careful of anything that smacks of tokenismsuch as
committee service, role-model activities, etc. If an activity Biennial Conference on Chemical Education. Avail. URL:
will advance your interests and professional goals and http://www.chem.purdue.edu/bcce
 1033

Council on Undergraduate Research. Avail. URL: http:// National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of
www.cur.org Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. Committee on
Eastern Analytical Symposium (EAS). Avail. URL: http:// Science, Engineering, and Public Policy. Adviser, Teach-
www.eas.org er, Role Model, Friend: On Being a Mentor to Students in
Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Science and Engineering. Washington, DC: National
Societies (FACSS). Avail. URL: http://www.facss.org Academy Press, 1997. Avail. URL: http://search.nap.
Gordon Research Conferences (GRC). Avail. URL: http:// edu/readingroom/books/mentor/
www.grc.uri.edu University of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School
Lilly Teaching Conferences. Avail. URL: http://www.iats. of Graduate Studies. How to Mentor Graduate Students:
com/conferences/index.html A Guide for Faculty at a Diverse University. Ann
Pittsburgh Conference (PITTCON). Avail. URL: http:// Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, 2005. Avail. URL:
www.pittcon.org http://www.rackham.umich.edu/StudentInfo/Publications/
FacultyMentoring/contents.html

Grant opportunities for new faculty

Teaching
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowships.
Avail. URL: http://www.sloan/.org/programs/fellowship_ Barbara E. Walvoord and Virginia Johnson Anderson.
brochure.shtml Effective Grading. A Tool for Learning and Assessment.
American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1998.
Type G Starter Grants Program. Avail. URL: http:// David E. Tanner. Assessing Academic Achievement.
www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/acsdisplay.html? Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 2001.
DOC=prf\prfgrant.html Field-Tested Learning Assessment Guide. Avail. URL:
Army Research Office Young Investigator Program. Avail. http://www.flaguide.org/index.php
URL: http://www.arl.army.mil/main/ Parker J. Palmer. The Courage to Teach: Exploring the
Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation Young Investiga- Inner Landscape of a Teachers Life. San Francisco:
tors Program. Avail. URL: http://www.beckman- Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1998.
foundation.com/byi.html Peter Seldin. The Teaching Portfolio: A Practical Guide to
Dreyfus Foundation New Faculty Awards Program. Avail. Improved Performance and Promotion/Tenure Decisions.
URL: http://www.dreyfus.org/nf.shtml 3rd ed. Bolton: Anker Publishing, 2004.
Dreyfus Faculty Start-up Awards Program. Avail. URL: Wilbert J. McKeachie and Marilla Svinicki. McKeachies
http://www.dreyfus.org/su.shtml Teaching Tips: Strategies, Research and Theory for
Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program. College and University Teachers. 12th ed. Houghton
Avail. URL: http://www.onr.navy.mil/ Mifflin, 2006.
National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Devel- Ron Zemke. Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Customer
opment (CAREER) Program. Avail. URL: http://www. Service. 3rd ed. New York: American Management
nsf.gov/pubs/2005/nsf05027/nsf05027.jsp Association, 2003.
Research Corporation Cottrell College Science Awards.
Avail. URL: http://www.rescorp.org/ccsa.ccsa.htm
Research Corporation Cottrell Scholar Awards. Avail.
URL: http://www.rescorp.org/csa.csa.htm

Grant writing and research

Liane Reif-Lehrer. Grant Application Writers Handbook

4th ed. Boston: Jones & Bartlett, 2005.
How to Get Started in Research. The Council on Under-
graduate Research (Washington, DC). (1999).

Mentoring students
Patricia Ann Mabrouk is Professor of Chemistry and
Chemical Biology at Northeastern University (Boston,
Barbara B. Lazarus, Lisa M. Ritter, Susan A. Ambrose. The MA). Her research interests are in chemical education
Womans Guide to Navigating the Ph.D. in Engineering & (graduate education, active learning, and undergraduate
Science. New York: IEEE Press, Inc., 2000. research), materials science, and bioanalytical chemistry.