2008 Woodie Awards
Professors offer guidelines for new faculty members
Heidi Stambuck
Issue date: 10/3/07 Section: News
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A guidebook for new faculty was released this month that focuses on the potentially harmful belief that someone who was a good graduate student will be a good university professor.
The book, "New Faculty, A Practical Guide For Academic Beginners," explains both the need to learn about a particular institution's culture and expectations of the new faculty member while offering practical tips for teaching, receiving grants, advising students and performing campus service.
Authors Christopher Lucas, professor of higher education and educational foundations, and John Murry Jr., associate professor of higher education in the college of education and health professions at the UA, drew on their experiences and discussions with other faculty members over the years to compile the information for the book.
Lucas joined the UA faculty in 1993, and served as a department head until 2001. He is the author of a dozen books, the most recent of which was about the history of American higher education and the reform of teacher education in America. He has also conducted professional development workshops.
Murry, who joined the faculty in 1994, serves as associate dean for administration in the college of education and health professions and also collaborated with Lucas on the first edition of "New Faculty," published in 2002 by Palgrave, a division of St. Martin's Press.
As part of his administrative responsibilities at the UA, Murry assists in new faculty searches and works closely with new faculty members as they orient themselves to the university environment.
"It's commonly assumed that, if you are someone who is bright and well-versed in your academic discipline, you will know how to do the job and can do it well with minimal direction," Lucas said. "But with the wisdom of hindsight, it's clear that's not true. At first, that's OK, but it could be a fatal injury to a career. You won't pass a mid-tenure review; you won't get tenure because nobody told you what you need to know to be a good faculty member.
The book, "New Faculty, A Practical Guide For Academic Beginners," explains both the need to learn about a particular institution's culture and expectations of the new faculty member while offering practical tips for teaching, receiving grants, advising students and performing campus service.
Authors Christopher Lucas, professor of higher education and educational foundations, and John Murry Jr., associate professor of higher education in the college of education and health professions at the UA, drew on their experiences and discussions with other faculty members over the years to compile the information for the book.
Lucas joined the UA faculty in 1993, and served as a department head until 2001. He is the author of a dozen books, the most recent of which was about the history of American higher education and the reform of teacher education in America. He has also conducted professional development workshops.
Murry, who joined the faculty in 1994, serves as associate dean for administration in the college of education and health professions and also collaborated with Lucas on the first edition of "New Faculty," published in 2002 by Palgrave, a division of St. Martin's Press.
As part of his administrative responsibilities at the UA, Murry assists in new faculty searches and works closely with new faculty members as they orient themselves to the university environment.
"It's commonly assumed that, if you are someone who is bright and well-versed in your academic discipline, you will know how to do the job and can do it well with minimal direction," Lucas said. "But with the wisdom of hindsight, it's clear that's not true. At first, that's OK, but it could be a fatal injury to a career. You won't pass a mid-tenure review; you won't get tenure because nobody told you what you need to know to be a good faculty member.
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