AC 2011-1660: TIPS FOR SUCCEEDING AS A NEW ENGINEERING ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Stephan A. Durham, University of Colorado, Denver
Wesley Marshall, University of Colorado Denver
Wesley Marshall is currently an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Colorado
Denver and co-director of the Active Communities Transportation (ACT) Research Group. He specializes
in transportation planning, safety, and sustainability as well as urban design, congestion pricing, and
parking. Recent research involves defining and measuring the street network and an empirical study
considering the role of street patterns, connectivity, and network density in road safety and sustainability.
Having spent time with the UConn Center for Transportation and Urban Planning, Sasaki Associates, and
Clough, Harbour and Associates, Dr. Marshall is a native of Watertown, Massachusetts, a graduate of the
University of Virginia, and he received his doctorate from the University of Connecticut. Dr. Marshall is
also a recipient of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Transportation Fellowship and the Charley Wootan Award
for best TRB paper.
c
American
Society for Engineering Education, 2011
Tips for Succeeding as a New Engineering Assistant Professor
Abstract
New assistant professors in engineering programs across the United States are being asked to
accomplish more than ever before. The pressures of obtaining high levels of externally funded
research, publishing quality journal papers, and advising and graduating master and doctoral
level students in addition to being a quality teacher in the classroom can be overwhelming.
This paper offers recommendations for new engineering assistant professors for succeeding as
both a contributing member of the engineering faculty and as an engineering educator.
We as engineering educators are rarely provided with formal or even informal training in
teaching courses. In fact, most new assistant engineering professors have not taught a course
prior to becoming an assistant professor. Because of the lack in experience and training,
engineering faculty must depend on help from teaching workshops and other university
programs. Another strategy to help overcome this lack of experience is reaching out to senior
faculty members for mentorship. Typically, senior faculty will be able to provide guidance not
just with teaching and course development but also with student advising, grant writing and
submission, service on department and university level committees as well as other important
focus areas of a tenure-track faculty member. Many departments and universities have
established programs in which junior faculty members are paired with senior faculty. They meet
on a regular basis to monitor progress of the junior faculty and help answer any questions the
junior faculty may have since the previous meeting. Teaching workshops such as the American
Society of Civil Engineers Excellence in Civil Engineering Education (ExCEED) also present
great opportunities for tenure-track faculty in developing new and effective ways of teaching.
Such workshops teach faculty about the different learning styles of students, how to engage
students in the classroom setting, and methods of course delivery.
Some new faculty find balancing teaching with research and service a difficult
proposition. New assistant professors should be warned against participating on too many
professional, department and university committees. On the other hand, collaboration with other
faculty on externally funded research should be encouraged. It is critical for new faculty to teach
both undergraduate and graduate courses, in part because it can help them identify potential
graduate students. These suggestions, as well as a multitude of others included in this paper,
offer guidance on how to succeed and thrive as a new faculty member needing to obtain high
levels of externally funded research, publish peer-reviewed journal papers, graduate students, as
well as evolving into a high-quality teacher in the classroom.
Introduction
Very few faculty members receive any formal training in becoming a new Assistant Professor.
In fact, many faculty members end up having to learn as they go. With higher expectations of
junior faculty than ever before and limited assistance in terms of training to become an
engineering educator, new faculty members are placed under a great deal of pressure to succeed.
New faculty members can benefit from a set of interconnected needs. The requirements of a new
Teaching
Successfully
Teaching
Successfully
Developing a
Research
Program
Developing a
Research
Program
Time
Management
Time
Management
Mentorship
Mentorship
Network and
Collaboration
Network and
Collaboration
Figure 1. Interconnection of New Faculty Requirements
faculty member, as depicted in Figure 1, include successful teaching, developing a funded
research program, time management, mentorship, and network and collaboration. Each of these
needs can benefit one another in several ways and is discussed in more detail throughout this
paper. Recommendations include reducing course preparation time after the first course
offering, maintaining a level of scholarly writing, incorporating research into the teaching
curriculum, and mentorship have been noted in past literature (1; 2). These, along with other
recommendations, are explored in this paper in an effort to assist new faculty members in
starting a successful career in academia.
Lessons Learned
Expectations of new engineering faculty are higher than ever before. Faculty are expected to
publish in top tier peer-reviewed publications, obtain funded external research, advise
undergraduate and graduate students, provide service to their department, college, university,
community, and profession, and be effective teachers. Because of these high expectations,
faculty are spending more hours during each week working on teaching, research, and service
activities, often working late nights and weekends at the expense of personal relationships and
their health. In addition, many new faculty have difficulty transitioning from graduate research
assistants to assistant professors in terms of trying to evolve from the individual that designs and
conducts experiments to the individual managing the graduate students that designs and conducts
experiments). This section details lessons learned from past studies, interviews with other
faculty, as well as personal observations on what distinguishes the successful from the not so
successful new faculty members.
Observations by Robert Boice on faculty in their first 3-4 years are documented in The New
Faculty Member (2). Boice classifies new faculty as either typical new faculty or quick starters.
Characteristics of each faculty group are listed below:
Typical New Faculty
Spent considerably less time on writing scholarly proposals and publications. Typically
less time than needed to meet promotion and tenure criteria for their university.
Went to class with too much material rushing to complete the class lecture at the expense
of student participation. The typical new faculty member admitted to spending 30+ hours
per week on class preparation.
Taught their courses in a manner in which to avoid conflict with students. Concerned
that students would complain about content errors in class lectures.
Had student evaluation results that fell below their expectations and many times blamed
these poor results on factors such as class size, schedule, poor students, inadequate rating
system, etc.
Felt isolated among other faculty and were unable to develop contacts that could provide
a certain level of mentorship.
Quick Starters
Spent at least 3 hours per week writing scholarly proposals and publications
Incorporated their research within their teaching curriculum.
Spent 1-1.5 hours per credit hour on course preparation per week after the first offering of
the course.
The pace of lectures was adequate to allow for active participation from students.
Regularly sought advice from a mentor and/or colleagues. Averaged four hours per week
on teaching and research discussions.
Based on Boices observations, approximately 5-9% of new faculty fit within the quick starters
classification. Quick starters were found to score in the top 25% of peer and student evaluation
ratings of teaching as well as their personal satisfaction of being a teacher (i.e. they enjoyed the
teaching experience). Boice suggests that the primary difference between the typical new faculty
member and the quick starters was the ability of the quick starters to balance the various
demands of the faculty positions. In addition, quick starters were more likely to network with
colleagues than the typical new faculty. To assist typical new faculty, Boice developed
guidelines for faculty to follow that would help develop a balanced program and lead to a more
successful academic career. These guidelines include (2):
Limit class preparation to a maximum of two hours per credit hour of lecture. Faculty
that are able to accomplish this task will find that the pace of class lectures is more
conducive to active student participation.
Spend 0.5 1 hour per day on scholarly writing. This helps to maintain a steady level of
writing and a greater sense of accomplishment when proposal and publication
expectations are met.
Spend at least two hours per week on teaching and research discussions with colleagues.
Regular meetings with other faculty, industry, and research contacts could provide
potential research ideas as well as the development of collaborations. In addition,
discussions on teaching could help improve a faculty members teaching as well as
provide ideas for classroom activities that engage students.
Record daily work in terms of time expenditure. This allows the faculty member to
monitor their progress towards maintaining the time limitations of the previous
guidelines.
Incorporate research interests and results into class lectures. This provides for greater
enthusiasm for teaching as well as generating interest from prospective graduate students.
In a similarly themed article, Felder mentions that most academic faculty discover how to
become successful faculty through trial and error (1):
We start teaching and doing research, make lots of mistakes, learn from some of them,
teach some more and do more research, make more mistakes and learn from them,
gradually more or less figure out what were doing.
Suggestions for new faculty by Felder include:
Work with both teaching and research mentors for the first two years of your academic
career.
Seek research collaborators who are strong in areas that you are weakest.
Ask colleagues to edit proposals and papers prior to submittal.
If proposals and/or papers are rejected, do not take it as a reflection of your capabilities.
Keep submitting!
Learn your students names. Address them by their name during class lecture and greet
them in the hallway.
Give students something active at least every 20 minutes during class lectures. Students
begin to lose focus after approximately 10 minutes.
Work through your exams from scratch and note how long it takes you to complete it.
Ensure that students have three times longer to take the exam than it took you to
complete.
Grade tough on homework and easier on timed exams.
When someone asks you to do something you are not sure you want to do (i.e. chair/serve
on a committee, organize a conference, do a presentation, etc.), tell them that you need
time to consider. Think about the negatives and positives, and if you choose to not do it,
then kindly decline. Keep in mind that you should do some service, but not too much.
Retreat to a private space for several hours on a regular basis (home, library, etc.)
When problems regarding academic dishonesty or conflicts with other faculty arise, seek
help from other faculty or administration.
Becoming a new faculty member is a significant change for those that have never been in this
position before. From creating new course materials, developing a research program, writing
proposals and peer-reviewed papers, conducting service, advising students, and more, new
faculty are strained with higher expectations. Common themes in the literature in terms of
promoting a successful establishment to a new faculty members career include limiting class
preparation time, daily writing time, seeking mentorship, networking, and incorporating research
into class lectures.
Teaching Successfully
We as engineering educators are not provided with formal training in teaching courses. Many of
our teaching philosophies and techniques develop from our own past experiences. These past
experiences derive from former professors, current colleagues, and our own experiences. When
people are asked to describe the best college professors they had, most people use similar
adjectives such as enthusiastic, knowledgeable, interesting, accessible, challenging, and
concerned about my learning (3). Even though these adjectives are specific to describe what
students find desirable, they do not provide any level of detail in terms of how to achieve
excellent teaching status. Outstanding teaching at the college level most often includes fostering
an active learning environment that cultivates thinking, problem solving, and communication.
Teaching workshops such as the ASCE sponsored Excellence in Civil Engineering Education
(ExCEED) teaching workshop provide educators with effective teaching techniques.
Communication with colleagues (especially those from other universities) that teach similar
courses as your own can help provide ideas for class activities, projects, and other methods of
engaging students.
Teaching is a skill that few faculty excel at upon becoming an Assistant Professor. Because
engineering educators are hired as teachers does not mean they instantaneously become effective
teachers. Some people are born teachers and know how to teach by intuition (4). Though it
may be a slow process, others must learn how to teach effectively. Some faculty consistently
work to improve their teaching by finding better ways of engaging students in their classes while
others spend their careers teaching unproductively. One growing set of resources are the
teaching workshops, videotaped lectures, and teaching consultants that many universities now
offer. However, these programs cannot fix this problem entirely.
Most of all, colleges have faculty that are acknowledged as outstanding teachers by their peers
and students. Such faculty are consistently able to actively engage students during class lectures,
develop creative and stimulating homework assignments and projects, and give fair but
challenging exams. One issue is that while faculty tend to collaborate on research, there is rarely
collaboration with regards to teaching (4). Therefore, knowledge gained by one faculty is not
relayed to other faculty members. Felder provides suggestions for both new faculty and mentors
for improving teaching at the college level.
New Faculty Recommendations
New professors should pair with colleagues who have earned recognition as excellent teachers to
teach their first two courses. In the first course, the mentor would hold the majority of
responsibility. The mentor would develop the syllabus, course objectives, planning and
conducting class lectures, and creating homework assignments and exams. Both professors
would attend each class with regular meetings between the two to discuss what worked, what did
not work, and what to do next. The new professor would gradually take on more and more class
responsibility throughout the semester and ultimately gain full responsibility by the end of the
semester.
In the second course, the new professor would take sole responsibility from the outset of the
course with the mentor serving as a consultant to the new professor. Again, regular meetings to
discuss the class should be held throughout the semester. Such partnerships are most effective
when the college recognizes the significant amount of time required to be a teaching mentor in
this program and considers this time when selecting teaching assignments for the mentor during
the semesters when providing assistance to new professors.
Mentor Recommendations
When new professors get into trouble during class lectures, mentors should resist the urge to
rescue them immediately. These situations should rather be discussed in the regularly scheduled
meetings where there is time to develop ideas as to how to prevent such situations from arising
again. A mentor should offer suggestions to the new professor rather than telling them
specifically how to teach. Over the long-term, a mentor should help the assistant professor
develop their own style of teaching that is best for their strengths and personality.
As engineering educators work to become more effective teachers, such efforts will be reflected
in improved student performance, course evaluations, and retention. This cycle can help faculty
find more joy and value in teaching (5).
Teaching Workshops and Programs
The Georgia Institute of Technologys Center for Enhancement of Teaching and Learning
(CETL) helped create a new atmosphere among faculty by establishing a program centered
around regular teaching workshops (6). Now they are finding that faculty are more prone to
discuss classroom practices and teaching methods far more than before the center was created.
This program not only has tenure-track faculty but a larger number of tenured faculty seeking to
become better teachers. Participants in the CETL program have also garnered stronger student
evaluations, more enthusiasm for teaching, and greater creativity in the classroom, which has
demonstrated the benefits of teaching workshops and programs.
Developing a Research Program
One of the most critical areas for a new faculty member to develop in terms of reaching tenure is
a sustainable research program. This includes submitting and obtaining competitive private,
state, and federal grants, publishing peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings,
and advising and graduating both M.S. and Ph.D. level students.
The items below have been shown to aid in the development of a successful research program:
Meet with prospective research sponsors
New faculty should meet with prospective research sponsors soon after arriving at the
university. One strategy includes taking the prospective sponsors to lunch to discuss
your research background, potential research topics, and future collaboration. Such a
meeting typically helps introduce you to them and is more effective than simply
emailing or speaking with them over the phone.
Integrate research topics/results into class lectures
When faculty are able to successfully incorporate their research into class lectures,
they are often more enthusiastic about teaching the class topics, which the students
detect. In addition, this promotes the faculty members research to prospective
students that may be interested in attending graduate school.
Collaborate with other faculty
New faculty should seek to collaborate with faculty that are strongest in some of the
weaker areas of the new faculty member. In addition, the new faculty should not rule
out collaborating with faculty in other areas within their discipline (i.e. a structural
engineer working with an environmental engineer) or even across disciplines (i.e.
transportation engineer working with a faculty member in the college of public
affairs). By working with faculty across disciplines, more innovative multidisciplinary research is often accomplished.
May have to start small to get big
In some cases it may be worth conducting a research project with a sponsor for less
money and shorter time to demonstrate the quality of work that you can produce.
Establishing a strong research record, even with a smaller project, can help pave the
way for much larger (both money and time) grants in the future.
Stay connected with your research sponsors
New faculty member should stay connected to research sponsors even during times
that no research with that sponsor is occurring.
Spend time each day writing research proposals and peer-reviewed publications
This will help to maintain a steady level of writing and accomplish proposal and
paper submission goals.
Encourage journal writing from M.S. and Ph.D. students
The new faculty member should encourage co-writing papers with current and past
M.S. and Ph.D. students. This will assist the faculty member in producing increased
levels of peer-reviewed publications. If the student writes the entire article, consider
having the student as first author on the journal paper. If the student writes some, but
the faculty member is responsible for the majority of writing and editing, include the
student as a corresponding author.
Attend industry, professional organization, and other meetings that may help identify
potential research topics and partners
Many professional engineers working in the industry have great research ideas and
interest but limited time to write proposals and conduct research. Consider working
with these engineers as consultants on these potential research projects.
Work to acquire the needed laboratory materials and equipment to be successful in your
research area
New faculty must make sure that are able to secure the necessary equipment and
materials needed to be successful in their research area. If specialty equipment is too
costly, consider working with government agencies or other local universities that
have this equipment until this equipment can be purchased.
Time Management
One of the major pitfalls of new faculty is mismanagement of time. The two primary areas of
this are in teaching and service. Because many assistant professors desire to be excellent
teachers, they spend an enormous amount of time developing and preparing class lectures. New
faculty are typically asked to develop three to four courses to be their own that they can teach on
a regular and rotational basis. Initially, the development of the course lectures, homework
assignments, projects, and more require a significant amount of time. However, after the first
several offerings of the course, the amount of preparation time should be reduced. Consider
teaching all courses on specific days of the week and allowing for the other days of the week to
be devoted to research. For example, the faculty member should teach all of his/her courses on
Tuesday and Thursdays allowing for proposal and paper writing to be conducted on Monday,
Wednesday, and Friday. In addition, once the courses have been developed, class preparation
can be performed on the days of the class offerings (i.e. Tuesday and Thursdays for the example
previously mentioned).
Another pitfall is being involved in too much service. Service is part of a faculty members
obligation; however, too much can be detrimental to the performance of the faculty members
teaching and research. This is a great area to have a mentor in terms of someone that can tell the
new faculty member which service projects would actually be beneficial to the tenure process,
those that may not necessary, and to inform the new faculty member when too much service is
reached.
Mentorship
Mentorship is critical to the success of faculty as Assistant Professors and someday as tenured
Associate and Full Professors. Mentors can provide a source of feedback for new faculty and
whether they are meeting institutional expectations. It is important for the mentor and the new
faculty to meet on a regular basis such that the new faculty can inform the mentor of current
progress toward specific teaching and research goals.
If mentors are not chosen for new faculty, the new faculty should take a proactive approach and
seek out a mentor with a strong teaching and research background that is willing to assist the
new faculty in there transition and development into an Assistant Professor.
The Tenure Track Faculty Mentoring Program at the University of Colorado Denver provides
assistance to new faculty in their professional development. This program pairs new tenure-track
faculty with tenured faculty. The mentor, in many cases, is faculty outside the discipline of the
new faculty. Areas in which the mentor can assist the new faculty member include being an
advocate, serving as a career guide, and as a resource of information (7).
Networking and Collaboration
Networking is an important part of developing successful teaching and research programs. New
faculty should network with faculty within the department and college as well as across colleges
and other universities. In addition, faculty should network with members of the local industry,
professional organizations, potential research sponsors, and the community. Figure 2 illustrates
the potential collaboration between a new faculty member and network groups.
Teaching Benefits
Networking with other faculty can provide a source of new teaching ideas and methods,
potential multi-disciplinary teaching, and support for continued growth as an engineering
educator.
Members of the local industry make great guest speakers for courses. These individuals
are able to bring real-world applications to the classroom. In addition, these industry
contacts are potential employers for the students being taught. This connects students
with the local industry.
Professional organizations are also a great source of information. Many organizations
provide free resources to students in terms of CDs, codes, journal papers, industry contact
information, etc.
Research sponsors can also indirectly benefit teaching.
Faculty that network with
potential research sponsors are more likely to obtain externally funded research projects,
which can then be incorporated into class lectures. In addition, research studies provide
opportunities for undergraduate and graduate research.
Community projects such as Habitat for Humanity and collaboration with local
governments, parks and recreation authorities, etc. provide opportunities for students to
take classroom knowledge to the field.
Faculty
Benefit to
Teaching
Benefit to
Research
Industry
Professional
Organizations
Research
Sponsors
Community
Figure 2. Collaboration Between Faculty and Network Groups
Research Benefits
Faculty within the department, college, and university can make for great research
collaborators. Specifically, it is helpful to find faculty that can provide additional ideas
and growth to a research study (i.e. life cycle analysis to a high-volume fly concrete
research study). In addition, this is a great way of creating a multi-disciplinary aspect to
a faculty members research program.
Industry individuals are also a great source of research ideas. Many practicing engineers
have a wealth of ideas but little time or resources to complete such research. By
collaborating with industry members, the faculty member is able to have the knowledge
of the industry member as a consultant in addition to the university resources
(laboratories, research assistants, etc.).
Many professional organizations have their own peer-reviewed publications. These
publications are a great conduit for submitting research papers.
Faculty should begin meeting research sponsors soon after being appointed Assistant
Professor. It is important to develop a connection with potential research sponsors in
order to share your own research specialties, interests, and ideas. In addition, new faculty
should plan to meet regularly with such prospective sponsors.
Community outreach is an important aspect of many research projects. The community
and local governments provide opportunities for laboratory research to be implemented in
the field.
Conclusions
There are many obstacles facing new Assistant Professors in engineering programs across the
United States. These include inadequate training on how to teach, guidance on becoming a new
faculty member, and little support in terms of a new faculty members progress toward tenure.
The interconnection of faculty needs such as teaching support, development of a research
program, time management, mentorship, and network and collaboration will only help increase
the odds of a new faculty members success. Major recommendations for faculty success
include:
Limiting class preparation time after the first several times a course has been offered.
Maintain a steady level of proposal and paper writing.
Seek a mentor if one is not provided.
Incorporate research into class lectures.
With the creation of teaching workshops, mentorship programs, and increased awareness and
support from university administration, the prospect of success for a new faculty is more likely
than ever before even with such consistently high expectations.
Bibliography
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28(2), pg. 108-109.
2. Brent, R., and Felder, R., (1998). The New Faculty Member.
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Chemical Engineering
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Inc. Publishing. San Francisco, CA. pp. 344.
4. Felder, R., (1993). Teaching Teachers to Teach: The Case for Mentoring. Chemical
Engineering Education. 27(3), pg. 176-177.
5. Lord, M., (2009). Those Who Can, Teach. Prism. American Society for Engineering
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6. GT (2011). Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning. Georgia Institute of
Technology. http://www.cetl.gatech.edu. Accessed January 17, 2011.
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http://www.ucdenver.edu/FACULTY_STAFF/FACULTY/CENTER-FOR-FACULTYDEVELOPMENT/CAREER_DEVELOPMENT/Pages/Mentoring.aspx. Accessed January
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