Case Study: A Career Development Program for New Engineering Faculty

Abstract

The career progression of new hire junior faculty is a topic of growing interest in higher education. This article presents a career development program for tenure track assistant professors aimed at improving many aspects of early career performance. The motivations for this case study are to enhance the progress of faculty members early in their career, and to evaluate whether a comprehensive career development program enhances the performance of junior faculty members in their progress towards promotion and tenure. A career development program was piloted in the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Rochester Institute of Technology. The impact was evaluated by comparing the career progress of six faculty hired after creation of the program to four faculty hired before. The career development program included elements associated with teaching, scholarship, and service. Performance data for each of these three areas was collected, in addition to a faculty self-assessment of their understanding of tenure and promotion expectations. Results of the case study indicate that the assistant professors engaged in the career development program performed at a level equal to or higher than the assistant professors not engaged in the career development program for every metric measured. A comprehensive career development program for tenure track assistant professors may contribute to improving many aspects of early career performance and improve faculty performance and satisfaction during the early years of their career.