Teaching, research, and service: Expectations of assistant professors

Abstract

In this article, we critically evaluate the expectations of assistant professors as perceived by junior and senior faculty (n=22) across seven disciplines at two universities. Our research shows that there are similarities and differences within Sociology departments, across disciplines, and across the teaching and research schools where we collected our data. In one respect, Sociology is no different than the other departments where we interviewed faculty members--ambiguity abounds in terms of expectations for junior faculty. Scholarship expectations for tenure and promotion to associate professor vary much more greatly across rank, discipline, and institution than do those for teaching or service. Based on our findings, we offer several suggestions for improving the transition to the role of Assistant Professor in Sociology. Our suggestions focus on change within graduate programs, hiring institutions, and Sociology as a discipline. While our results are consistent with prior research in many cases, we note that the generalizability of our findings is limited given the number of interviews conducted and the purposive sampling design utilized. However, we hope that our results will provide additional information that may help others as they prepare to begin their roles as assistant professors.

The Impact of Professional Development Grounded in Social Learning on Community College Faculty Efficacy

“…2). University faculty are expected to conduct research in scholarship and spend less time in class with students (Price & Cotten, 2006). Community college faculty have a focus somewhere in the middle; where the primary responsibility is to teach (Cohen & Brawer, 1996;Cohen et al, 2014;Provasnik & Planty, 2008).…”

Gender and Race Differences in Faculty Assessment of Tenure Clarity: The Influence of Departmental Relationships and Practices

“…Not only is clarity key to meeting tenure expectations, but the communication of tenure standards is also critical. As universities have become more accountable, the tenure system questioned more often, and the tenure review more stringent, junior faculty members increasingly express that tenure “criteria and procedures require better definition and clearer communication” (Price and Cotten 2006:13). Social science research suggests that expectations are often communicated in an inconsistent and contradictory manner (Britton 2009; Roos and Gatta 2009), and URMW (Agathangelou and Ling 2002) are least likely to receive consistent messages.…”

“…Such documents should be based on input from all faculty members to create consensus around central expectations and principles. It is possible that just having such departmental-level conversation would help URMM and URMW understand departmental dynamics and politics that give rise to the existence of the “hidden” tenure expectations (Matthew 2016; Price and Cotten 2006). Other alternatives include assigning multiple mentors, cohort-based peer mentoring, and workshops articulating differences between tenure criteria and expectations (Britton 2009; Roos and Gatta 2009).…”

Nontenured Assistant Professors as American Counseling Association Division Presidents: The New Look of Leadership in Counseling

“…Intuitively, this is not surprising given that the traditional emphasis for assistant-level, tenuretrack professors is on evidence of productivity in the areas of teaching and scholarship. Service, in the form of leadership, is often the least valued component of faculty activities in higher education institutions and is perceived as secondary to teaching and scholarship (Price & Cotton, 2006;Stalcup, 2006).…”