Understanding New Faculty Background, Aspirations, Challenges, and Growth

Abstract

Early career faculty, defined as those within the first seven years of appointment to a faculty position or those who have not yet received tenure, contribute to the present and create the future of universities and colleges. This chapter contributes to deeper understanding of new faculty by addressing these issues: 1) the demographics of early career faculty; 2) the preparation they receive and the gaps in their graduate and postdoctoral backgrounds; 3) the abilities and skills early career faculty need to succeed in higher education; 4) the expectations early career faculty have for their careers and the challenges they experience in their new roles; 5) the strategies individual early career faculty and institutions can employ to enhance their professional growth; and 6) directions for future research Key Words: Early career faculty; New faculty; Demographics; Socialization; Preparation; Expectations; Motivations; Tenure process; Colleagueship; Community; Mentoring; Balance; Flexibility; Non-majority faculty; Strategies Early career faculty contribute to the present and create the future of universities and colleges. When a higher education institution recruits, selects, and hires a new faculty member, it is making a major investment of resources and trust. Ideally, the faculty member will thrive at the institution, finding intellectual excitement and professional and personal satisfaction as well as contributing his or her talents to achieving institutional missions and enhancing organizational excellence. Yet the success of new faculty members usually requires more than simply good hiring decisions. Institutional leaders and estab-

Exploring and testing the predictors of new faculty success: a mixed methods study

“…Our qualitative findings confirmed expectations, collegiality, and balance as themes new faculty report as critical to their success (Austin and Rice 1998;Austin, Sorcinelli and McDaniels 2007;Boice 1992;Eddy and Gaston-Gayles 2008;Luce and Murray 1998;Mullen and Forbes 2000;Nir and Zilberstein-Levy 2006;Rice, Sorcinelli and Austin 2000;Trower and Gallagher 2008;Trotman and Brown 2005). A lesser identified theme in previous literature was job location (Eddy and Hart 2012;Trotman and Brown 2005), which may have been emphasized by our focus groups due to the remote northern location of their community.…”

“…Three of the themes have been well established in previous research (expectations, balance, collegiality; Austin, Sorcinelli and McDaniels 2007), and one theme was more unique (location; although see Trotman and Brown 2005; Eddy and Hart 2012). Our literature review indicates that these factors have not been quantitatively measured and contrasted statistically within a single study to test their predictive utility for success.…”

“…Participants spoke about different types of balance, specifically balance among professional roles versus balance between professional and personal life, which has been explicated in the past by Austin, Sorcinelli and McDaniels (2007). Regarding professional balance, participants often made statements such as 'finding balance However, single faculty members stated personal balance as a priority as well: 'I love my job and I love what we do, but it shouldn't be all our lives.…”

“…Researchers have posited several definitions of new faculty: those within their first seven years of appointment or who have not yet been awarded tenure (Austin, Sorcinelli and McDaniels 2007), individuals between completion of doctorate and award of tenure (Solem and Foote 2004), or PhDs who are new to a campus and with no experience in other institutions (Sorcinelli 1994). Tenure is a legal commitment of employment by North American Universities that can be earned by senior professors (e.g.…”

“…Boice's (1992) Austin, Sorcinelli and McDaniels (2007) reviewed the literature on new faculty and conceptualized three core issues that can affect the productivity and success of early career faculty: 'expectations for performance, particularly the tenure process; collegiality and community; and balance among professional roles and between personal and professional life' (57). Other models of faculty development also exist that identify one or several of these prominent factors (Bauer et al 2007;Bland et al 2002;Hagedorn 2000).…”