Michael Gunderson, Ph.D. An untenured assistant professor

1
Michael Gunderson, Ph.D.An untenured assistant
professor

• Agricultural Finance and Agribusiness Management
• 70 teaching, 30 research

2
Being a Grown-Up is Tough
3
Your Appointment is Most Important

• Land Grant Mission Teaching, Research, Outreach
• If you have a teaching/research appointment then
  extension and other service is only periphery
• You cannot make-up a lack of excellence in your
  appointment area(s) with a flourish of activity
  in other areas
• As you consider jobs the appointment is probably
  just as important as other factors
• A note about grantsmanship

4
Negotiating an Appointment

• Most advertised appointments have some
  flexibility
• Avoid three-way splits initially
• Negotiate a fit that will set you up for success
• Consider having a dominate area
• Provides additional focus
• Gives tenure committees something on which to
  focus

5
Focusing on the Appointment

• Inquire about the expectations for appointment
  types
• How many classes on 50 teaching appointment
• How big?
• Undergraduate or graduate?
• How many articles on a 50 research appointment
• Where should they be published?
• How is quality measured?
• How many presentations on a 50 extension
  appointment
• How many extension publications?
• What is the target audience?

6
Develop a 4 Year Plan

• Four years to build track record
• Publication pipeline is long
• Improvement in teaching takes time
• Developing relevant extension programs takes time
• Identify mentors that can help you
• Experience counts
• Inquire about mentoring during interview

7
Time Eroders

• Email
• Committees
• Advising/student questions/recommendations
• Course development
• Course grading

8
Email

• Create separate accounts personal and work
• Process emails in batches (three or four times
  per day)
• Read it then answer it
• Keep it short and sweet
• Reread it once
• Use signatures
• Use a bridging email I will get back to you

9
Committees

• Double-edged sword
• No committee activity/too much committee activity
  both look suspicious
• Committees can be rewarding/committees can be
  time vacuums
• Whats the right balance?
• Discuss this with your department chair
• Always honor requests from the dean(s)
• Pick committees that are genuinely interesting
  and related to your topic area and appointment
  focus

10
Interacting with Students

• Can be very rewarding
• Students are fun, full of energy, and full of new
  ideas
• Watching students develop professionally is
  enjoyable
• Time vacuum
• Randy and John
• Always have a set excuse to leave your office
• Stick to office hours when possible
• Leverage E-learning email programs
• Inquire if there is flexibility to work from home

11
Course Development

• Request that you teach the same courses until
  tenure
• The second edition of a course is better for all
  involved
• Less preparation time, but be careful about
  winging it
• Start with previous course resources
• But you must make the course your own
• Teach topics that interest you while still
  covering the basics
• Leverage your teaching resource center
• Creating a syllabus
• Managing university procedures

12
Course Grading

• Create assignments and exams with grading in mind
• Does not have to be all multiple choice
• Random sampling
• Leverage teaching assistants
• Give them complete ownership of the assignments
• Be a backstop only in extreme cases
• Use teams for big projects
• Cut the number of assignments by half, third, or
  even a fourth
• Use milestone assignments that are ungraded (but
  checked for completion)

13
Research

• Schedule blocks of time for research
• Work from a quiet space
• Home
• Library carrel
• Off-campus, wireless location
• Complete reviews of other articles in blocks