7 Ways To Onboard Yourself
Oh, how I wish this article didn’t have to exist.
But alas.
Universities can be hit or miss when it comes to onboarding new faculty, but it seems like most of them miss.
It’s understandable.
The job of onboarding a new faculty member often falls on the department chair, who is most likely overworked and has received little to no training on how to onboard someone.
The department faculty also are expected to carry some of the weight, and you guessed it, they are also overworked and have no training on this.
A university may offer a faculty mentor as part of your onboarding, and here’s where things get dicey.
Some universities have invested in doing their faculty mentor programs right—they ask the new faculty if they have any mentor requests, they provide funding so the pair can get coffee and lunches, they provide the mentor with guidance about topics and how to help the new faculty build networks, they provide a document that outlines expectations, etc.
If you are reading this article, I’m guessing you are not at one of those universities.
Instead, you might be getting the more typical faculty mentor onboarding experience, which has no structure and consists of a university telling the overworked department chair to find you a faculty mentor.
So, the department chair makes their best guess, sends an email introducing you to your mentor, and then moves on to the 20 other tasks they must do.
Meanwhile, your faculty mentor has received no guidance, other than “hey, this is a new faculty member, you should meet with them and see if they need anything.”
First, let me give a shout out to anyone who has served in this role.
It there is no official mentor program, then this means that this service is not getting captured on the CV and it being done to truly help a new faculty member out.
That said, the problem still remains that no one has provided them guidance on how to mentor you. It is also very possible that even if they know how to mentor, they might not be the right match for you.
When I joined my university, I was matched with a very busy senior professor.
I think the idea behind the match was that she had been very successful getting grants, so inherently should be able to guide me in the right direction. Plus she had been at the university for 20+ years and knew the university well.
Turns out that none of that actually makes a great mentor.
She was definitely nice and took me out to lunch one afternoon early in the semester.
I remember asking something along the lines of “so, tell me your tips for getting grants” and her answer being something along the lines of, “oh, um, it’s been so long since I was in your shoes, I don’t really remember how I started getting grants. Right now, they just build of my previous research work.”
Sounds awesome, but not so helpful for my current situation.
When the lunch was done, she dropped me off at my office and the vibe was definitely, “okay, so you’re good, right?” and because I was new and insecure, I was like, “yep, I’ve got this” and I never emailed her and she never reached out again.
That definitely goes into my folder labeled, Top Things I Wish I Had Done Differently My First Year As An Assistant Professor.
So, below are 7 ways to onboard yourself at your university if you find yourself in a similar situation.
Just to be clear, when I’m talking about onboarding, I’m assuming your university is at the minimum facilitating your I-9, ID card, university email, parking pass, etc. Most universities have at least set up a website or handbook for that kind of stuff.
This article is for the next level up of onboarding.
Action #1: Find Mentors
Two things to notice here.
One, it requires action on your part.
You can’t just sit in your office hoping that someone will come and guide you.
You need to go tell people that you need their advice.
Two, notice that I am using the plural form.
You need multiple mentors your first year.
First, find someone at your university that was hired 1-3 years before you and is pretty successful for their stage.
This person is just a step ahead of you.
They still remember how hard it was in the beginning.
They also can give specific advice because they just did whatever they did and they remember exactly what it was.
After that, find mentors that fill in the gaps as needed.
Possibilities include: a mentor within your department, a mentor outside your department, a mentor in your field but outside your university, a grant writing mentor, a teaching mentor, a service mentor, a work-life balance mentor, etc.
You really need so much mentorship your first year it’s not even funny.
Action #2: Get On Email Listservs
I can’t count the number of times in my first year someone mentioned an event or a training or a funding opportunity and I was like, “Wait, what? How did you find out about that?” and they were like, “Didn’t you get the email?”
Most faculty don’t even know the listservs they are on, so the best way to learn which listservs to join is to admit when you don’t know about something.
It can be hard because there will be an internal voice that says maybe you did get the email and you just missed it and you don’t need to let your colleagues know that.
But you need to speak up anyways.
If they mention an email you don’t remember seeing, just ask them to forward it to you.
You can then see who sent it and reach out and ask to be added to the list.
Action #3: Meet With Your Office of Sponsored Projects Contact
If you are at a well-organized university (LOL, is there such a thing?!), they will help set up a meeting with your OSP contact for you.
If you are at an overwhelmed and underfunded university, they won’t.
But it is then even more important for you to meet with your OSP contact, because that means they are most likely overworked and won’t have time for any “I’m a new professor and I didn’t know any better” shenanigans you will inadvertently throw their way if you don’t seek out a meeting with them.
Find out how soon they want to know about a grant you are planning to submit, what sort of support they provide, and what the preferred deadlines and absolute deadlines are for getting your grant materials to them.
ACTION #4: Get As Much Info As You Can About Internal Grants
Universities tend to be predictable with their internal grants.
Ask your OSP contact or one of your mentors what are some of the standard internal grants that happen each year and ask if they can forward you last year’s email about any of the specific grants.
While your university might have a website that lists the grants and due dates, what you really want is last year’s RFP so that you can start sketching out the details of a research proposal early in anticipation that this year’s RFP will be similar.
Also, remember that internal grants can happen at all levels, so check if there is anything typically offered not just by your university, but also your department and college.
ACTION #5: Find Out How Students Will Provide Course Feedback
Universities provide students with course evaluation forms at the end of the semester so they can provide feedback about their professors and courses.
You need to get that form.
It’s most likely made available through an online platform, so check with your center of teaching and learning if they can provide you with the form in some way, or see if one of your faculty mentors could share one that they received for a course they recently taught.
(TIP: if you ask for a course eval from someone that feels good about their teaching, they’ll be more likely to share it.)
The merit of course evals are a ripe topic for discussion.
But at the end of the day, they still get used to assess your teaching and are part of your portfolio, so know what students will be asked.
It’s up to you whether you then find it worthwhile to factor that into your course.
But what I do recommend is that if you are ever doing something awesome that directly relates to the course eval, point it out to the students.
Don’t assume the students will connect the dots at the end of the semester.
If there is something on the course eval about whether your course provides real world application, and you just had a moment that did, wrap it up with something like, “I believe it’s important to make it clear how this course relates to you in the real world, so while we just discussed one example right now, we’ll have more throughout the semester.”
ACTION #6: Prep for Common Student Issues
At some point during your year of teaching, a student will tell you they are sick on exam day.
Or that a relative has passed away just before an exam or a big due date.
Or that there is a wedding they need to attend and they won’t be there for the exam.
You might catch a student cheating on an exam or turning in plagiarized work.
Decide ahead of time how you will handle these moments.
The best way to come up with your game plan is to first find out what other faculty at your university typically do.
Keep in mind that each time you ask another professor for advice, you are also building your professional network, so it’s a double win.
You might also find it useful to check in with your center for teaching and learning for advice (also helps build a relationship there).
ACTION #7: Get Affiliated with Centers and Research Groups
If your university has centers and research groups, find which ones are relevant to your field and join them.
It’s a great way to start building your community beyond your department and can be an excellent source for initial research collaborations.
Also, you can add it to your CV, so that’s a nice perk on an action item that is relatively quick and easy to do.
BONUS ACTION: Can faculty advancement coaching help with onboarding?
Yes!
Faculty advancement coaching can provide support and accountability for the onboarding actions you want to follow through on.
It can also help identify opportunities in the first year that are unique to you and your university.
PERK: You demonstrate to your department and university that you are being proactive in being at the top of your game.
If you are interested in what that might look like with Basebridge Coaching, just send as a quick message or schedule an inquiry call.
