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Dear BPS-NETters:

How would a department go about creating a junior faculty "incubator" – a place where junior faculty have the best opportunity to grow as scholars; to be productive, earn tenure, collaborate, and dare I say, even make an impact on the world?  I've been tasked with drafting up a plan to optimize the experience for junior faculty within my department, and I'm wondering if I can get some suggestions.  I'm certain there's no "one size fits all" approach.  Things that work at resource rich / high status schools might not work here, or even be feasible, but I'd still like to hear from such schools.  But I'd especially like to hear from schools that have developed great programs for junior faculty, despite limitations.  I'd also be glad to talk to folks on the phone.  I've tried calling some noteworthy departments, but this time of year, I haven't had much luck, so I thought I'd turn to e-mail.  Responses are much appreciated; if there's adequate response and adequate interest, I'm glad to compile my findings and report back to the list.  Or, if some folks have ample historical knowledge to know that I'm re-creating the wheel here, and someone has published the answer(s) already, please let me know.

Best,

Mike

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Michael L. Barnett, PhD

<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">University of South</st1:city> <st1:state w:st="on">Florida</st1:state></st1:place>

<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">College</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Business Administration</st1:placename></st1:place>

Department of Management & Organization

<st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">4202 E. Fowler Avenue</st1:address></st1:street>, BSN 3213

<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Tampa</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">FL</st1:state> <st1:postalcode w:st="on">33620-5500</st1:postalcode></st1:place>

Phone: 813-974-1727

Fax: 813-974-1734

E-mail: mbarnett@coba.usf.edu

Webpage: http://www.coba.usf.edu/barnett

View my research on my SSRN Author page:

<http://ssrn.com/author=414796>

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You can create the environment in resource-constrained universities that have fairly strong research requirements (see where I work below) by creating a cohort of researchers who communicate with each other. You can facilitate this with distribution lists, in-house research seminars, encouraging cross-reading of papers that are being submitted, and so on. As you might guess, in Florida, there is nominal or no incentive financially so you have to use other "group" techniques. We are in the fortunate position of having FIU and UM nearby so there are quarterly seminars hosted by each of the institutions. However, I [hope that I] have been encouraging the hallways to create a cohort and our senior faculty have been helpful. Like FSU, our researching faculty is on multiple campuses so distance is a factor. Collegiality has to be a substitute.

Don't know if this helps much but we have some unusual collaborations and our junior faculty seems to be progressing toward tenure.

Peggy

[INSERT STANDARD CROSS-POSTING APOLOGY HERE]

Dear BPS-NETters:

How would a department go about creating a junior faculty "incubator" – a place where junior faculty have the best opportunity to grow as scholars; to be productive, earn tenure, collaborate, and dare I say, even make an impact on the world?  I've been tasked with drafting up a plan to optimize the experience for junior faculty within my department, and I'm wondering if I can get some suggestions.  I'm certain there's no "one size fits all" approach.  Things that work at resource rich / high status schools might not work here, or even be feasible, but I'd still like to hear from such schools.  But I'd especially like to hear from schools that have developed great programs for junior faculty, despite limitations.  I'd also be glad to talk to folks on the phone.  I've tried calling some noteworthy departments, but this time of year, I haven't had much luck, so I thought I'd turn to e-mail.  Responses are much appreciated; if there's adequate response and adequate interest, I'm glad to compile my findings and report back to the list.  Or, if some folks have ample historical knowledge to know that I'm re-creating the wheel here, and someone has published the answer(s) already, please let me know.

Best,

Mike

***********************

Michael L. Barnett, PhD

University of South Florida

College of Business Administration

Department of Management & Organization

4202 E. Fowler Avenue, BSN 3213

Tampa, FL 33620-5500

Phone: 813-974-1727

Fax: 813-974-1734

E-mail: mbarnett@coba.usf.edu

Webpage: http://www.coba.usf.edu/barnett

View my research on my SSRN Author page:

<http://ssrn.com/author=414796>

**************************************************

What a wonderful question (particularly at this time of the year).  I don't think you need a big budget to create a positive place for your junior faculty – and the converse applies.  Having lots of budget does not ensure their success.

The first ingredient, I think, is involved senior faculty who are genuinely concerned about their young colleague's progress and are willing to mentor them.  First and foremost, this means being available to review and discuss their research, read and comment on their papers, point out when they might be headed in the wrong direction and help them get over the inevitable rejection letters.  Early in my career, I was fortunate to be mentored by a wonderful group of senior faculty, and I've never forgotten it. 

Secondly, those self-same senior people can create a department with a positive culture.  I was very fortunate to have senior people who were willing to take this thankless job on – for example, by squelching the inevitable tussles between fields and points of view, by including junior people in many of the important decisions made, and by being transparent about decisions.  Believe it or not, we actually looked forward to faculty meetings.  And the competition among us junior folks was fierce but positive (sort of along the lines of, "well he got an AMR article published, so I should be able to do that!").  And that created positive energy and good role models.  Having fun is key. 

Thirdly, help your young people (particularly those who are ABD) to come up to speed on the teaching challenge.  Otherwise, they'll tend to spend far too much time on teaching and their research will be slowed down.  My senior colleagues let me sit in on classes, provided teaching notes, gave feedback, did guest lectures, sat in on dry runs and otherwise really helped get the mechanics of teaching right.  This didn't happen for me, but it is also useful if the younger folks can get electives or smaller courses to teach until they learn the craft. 

Fourthly, try to make sure that your young people are plugged into supportive networks – ideally, involving a mix of other young people and of more senior people.  The Academy meetings are good for getting this going, as are more specialized conferences.  A little travel budget helps here, too. 

Lastly, and this is one that people with families everywhere struggle with, is to realize that anyone with young children is going to have difficulty being "around" for the social side of academic life – the visiting seminars, committee meetings, drinks after work, parties, etc.  Don't ding them on that.  Instead, if you can find some way for them to participate in a flexible way, do that.  For instance, lunch seminars are a lot easier on working people then evening ones – so do your brown bags and recruiting at lunch time, when babysitting/day care isn't such a problem.  Don't set up regular departmental meetings so early in the day that babysitting/day care/school has not yet started. 

At Columbia (and this will take money) the administration is now taking quality of faculty life very seriously as a major topic.  It's led to the creation of a school, options for ill-child care, and help with elder care as well. 

More thoughts, anyone?

Rita

[INSERT STANDARD CROSS-POSTING APOLOGY HERE]

Dear BPS-NETters:

How would a department go about creating a junior faculty "incubator" – a place where junior faculty have the best opportunity to grow as scholars; to be productive, earn tenure, collaborate, and dare I say, even make an impact on the world?  I've been tasked with drafting up a plan to optimize the experience for junior faculty within my department, and I'm wondering if I can get some suggestions.  I'm certain there's no "one size fits all" approach.  Things that work at resource rich / high status schools might not work here, or even be feasible, but I'd still like to hear from such schools.  But I'd especially like to hear from schools that have developed great programs for junior faculty, despite limitations.  I'd also be glad to talk to folks on the phone.  I've tried calling some noteworthy departments, but this time of year, I haven't had much luck, so I thought I'd turn to e-mail.  Responses are much appreciated; if there's adequate response and adequate interest, I'm glad to compile my findings and report back to the list.  Or, if some folks have ample historical knowledge to know that I'm re-creating the wheel here, and someone has published the answer(s) already, please let me know.

Best,

Mike

***********************

Michael L. Barnett, PhD

University of South Florida

College of Business Administration

Department of Management & Organization

4202 E. Fowler Avenue, BSN 3213

Tampa, FL 33620-5500

Phone: 813-974-1727

Fax: 813-974-1734

E-mail: mbarnett@coba.usf.edu

Webpage: http://www.coba.usf.edu/barnett

View my research on my SSRN Author page:

<http://ssrn.com/author=414796>

**************************************************