Department Chairs :: Resources

A unique and essential guide to the start of a successful academic career. As its title suggests (nothing in excess), it advocates moderation in ways of working, based on the single-most reliable difference between new faculty who thrive and those who struggle. By following its practical, easy-to-use rules, novice faculty can learn to teach with the highest levels of student approval, involvement, and comprehension, with only modest preparation times and a greater reliance on spontaneity and student participation. Similarly, new faculty can use its rule-based practices to write with ease, increasing productivity, creativity, and publishability through brief, daily sessions of focused and relaxed work. And they can socialize more successfully by learning about often-misunderstood aspects of academic culture, including mentoring.

Revised and updated from the award-winning classic, Effective Teaching and Mentoring, this second edition is a practical, engaging exploration of mentoring and its power to transform learning. Filled with inspiring vignettes, Mentor shows how anyone who teaches can become a successful mentor to students.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: The case for junior faculty development ; Criteria for junior faculty rewards; Evaluation and reward methods; No publicity, no prosperity: the art of the dossier; Improving junior faculty research; Improving junior faculty teaching; Junior professors and university service; Two model junior faculty development programs: a minimum and a maximum; Summary and implications.

Based on the author's series of highly successful faculty development workshops, each chapter deals concisely with the most important information college professors need at their fingertips when confronted by a particular challenge or faced with an exciting opportunity. Written both as a comprehensive guide to an academic career and as a ready reference to be consulted whenever needed, The Essential College Professor emphasizes proven solutions over untested theories and stresses what faculty members have to know now in order to be successful in their careers.

"The thoughtfulness, personalization, and consideration Maryellen Weimer demonstrates in discussing the experience of faculty members; her ability to identify issues that are shared and solvable; and her suggestions and solutions to commonly experienced stressors and difficulties in college teaching are major strengths of this volume. In addition, her personal and professional reflections on her long career as a faculty member, writer, and faculty developer expose tantalizing research questions that young education researchers might want to examine. The originality of this volume is its exploration of and reflection on a faculty member's career from a long-term perspective. The focus on iterative self and course renewal is personal and thus practical. In a way, it is a 'workshop between book covers' or perhaps several workshops!" — Laura L. B. Border, director, Graduate Teacher Program and Collaborative Preparing Future Faculty Network, University of Colorado at Boulder

A useful compendium of 'survival' advice for the faculty newcomer on a variety of subjects: practical tips on classroom teaching, student performance evaluation, detailed advice on grant-writing, student advising, professional service, and publishing.

The experience of an untenured faculty member is highly dependent on the quality of the mentoring they receive. This mentoring may come from a number of different sources, and the concept of developing a constellation of mentors is highly recommended, but a mentoring relationship that is guided by the mentee's needs will be the most productive. Often, however, the mentee does not know their own needs, what questions to ask, and what topics they should discuss with a mentor. This book provides a guide to the mentoring process for untenured faculty. Perspectives are provided and questions posed on topics ranging from establishing scholarly expertise and developing professional networks to personal health and balancing responsibilities.