New Faculty Seminar: "Establishing a Research Agenda" (11/3/00)

Presenters: Amílcar Antonio Barreto   Wendy A. Smith Assistant Professor, Political Science   Associate Professor, Biology

Fall 2000 New Faculty Seminars The series for new faculty members included seminars on the following topics: Teaching at Northeastern University Establishing a Research Agenda Tenure Process University Culture A reunion seminar for attendees will be held in the Spring 2001 quarter.

Opportunities for Funding Listed below are four opportunities for funding that are available through the Provost's Office. You can find more information and application forms at http://www.neu.edu/provost/grants00.doc. Research & Scholarship Development Fund Purpose: To stimulate new ventures in research and scholarship. Eligibility: Full-time members of the teaching faculty or full-time research personnel. (Professor Smith also noted that the top priority is for younger faculty.) Instructional Development Fund Purpose: To encourage new and innovative ideas designed to improve the quality of undergraduate education. Eligibility: Full-time members of the faculty, groups of faculty, or groups of faculty and administrators. Faculty Development Fund Purpose: To support the professional development of faculty members Eligibility: Tenure-track or tenured members of the faculty or cooperative education coordinators or academic specialists. Minority Faculty Development Fund Purpose: To stimulate new and continuing ventures in research, teaching, scholarship and professional development. Eligibility: Minority faculty who are tenured or tenure-track, full-time members of the faculty or full-time research personnel. Visiting faculty recruited through the Minority Faculty Recruitment Program may also apply.

Personal Advice

Professor Barreto led off the seminar with advice, "junior to junior." Here is the advice he gave.

• Live as close to work (the university) as possible so that you can work on weekends.
• The time to start is now. The process for one article could take a year or more. For a book it could be two years.
• Submit your dissertation (get it out!). Use old research as the basis for new research. As Professor Barreto said, "One line in my first book became the entire basis for my second book!"
• Pace your production. It doesn't look good to have stuff published only the year before your tenure review.

First Year Teaching

As you all know, you are at Northeastern to teach, research, and provide service to the community. But it's hard to balance all your roles. Professor Smith notes that teaching is a joy, but there are only so many minutes in the day. Here are some suggestions to help you balance your teaching/student interaction time with your research time and your community service time.

• When you need to do your work and you're in your office, close the door.
• Students and colleagues know that "deer in the headlight" look when you say, "You know, I'm really booked this afternoon."
• Be firm with your office hours (but flexible for those who do have classes at your times).
• Be aware of tutoring/counseling services on campus. You don't always have to fix the problem.
• Keep a file of stuff that (you think) ultimately will show you're a useful member of the community. Keep your teaching evaluations. Keep it all.

Know What is Expected in Your Field

As Professor Smith said, to be successful, "you really need to know what is expected for your field." Here are some ways that Professors Barreto and Smith suggested for knowing what is expected of you:

• Questions to ask about expected publications (in addition to numbers, for which there is often no set answer: 1) Should the publication be an article or a book? 2) Should you be the single author or should you have a co-author? 3) If you should have a co-author, should your name be listed first or last? All of these branching questions depend on what is normal in your field.
• An additional strategy is to examine the records of researchers five or so years older than you (academic age), whom you and others in your field regard highly. Find out what they have done (C.V., web site, etc.). Determine where their funding is coming from and how many publications they have (for example, in the biomedical sciences, through PubMed, which is at http://www4.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/). As Professor Smith said, you can see what they've done, but try not to be scared by it!

Become Known & Seek Support

Becoming known and seeking support are important parts of both establishing your research agenda as well as preparing for your tenure review. Here are some ways that Professors Barreto and Smith recommend for "getting your face out there!"

• What you want at this point is to be known in your field - you don't have to be the biggest in your field.
• Your department is justifying your tenure to [the] dean...provost...president...Board of Trustees.
• External review letters from reviewers in your field bear considerable weight in your tenure dossier. You are required to mark who you suggested versus who your department suggested (to know the source and your relationship). You have no control over this part really.
• Go to conferences.
  • Attending conferences can help you in a very, very important part of your review process over which you otherwise have no control: the external review letters. As Professor Smith said, "There really isn't a lot you can do except your best work...but it does help to get your face out there."
  • Professor Barreto agreed. He said, "Conferences in general are incredible opportunities."
• At levels beyond your department understand that there are different criteria for different disciplines.

The Tenure Process

A conversation about establishing a research agenda can sometimes veer into a discussion about the tenure process. Professors Amílcar Barreto and Wendy Smith talked informally and informatively about the tenure process, providing new faculty members with the following advice.

• Consult with your chair. As Professor Smith said, "Keep in mind that your chair wants you to succeed."
• Your department is justifying your tenure to [the] dean...provost...president...Board of Trustees.
• To be tenured at a research institution like Northeastern the research is going to be extremely important.
• As a junior faculty member, hope for the best but prepare for the worst. When you're going up for tenure, keep up your C.V. and be ready to go on the job market.
• When you receive your third-year review packet take it literally regarding the areas you should improve. You need to be able to show at tenure time that you have fixed those items.