From Student Organization Leadership to Excelling at Tenure-service Requirement
Abstract
The purpose of this "Lessons Learned" paper is to investigate how former graduate student leaders can employ their experiences to achieve and excel in service requirements as junior tenure-track faculty members. Research skills, and increasingly teaching ability, have been core to the graduate student curriculum, and match the majority of faculty tenure requirements. However, preparation for the service requirement is often overlooked at both the graduate student and faculty level. While a small part of the overall tenure package, there is an unspoken presumption that faculty members will be able to serve effectively and efficiently. In STEM curricula, the development of interpersonal skills is often overlooked. While this may not be an impediment in research communications, faculty may have a difficult time adapting to highly social university, local community, or governmental service organizations. The authors reflect on how their time as graduate student leaders, in student government, student organizations, and campus committees, influenced their ability to maximize impact while efficiently balancing time spent. The authors' service portfolios span a range of fields - as student organization advisors, committee members, or advisory board members - in diverse types of institutions (from research universities to undergraduate teaching colleges) and have each balanced their personal and professional goals with their commitments. While not all junior faculty may have comparable graduate student leadership backgrounds, the authors provide broadly applicable suggestions, from one junior faculty member to another, discussing ways to maximize prior experiences to excel in the tenure service requirement category. This "Lessons Learned" paper should be presented as a lightning talk.
Recommended Citation
S. Laughton et al., "From Student Organization Leadership to Excelling at Tenure-service Requirement," ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings, American Society of Engineering Education, Jul 2021.
Department(s)
Engineering Management and Systems Engineering
Keywords and Phrases
Faculty development; Service requirements; Student leadership; Tenure track
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
2153-5965
Document Type
Article - Conference proceedings
Document Version
Citation
File Type
text
Language(s)
English
Rights
© 2024 American Society of Engineering Education, All rights reserved.
Publication Date
26 Jul 2021
