Michael Gunderson, Ph.D. An untenured assistant professor Agricultural Finance and Agribusiness Management 70% teaching, 30% research

Being a Grown-Up is Tough

Your Appointment is Most Important  Land Grant Mission: Teaching, Research, Outreach  If you have a teaching/research appointment then extension and other service is only periphery  You cannot ‘make-up’ a lack of excellence in your appointment area(s) with a flourish of activity in other areas  As you consider jobs the appointment is probably just as important as other factors  A note about grantsmanship

Negotiating an Appointment  Most advertised appointments have some flexibility  Avoid three-way splits initially  Negotiate a fit that will set you up for success  Consider having a dominate area  Provides additional focus  Gives tenure committees something on which to focus

Focusing on the Appointment  Inquire about the expectations for appointment types  How many classes on 50% teaching appointment  How big?  Undergraduate or graduate?  How many articles on a 50% research appointment  Where should they be published?  How is quality measured?  How many presentations on a 50% extension appointment  How many extension publications?  What is the target audience?

Develop a 4 Year Plan  Four years to build track record  Publication pipeline is long  Improvement in teaching takes time  Developing relevant extension programs takes time  Identify mentors that can help you  Experience counts  Inquire about mentoring during interview

Time Eroders   Committees  Advising/student questions/recommendations  Course development  Course grading

 Create separate accounts – personal and work  Process s in batches (three or four times per day)  Read it then answer it  Keep it short and sweet  Reread it once  Use signatures  Use a bridging – “I will get back to you”

Committees  Double-edged sword  No committee activity/too much committee activity both look suspicious  Committees can be rewarding/committees can be time vacuums  What’s the right balance?  Discuss this with your department chair  Always honor requests from the dean(s)  Pick committees that are genuinely interesting and related to your topic area and appointment focus

Interacting with Students  Can be very rewarding  Students are fun, full of energy, and full of new ideas  Watching students develop professionally is enjoyable  Time vacuum  Randy and John  Always have a set excuse to leave your office  Stick to office hours when possible  Leverage E-learning programs  Inquire if there is flexibility to work from home

Course Development  Request that you teach the same courses until tenure  The second edition of a course is better for all involved  Less preparation time, but be careful about winging it  Start with previous course resources  But you must make the course your own  Teach topics that interest you while still covering the basics  Leverage your teaching resource center  Creating a syllabus  Managing university procedures

Course Grading  Create assignments and exams with grading in mind  Does not have to be all multiple choice  ‘Random sampling’  Leverage teaching assistants  Give them complete ownership of the assignments  Be a backstop only in extreme cases  Use teams for big projects  Cut the number of assignments by half, third, or even a fourth  Use milestone assignments that are ungraded (but checked for completion)

Research  Schedule blocks of time for research  Work from a quiet space  Home  Library carrel  Off-campus, wireless location  Complete reviews of other articles in blocks