Soon I need to submit a document to my mentoring committee explaining (a) what I plan to accomplish this year and (b) what I'll accomplish for tenure. It's not a document that's set in stone, but it needs to be thoughtful and ambitious without being suicidal. Would any of my tenured or tenure-track readers be willing to share similar documents they have submitted early in their careers? I'd find it tremendously helpful. You can e-mail me at trillwing -at- gmail -dot- com.
Alternatively, if you happen to know where I might find such documents online, please leave a link in the comments below. I'm having a heck of a time locating samples.
Many thanks!
6 comments:
A mentoring committee? Sounds cool. Is that similar to a T&P committee?
(I'm up for third year review this year and have been quite without a guide--wish I had something to share with you).
Yes, it is, though I think the composition differs slightly at the major reviews. I have much to learn!
I don't have a document like that, but I think it's pretty great that your department is being so purposeful at supporting new faculty.
I chose to do something like this on my own -- sat down and sketched out a plan to work toward tenure, ran it informally by mentors, etc. I thought it was helpful. But I don't have a formal document that's readily available to share.
Gosh, I don't think I have mine anymore, sorry. And if I did, they'd have been sucky.
Were I to do one now, I'd look at whatever areas count (research, teaching, etc) and give a very realistic rundown.
Research: I have this paper in progress, and plan to finish it and submit it. I have this startup work on a lab, whatever.
Teaching: I'm planning to teach X and Y courses this term. X is a new course to me, and I've been preparing it in this way. Since Y is a staple, blah blah.
Service: Since first year TT faculty are released from service, I won't plan on serving on a committee. I do plan to get acquainted with the departmental committee structure with an eye to focusing on one or two committees next term.
And so forth.
I'd run it by a friendly committee member ahead of time, to see if it's basically what they're looking for.
I'd be happy to read your document--but I'd ask your chair or someone if they can give you some examples of some relatively recent colleagues' versions of this document, since this is the sort of document that is really context-specific.
And I'd generally encourage you to be clear about some Big Goals and immediate goals--thinking about what your big larger projects are in terms of teaching and research, esp, and then identifying some very concrete things that you want to do this year. And I would also encourage you to think very, very small so you don't get overwhelmed by the enormous number of things you might ever do toward your larger professional goals.
I'll send mine along in a few minutes (with an explanation of how it will likely differ significantly due to the particulars of my position). My former dean (who was the inaugural dean of our college--formerly part of a huge unwieldly college) introduced this practice into the tenure track/review process. It has recently been adopted by another college at my university. Our version of this document sketches out 3 years-worth of activity, is reviewed and "approved" by the chair and then tenure committee in the department, and then inserted/adopted into our file to provide context for all tiers of review. We could be revise them at any point in time--but the modified version would go through that same review/approval process. These documents serve as a benchmark for reviewers to understand and comment upon one's progress toward tenure. Susan is really on the mark re: the reasonableness of your goals; hopefully your chair and committee will read and suggest revisions that fit with the levels of funding and other support you can expect in your department.
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