New faculty meetings: Surviving the first year of the tenure track together

The initial years of a tenure track position are difficult for a variety of reasons, including the lack of preparation and experience that new faculty members have for various aspects of the job. Much advice has been given regarding the use of mentoring and workshops to accelerate the acclimatization period, but these methods may not involve the relaxed atmosphere and open discussion conducive to the development and free exchange of ideas and ideologies. In this paper, we discuss our approach of regular peer meetings of such discussions. Peer meetings promote the discussion of problems encountered by new faculty as the problems develop. Not only does discussing problems in such meetings assist in the creation of solutions, but everyone who participates in the discussion is thereafter prepared to avoid similar problems in the future. Considerations of group composition, group size, and what topics to discuss are examined. American Society for Engineering Education, 2008.

New faculty meetings: Surviving the first year of the tenure track together Conference Paper