(97a) Navigating the Unpaved Roads and Knowing the Unwritten Rules: Advancement for Teaching-Focused Faculty

Unlike the tenure track faculty ranks where mentors are routinely assigned and the requirements to obtain tenure are clearly articulated, teaching-focused faculty face a landscape in which there may not be a senior faculty member to serve as a mentor, and the path to promotion may not be clearly defined or defined at all. Departmental voting faculty may not understand how to evaluate the promotion dossier for a teaching-focused faculty member. Departmental resources for professional development may be limited, and the funding landscape is less certain. The good news is that there are travelers who have walked this way before and established some signposts along the way. This presentation will provide practical suggestions for teaching-focused faculty who would like to hone their teaching and educational scholarship skills, demonstrate leadership and contribution on- and off-campus, and obtain recognition for their work. Results of the Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) Faculty Satisfaction Survey will be included to highlight opportunities to improve the climate for teaching-focused faculty in engineering departments.

In addition, data will be presented highlighting the number of faculty across the country who are in these non-traditional positions. Examples of non-tradiational promotion paths will be provided. These presentations will be followed by a panel of speakers who have followed non-tradiational, mostly non-tenure track, career paths.