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Serve many constituencies

Of all the groups we are tasked to support, many share similar concerns but each also has a unique set of needs. Here is an incomplete list of some of the concerns felt by various groups: we welcome contributions to this list! ( indicates an external link and opens in a new browser window.)

• Graduate teaching assistants
• Junior faculty
• Senior faculty
• Administrators (department chairs)

Graduate teaching assistants

Some stresses experienced by teaching assistants:

- Being relatively new to their subject matter
- Being new to teaching
- Having to alternate between role of student and role of teacher
- Balancing academic work and personal life
- Low status within their own deparment
- Long term career anxiety

Specific ways to support teaching assistants:

- "How to have a successful first day" crash-course workshops before term begins
- TA-targeted workshops throughout the year
- Individual consulting
- Special TA professional development program for certificate/pay/status.
- Help them develop a teaching philosophy
- Help them develop a teaching portfolio

Junior faculty

Some stresses experienced by junior faculty:

- Time (not enough, discrepancies in allocation)
- Lack of collegiality (and other support mechanisms)
- Expectations for performance (too high, conflicting, unclear, inadequate feedback)
- Students (about teaching, advising, evaluation)
- Imbalance between career and life outside of work

Specific ways to support junior faculty:

- Career-support orientation programs (even campus tours of where resources are to be found)
- Teaching improvement workshops & classroom observations
- Mentoring programs
- Information on tenure, early review and feedback
- Work/personal life support like that avaiable at: The Successful Academic

Senior Faculty

Some stresses experienced by senior faculty:

- Shifts in reward structure (value of research vs. teaching and service, post-tenure review)
- Relations with colleagues, chair and other administrators
- Changes in students/teaching (race, gender, academic prep, innovative pedagogies)
- Time constraints (not enough)
- Perceived competition from younger "up and comers"
- Professional identity (shifts in disciplinary emphasis, impending retirement)

Specific ways to support senior faculty:

- Formal, structured opportunities
- Individual support (small grants, teaching equipment, travel funds)
- Collegial structures that facilitate dialogue (e.g., workshops, mentoring)
- Acquisitions of new skills and challenges (e.g., senior TEACHnology Fellowship)

Administrators (department chairs)

Some stresses experienced by administrators:

- Supporting faculty development (senior faculty vitality, supporting pretenure faculty)
- Teaching/research development (incentives for undergraduate, graduate education, and research)
- Administration (paperwork, meetings, university rules, difficult employees, strategic planning)
- Establishing compatibility among personal, department, campus goals

Specific ways to support adminstrators:

- Leadership development (e.g., deans and chairs conference, workshops)
- Customized department support (TA training, peer review of teaching, teaching workshops, consultations)
- Campus-wide opportunities for faculty across career stages (new faculty orientations, senior faculty fellowships)