How to Find an Effective Senior Faculty Advisor—and Three Things They Can Do for You
Tom Boellstorff, Professor of Anthropology
Like many universities, at Irvine there now exist formal procedures for assigning senior faculty advisors to junior faculty. This is a welcome development, since junior faculty might feel uncomfortable asking senior faculty to serve as an advisor. However, it can be helpful to think not only in terms of the noun “advisor,” but also the verb “advice.” More informal advising relationships can be extremely helpful. Just meeting with a senior faculty for an hour can provide a new perspective or counsel regarding a particular topic of concern.
For all these advising opportunities, it is helpful to have questions for your advisors—they
will do their best to address common concerns, but may not know of specific issues
you would like to discuss. In this regard, three things advisors can do for you are:
- Explain the merit and promotion system.
Our “step” system for merit reviews at Irvine is complex; you may not be familiar with it based on previous institutions where you have been a student or faculty. While it can be confusing, this system can protect junior faculty. These regular assessments provide a track record of documented excellence alongside the major promotions to tenure and full Professor.
Do not wait until your fourth year to learn how the step system works! What does it mean for a step to be “Dean’s Delegated?” What is an acceleration in “step” versus an acceleration in “time?” Getting familiar with the merit and promotion system at Irvine is empowering, allowing you to better plan ahead.
- Assess your CV. It is crucial that you have a clearly-written CV. This includes:
- In most cases, including only work that has been fully accepted for publication (that is, in the “copy edits” stage or beyond);
- Distinguishing fully peer-reviewed publications, editor-reviewed publications, and other publications that may not be peer reviewed (but may indicate community engagement or public impact);
- Addressing co-authorship;
- Addressing any forms of scholarship other than articles, book chapters, and monographs
(for instance, films).
- Tips on organization and time management.
In academia, one form of oftentimes-hidden expertise involves organization and time management. Most senior faculty have developed skills in organization and time management (and encountered other instances of such skills). They might not think this knowledge is significant enough to share unless asked, but such tips and tricks can be an invaluable resource. To give one of my own examples: through a system of filters and dragging/dropping emails into individual folders, I maintain a “zero inbox”—at the end of each day there are zero emails in my inbox folder. “Zero inbox” tricks can be helpful to avoid being overwhelmed with email every morning.