Nearly 300 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from 16 U-M schools and colleges attended the 12th annual “Preparing Future Faculty” conference Monday to learn about strategies and resources for success in academic careers.
Sponsored by the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching and the Rackham Graduate School, the half-day conference serves active academic job seekers as well as graduate students and postdocs exploring a possible academic career.
Sessions ranged from workshops on preparing job application materials to faculty presentations on navigating the tenure process.
“I’ve been in academia for many years, but I wasn’t exactly sure before today how the hiring process works,” said Omar Mabrouk, a research investigator at the Medical School.
This year’s program featured more than two dozen faculty members from a wide range of colleges and universities including Oberlin College, Kalamazoo College, Eastern Michigan University, Kettering University, Mott Community College, Northwestern University, Wayne State, and University of Detroit Mercy.
“I appreciated hearing several faculty members share the story of their careers,” said Christie Allen, a Ph.D. student in the English department. “Their narratives, and their thoughtful responses to the participants’ questions, gave me new ways to think about my career trajectory, opening up possibilities that I wasn’t aware of before.”
For the first time, the conference also included a resource room where participants could network informally with visiting faculty members as well as learn about professional development support offered by Rackham, CRLT and the International Center.
A new session this year featured leading U-M scholars discussing “The Future of Higher Education in a Digital World,” a panel responding to the rise in technology uses and online learning environments in higher education.
In another new session, “Mentoring Undergraduate Students,” faculty members discussed how to transition from graduate student to mentor for undergraduate scholars across academic disciplines. Participants also heard from scholars comparing their positions in the academy and industry in the panel on “Moving in and Out of Academe.”
“PFF really prepared me to make a transition to a new institutional culture by helping me understand how different kinds of institutions operate and what they value, and now I’m happy to come back and share that knowledge with future faculty at U-M,” said faculty panelist Mary-Catherine Harrison, a previous conference participant and U-M graduate.
The conference defines faculty broadly, preparing students for an academic job market where tenure-track positions account for only about a quarter of all instructional staff appointments in U.S. institutions, according to the American Association of University Professors.
Sessions such as “Faculty Success Off the Tenure Track” and “What’s It Like to Teach at a Community College?” offered participants perspectives from faculty members who chose careers in a wide range of faculty roles.
