Launch Committees help assistant professors navigate first year

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New assistant professors, particularly those who must set up labs and build teams to conduct their research, need to learn fast how to work within the academic culture in their new departments and take advantage of available resources.

Those who are starting their careers in the LSA Natural Sciences Division and in the College of Engineering now receive an individual boost in negotiating these matters during their first year through the ADVANCE Launch Committee Program.

The program, which was modeled after a successful effort at Case Western Reserve University, began with a pilot of eight committees — five in CoE and three in LSA – during the 2012-13 academic year.

Last fall it expanded to assist 28 new assistant professors. Each launch committee is tailored to the needs of each new faculty member — the “launchee” — and meets regularly, usually monthly, with the assistant professor from the moment of hire until the end of his or her first academic year at Michigan. 

A Launch Committee consists of:

• A senior faculty member in the new faculty member’s department who has related research interests.

• The department chair.

• A senior faculty member from outside the department, in a field related to the new faculty member’s interests.

• A committee chair, known as a faculty convenor, prepared by ADVANCE for that role.

• The newly hired faculty member.

Committee members are identified and invited by ADVANCE, with input from the department chair.

ADVANCE began as a five-year, National Science Foundation-funded project promoting institutional transformation with respect to women faculty in science and engineering fields. With the university’s commitment to continue funding through June 2016, the program has expanded to promote other kinds of diversity among faculty in all fields.

Launch Committees provide a structure that not only supports new faculty, but also makes it easier for departments to ensure that nothing is overlooked.

Guided by an initial set of questions provided by ADVANCE, they educate the launchee about policies, procedures and issues related to lab space and equipment, students and other lab personnel, funding, teaching, service, and integration into the university.

Launchees from the pilot year commented that the committee was “a huge jumpstart” and “a great idea,” a source of critical information and perspective that helped them to feel a part of the department from the beginning of their arrival on campus.

 “We dealt with issues that were real, substantive, bothersome issues for the new faculty member. This was a very systematic way of getting questions answered,” said one Launch Committee convener.

Department chairs said they enjoyed being part of a team, working together for the welfare of a new faculty member. “It’s definitely in the department’s best interest” to do this, one chair said. 

The program’s success has been based on the participation of many senior faculty members throughout the university. Twenty-three faculty members and department chairs (from biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, chemistry, and molecular, cellular and developmental biology) participated during the pilot year.

During the 2013-14 academic year, 28 new faculty members in 16 departments had committees. These committees were staffed by 117 faculty members, including department chairs and committee conveners.

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