This expanded edition of a celebrated book by philosopher and educator Steven M. Cahn offers sound advice on building a successful academic career. He explains how to plan, complete, and defend a dissertation; how to handle interviews for academic positions; how to improve your teaching; how to prepare and publish research; how to develop a professional network; and how to garner support for earning tenure. Whether you are considering enrolling in graduate school, seeking an academic position, or balancing the demands of a professorial career, you will find valuable guidance in Cahn’s insightful account of the ways of academia.

A 2022 SPE Outstanding Book Honorable Mention “If you want to achieve tenure, you should know a bit more about what it means and why it exists, and its benefits. All too often, even faculty don’t understand why tenure is important." Thus begins the Preface of Candid Advice for New Faculty Members, the newest and most comprehensive “how to” guide for graduate students, post-docs, and junior faculty across a variety of academic disciplines. Drawing upon her own extensive experiences and that of many colleagues, Marybeth Gasman provides you with an incredibly valuable tool for attaining tenure and for the things that you should do to advance your academic career. She provides practical (and sometimes humorous) advice about a range of topics, including: negotiating job offers planning a research agenda improving your teaching skills managing service advising students applying for research grants achieving life/work balance managing academic politics In addition to this valuable career advice, Gasman provides a peek behind the academy’s curtain by painting a vivid picture of the inner workings of the academy and all of its players. Candid Advice for New Faculty Members is required reading for every newly-minted faculty member, regardless of academic discipline. The wisdom provided in this volume will prove to be invaluable to your future career. Perfect for courses such as: Doctoral seminars across various disciplines, College and University Teaching, Graduate Student Research Seminars, Professional Development Seminars

Landing a job in today's academic job market is no easy feat. Is graduate school the answer? This informed and candid book provides anyone thinking about pursuing an advanced degree—and those who support them—with the inside scoop on what to expect in graduate school. Amanda I. Seligman helps potential students navigate graduate study—not just how to get in but how to succeed once you are there and what to expect when you leave. She weighs the pros and cons of attending graduate school against achieving a sustainable work-life balance and explains the application process, the culture of graduate school, and employment prospects for academics. This book guides readers through the ins and outs of graduate school, and no topic is off limits, including ? qualifications and admission guidelines? financial aid and graduate stipends? meeting expectations and residency requirements? coursework, theses, and dissertations? degrees, jobs, and academic careers? tenure, research, and peer review? social life (will you still have one?) Written in a question-and-answer format, Is Graduate School Really for You? eliminates the guesswork. Whether you are considering applying to graduate school, already enrolled, or would simply like to know more about continuing your education, this is the book for you.

• A faculty member publishes an article without offering coauthorship to a graduate assistant who has made a substantial conceptual or methodological contribution to the article. • A professor does not permit graduate students to express viewpoints different from her own. • A graduate student close to finishing his dissertation cannot reach his traveling advisor, a circumstance that jeopardizes his degree. This book discusses these and other examples of faculty misconduct—and how to avoid them. Using data collected through faculty surveys, the authors describe behaviors associated with graduate teaching which are considered inappropriate and in violation of good teaching practices. They derive a normative structure that consists of five inviolable and eight admonitory proscriptive criteria to help graduate faculty make informed and acceptable professional choices. The authors discuss the various ways in which faculty members acquire the norms of teaching and mentoring, including the graduate school socialization process, role models, disciplinary codes of ethics, and scholarship about the professoriate and professional performance. Analyzing the rich data gleaned from the faculty surveys, they track how these norms are understood and interpreted across academic disciplines and are influenced by such factors as gender, citizenship, age, academic rank, tenure, research activity, and administrative experience.

The Road to Tenure offers humorous recollections of the messiness and confusion that fill the days of a pre-tenure academic—from graduate school through the postdoc and into the assistant professor days. The book’s three sections roughly map onto the chronology of academic life, beginning with graduate school and the job search experience; followed by teaching, research, and service; and finally the challenges of family and academic identity. The book is not a how-to, nor does it emphasize “lessons learned” on the way to tenure. Instead, the collection earnestly, and with good humor, captures a significant and meaningful slice of the experience of pursuing academia in contemporary colleges and universities. For the doctoral student or newly hired faculty member, these essays will provide some comfort with their implicit suggestion that, while it’s certainly hard work, you are not alone.

Considers what aspiring and mature historians need to know about the discipline of history in the United States today.

Too many professors view themselves primarily not as teachers but researchers. How can the system be changed so that success in the classroom will be promoted and receive greater emphasis? Noted philosopher and educator Steven M. Cahn presents proposals to achieve that end, including changes in graduate education, the appointment process, the evaluation of teaching, the tenure system, and the choice of administrators. Filled with actual examples from academic life, the book is jargon-free and compellingly argued.