Thursday, April 3, 2008, 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. 301 Philosophy

gsaspff@columbia.edu

This session will offer diverse perspectives on the life of an untenured faculty member at various kinds of institutions. A panel of former GSAS students/alumni who now have academic positions will describe some of the professional and personal issues they faced in their academic job search and first faculty position after graduate school. The group will also discuss some of the pedagogical and scholarly forces that impact faculty at different kinds of institutions. These include: the expectations of new colleagues and the institution, engaging in scholarship at a student-centered college, interaction with the student body, and balancing one’s professional life and personal commitments

Currently we have recent grads-now-new-faculty in History, Sociology, Religion, Biological Sciences, Music, and East Asian Languages and Culture who have agreed to serve on the panel. They hold positions at Columbia, Yale, Barnard, Baruch, and Fordham. After the panel and questions-and-answers, we’ll also discuss issues of power and politics in academic departments and how to best avoid the pitfalls and respond to the challenges of the academic job search and new faculty position.