We wrap up the long-running faculty series in style.
Since our podcast introducing the faculty series in May, we’ve published 13 more pieces designed to help new and aspiring faculty members flourish in their positions. From applying to the job all the way to mentoring new members of staff, we’ve seen it all, and we hope you’ve enjoyed the ride. Here’s a brief summary of all of the posts we’ve published so far. Make sure to catch the ones you’ve missed, and let us know what you think!
To kick us off, various new members of the faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, told us their thoughts on transitioning in our introductory post.
After that, we looked at the best ways of applying for a faculty position by asking the people who just gained one. They know best, after all.
Getting a job offer is only the start of the story – next, we covered the best ways of negotiating your start-up package.
After you’ve got the money behind you, it’s time to set up your own lab. Layout and equipment’s important, but don’t forget your staff costs – they’re expensive.
John Tregoning covers how to add value to your institution in the next post in our series. Your staff are expensive, and you’re expensive to your department, too.
John Tregoning also covers balancing your different responsibilities in another excellent post – faculty members have a lot to do, and a finite time to do it. Working out how to spend your time is important.
Becoming independent of your previous mentor is a challenge, but it’s a step all new faculty members have to take, says Viviane Callier.
Viviane Callier takes the helm for a second time, and explains why networking with your colleagues is an important part of recruiting new staff members.
Learning to collaborate with other faculty is an important part of becoming tenured staff, and is vital for modern scientific research, says Michelle Ma.
Viviane Callier writes for us again, and explains how getting your science and message right is the best way to build a winning grant application.
Samantha Terry explains how being tenacious and pro-active helped her land a dream job on the tenure track, since starting her PhD ten years earlier.
Managing your time as a lab manager is challenging, so we break it down into ten simple steps to make your life easier, and to help you concentrate on the research.
Finally, Nirmala Hariharan speaks from experience as she explains how being a great M.E.N.T.O.R will help you just as much as it’ll help your students.
We hope you’ve enjoyed and benefited from the faculty series. We’d like to thank our guest contributors and interviewees: Dori Schaffer, Brian Kelch, Mike Lee, Phillip Zamore, Samantha Terry, Michelle Ma, Rafael T.M. De Rosales, John Tregoning, Viviane Callier, and Nirmala Hariharan. Thank you all for your wonderful help and advice!
If you’re not quite at the stage to make the move into a faculty position, you can check out our postdoc series here.
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