This book provides guidance and tools to help PhD students and junior faculty members successfully navigate and mature through the various stages of an academic career. Senior faculty members can use this book as a source of ideas to advise their PhD students and junior colleagues. This book presents knowledge that is seldom imparted in PhD programs, and organizes the same as advice and tools related to achieving success at research, teaching and service, all while maintaining work-life balance. The advice and tools provided are based on years of experience of the author and guest contributors, who have successfully navigated many of the same challenges and mentored many PhD students and junior faculty members. This book is suitable both for those who seek careers in research universities or universities that promote greater balance across research, teaching and service.
Life in academia is like life in no other profession. The intellectual freedom in conducting research coupled with the ability to positively impact the lives of students through teaching makes it exciting and noble. The road to success in making a difference through knowledge creation (research), knowledge dissemination (teaching) and activities related to both (service) is riddled with many challenges. While PhD programs are designed to teach students the nitty gritty details of conducting research, few focus on the broad issues of how to build a successful research program, how to build an effective teaching portfolio and how to do deal with the many other challenges encountered. Navigating the broader challenges of academia is often accomplished by trial-and-error or ad-hoc mentoring one may receive. This book, which provides advice and tools, seeks to help researchers achieve success by navigating through these very challenges. The book comprises 20 chapters that are organized into five major sections:
1.Research
2.Managing the PhD program
3.Life after the PhD
4.Teaching and service
5.Broader advice
In addition to the author, both junior and senior scholars have provided contributions to share their own experiences and observations of others who have been successful.
The most important component of the book is the various tools (e.g., how-to advice, checklists) that are provided to help junior researchers head up the road to success and to arm senior researchers to guide junior researchers along the way. The various tools target the following six areas:
1.Building and sustaining a research program
2.Writing a paper
3.Responding to reviews
4.Planning and monitoring through various stages of the PhD program
5.Becoming an effective teacher
6.Achieving work-life balance
