This inaugural program in 2024-2025 is designed to empower new assistant professors by accelerating their transition to faculty life. The program will impart crucial knowledge about the University, enhance research skills, and set up new faculty to be thriving members of the University of Chicago academic community. This is a cohort-based initiative, in which new faculty engage in hands-on learning through a series of workshops and participate in mentor-facilitated group meetings to reflect upon their goals and discuss new challenges.
The program is geared toward new tenure-track assistant professors. It will include six in-person workshops (two per quarter). Faculty will also participate in small-group peer mentoring that will allow for engagement with colleagues across the University.
For workshop highlights and a detailed program of speakers, click here.
Register Here to participate by October 18th.
Autumn Quarter: Introduction to Academic Life at the University of Chicago
The Academic Ecosystem: How the University Works
As faculty, it can be helpful to gain a broader view of how the University operates. This session will provide exclusive insight from multiple University leaders, with tips on how to find and navigate your own place in the institution, with the goal of professional empowerment and success. Friday, November 1, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
The Life of the Academic: Time Management for Maximizing Productivity and Minimizing Stress
In addition to launching a research program, new faculty will be expected to take on a number of other responsibilities including teaching, service, and generally adapting to their new life at the University of Chicago. This session will be led by faculty authors and behavioral science experts, who offer research-informed frameworks for optimizing your time for maximum research impact and personal fulfillment. Friday, December 6, 12:00 p.m.to 3:00 p.m.
Winter Quarter: Jumpstarting Your Research
Generating Impactful Research and Scholarship Before (and Beyond) Tenure
This engaging workshop, led by external faculty experts and authors, will equip early-career faculty members with effective, immediately applicable techniques for creating field-changing research. Through hands-on exercises, participants will enhance their repertoire of skills for designing research projects that change the trajectory of their field. This training will introduce concepts from the facilitators’ book Where Research Begins (University of Chicago Press, 2022). Friday, January 24, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Effective Academic Writing: From Grants and Book Proposals to Finished Manuscripts
Making the transition to a first faculty job often raises the importance of effective and persuasive academic writing. This session, led by writing and publishing professionals, will include training on advanced strategies of persuasive academic writing, plus breakout groups for book and grant fields in which participants will hear from experts who train and advise faculty on a range of writing applications. Friday, February 21, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Spring Quarter: Building and Sustaining Academic Communities
Negotiation and Leadership in Academic Life
Navigating the social and political environment of one’s discipline, unit, and institution are essential components of career success for faculty. This involves building relationships and engaging in productive conversations. Led by faculty experts, this session will share negotiation and leadership principles to help attendees navigate the various negotiations, conversations, and choices they may face in their academic lives. These concepts cultivate the courage and capacity to become intellectual leaders. Friday, April 4, 9:00 a.m.to 12:00 p.m.
Building Academic Networks for Mentorship and Collaboration
This interactive workshop, led by an external academic coaching professional, will prepare participants to cultivate relationships with senior scholars and peers, communicate effectively with editors and other academic gatekeepers, and develop a strategy to build diverse networks. It will also impart practical tips for reducing the awkwardness of networking and developing productive collaborations. Friday, May 16, 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Interested in serving as a mentor for the Early Career Success Program? Please sign up here.
Questions? Contact Mike Tessel, Assistant Provost (tessel@uchicago.edu)