What Colleges and Universities Want in New Faculty
by Kathrynn A. Adams

1. Teaching
Teaching is the responsibility that demands the most immediate attention and consumes the most time and energy of new faculty (Boice 1992). Hiring institutions desire that applicants be “teaching ready” (Benassi 1999). Yet, the teaching preparation of graduate students is quite varied. Some graduate students have no teaching experience; others have served as a teaching assistant in a couple of different courses; some have taught labs or discussion sections; others have taught a single course; and a few have independently taught several courses. That only a few graduate students have broad experience with teaching suggests that graduate programs are not adequately addressing a major component of faculty work. A national survey of newly hired faculty and their chairpersons agreed that graduate programs did not adequately focus on preparation for college teaching (Seidel, Benassi, and Richards 1998). It is no surprise that the preparation for teaching is inadequate given that graduate students in a recent longitudinal study reported they receive mixed messages regarding the importance of teaching (Austin 2002).

Most new faculty report that they are uneasy with the number of new class preparations and the variety of courses that they are required to teach during their first few years (Boice 1992). Regardless of the type of institution, required liberal and general education courses make up some portion of the curriculum. It follows that most faculty are expected to teach in the general education curriculum that is directed at undergraduates in all disciplines and at varying levels of time to degree. This expectation often comes as a surprise to junior faculty who have just spent several years focused on a narrow niche within one discipline.

In order to best serve the liberal and general curriculum, junior faculty must understand its philosophical importance to the notion of the educated person. In addition, recent curricular changes in undergraduate education include emphasis on multicultural, international, interdisciplinary, and service learning. New faculty may find that they are expected to develop, as part of the general education curriculum, courses that focus on these curricular developments. As an essential component of their courses, they may also be asked to teach writing or integrate the use of computers. Yet, these issues and aspects of teaching are usually ignored in graduate programs.

Most colleges and universities have increased the emphasis placed on the quality of teaching. One result is that well-structured lectures alone no longer meet the criteria for excellent teaching. Faculty are expected to utilize creative techniques that effectively engage students and support learning. Schools expect faculty to embrace new pedagogies including the use of technology, collaborative learning, simulations, and field experiences. Because students come from a variety of backgrounds, demonstrate various levels of motivation and diverse learning styles, and exhibit a wide assortment of career goals, faculty are expected to address their multiple needs, without sacrificing academic rigor. Regardless of the size of the institution or whether its student body includes graduate students as well as undergraduates, teaching often includes the supervision of practicums, internships, independent studies, and theses. Doctoral graduate students, however, are rarely given the opportunity to fine-tune their teaching skills or to mentor students in non-classroom endeavors.

Advising is often part of faculty members' teaching responsibilities. At many small institutions, this responsibility is not limited to advice about how to complete a major. Faculty are expected to have an “open door policy,” that is, to be available to students on a regular basis and to welcome students seeking consultation on issues ranging from class material to graduate school to home life. Many new faculty are ill at ease with advising students about personal issues, and they struggle with the dilemma of how to limit their time with students so close to their own age who seek extended time with them. Even for seasoned teachers, teaching and advising expectations can be a heavy load demanding extraordinary effort from new faculty who have only a small foundation of experience on which to draw.

Recommendations to Graduate Faculty
Graduate programs must provide their doctoral students with a variety of teaching experiences and successively more independent teaching in order to prepare them for academic careers. These experiences should begin during the first year of graduate school and continue throughout graduate study.
Students need to be introduced to new pedagogies, becoming involved with and knowledgeable about such areas as active learning, field-based learning, diversity, and technology.

Students need more than just the experience of teaching classes. New teachers also should receive constructive feedback about their performance and participate in group discussions about creative teaching possibilities, problem solving, and advising.

The model used for training graduate students in research could be followed in similarly building graduate students' competence and confidence in teaching and working with students. As a first step, departments or graduate schools could offer seminars on teaching. Later experiences might include supervised teaching, team teaching, summer school teaching, and teaching fellowships, after the more typical experience of teaching assistantships and leading lab or discussion sections.

Faculty identified as outstanding teachers could also mentor individual or small groups of students as part of their teaching load. One particularly underutilized source of expertise in this area is faculty members in other geographically accessible institutions, particularly those who are recognized as successful teachers and who use innovative and engaging approaches to teaching and learning. Many such faculty members do not have the opportunity to work with advanced doctoral students and would welcome the opportunity, if approached in a sensitive way.