A Resource Guide for New and Early Career Faculty Members

Welcome to the University of Iowa!

New faculty members often face challenges in their first months – and these can occur in the areas of teaching, scholarship, service, career development and the balancing of home and work life. The university has many resources and networks to help you meet these challenges and thrive in your new position. “Getting Off to a Good Start” introduces you to resources and provides general tips for new faculty. The sections address activities through your first year in these important areas:

  • Teaching
  • Scholarship
  • Service
  • Career Development
  • Worklife

The goal is to help you achieve both career and personal success. If you have a question and can’t find the answer, send an email to faculty@uiowa.edu. A staff member in the Office of the Provost will respond and direct you to useful resources.

Barrett W. Thomas

Barrett W. Thomas, PhD

Associate Provost for Faculty and Strategic Operations

1 of 71

members of the Association of American Universities

$ 683.8 M

in external funding for research, scholarship and creative activities in fiscal year 2024

45 +

Pulitzer Prize winners affiliated with the University of Iowa

Before Classes Begin

Teaching

Scholarship

  • Ensure that the research support and facilities promised to you in your offer letter are available. If not, contact your department chair to develop a timeline for completion.
  • Meet with your graduate assistant if you have one. Begin building a relationship and clarifying your expectations for their work.
  • If you are transferring a grant to UI, please contact the Division of Sponsored Programs (DSP, 319.335.2123) to ensure that all administrative details have been handled.
  • Contact the Division of Sponsored Programs (DSP) if you plan to apply for a grant within the first three months on campus.
  • Check the Office of the Vice President for Research website for resources to assist in grant preparation.

Career Development

  • Attend new faculty orientation programs. Several orientations occur in August, including the Office of the Provost Iowa New Faculty Orientation and your respective college and/or department. Orientation sessions are an important opportunity to learn more about the university and available resources.  
  • Introduce yourself to the faculty and staff in your department. Begin to develop collegial relationships and networks. Get to know the departmental staff who are valuable colleagues for supporting your career.
  • Familiarize yourself with the software and other technological tools that might be of use. For information or training, see the listing of Information Technology Services workshops, or on-line courses available to UI faculty, staff and students through e-Learning resources.
  • Look for upcoming faculty development workshops and place the dates on your calendar now. Your department and college may also offer programs tailored specifically to your discipline.
  • As you set up your office, build in “green” habits to integrate recycling and sustainability into your workplace. Visit the Office of Sustainability to learn more about UI sustainability strategies, including initiatives such as Energy, Food, Recycling & Waste Reduction, and Transportation.

Worklife

  • Settle into your new community. For information about the local area, including relocation and housing, children & family resources, schools, transportation, etc., check out the Build a Career | Build a Life website. For a basic overview of the University of Iowa, including campus maps, see About Iowa or Campus Maps & Tours.
  • Arrange your transportation to/from campus and, if needed, secure your parking permit. The University of Iowa Parking and Transportation and Alternative Transportation websites offer useful information, including a discounted Coralville Transit bus pass program for UI faculty and staff (Iowa City Transit is fare free) and information about biking to/on campus.
  • Include your family in learning about UI resources and benefits, including childcare and eldercare resources offered through Family Services, family-friendly policies including domestic partner benefits and faculty-related policies such as the tenure-clock extension policy, and wide-ranging community discounts available through UI Employee Discount programs.
  • If your spouse/partner is seeking employment in the Iowa City area, Dual Career Services (DCS) may be a helpful resource. The DCS staff has extensive experience in all areas of the job search process and provides a full range of services to the spouses/partners of UI faculty and staff. The DCS tailors its programs to your needs and maintains an extensive network of approximately 500+ business contacts throughout the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids Corridor.
  • Plan to care for your physical health and fitness. liveWELL and Recreational Services websites provide many excellent campus and local resources to assist you in taking care of yourself.
  • As an employee of the University of Iowa, University Human Resources may be able to answer specific questions related to University Payroll or University Benefits. You will have an opportunity to discuss these issues at the Iowa New Faculty Orientation, but specific questions may be answered by consulting these websites in advance.

During Your First Month

Teaching

Scholarship

  • Ensure that the research support and facilities promised to you in your offer letter are available. If not, contact your department chair to develop a timeline for completion.

Service

  • Don’t make any commitments this first month; wait until you settle in and know the general rhythm that your career will take on before committing yourself.

Career Development

  • Attend social and departmental functions in your department. Integrating yourself in department functions will give you the information you need to provide input and leadership, relevant to your career stage. Isolation can be a common problem for new faculty, so be an active and connected participant.
  • Ask questions and seek out resources. If you have a question and don’t know who to ask, send an email to faculty@uiowa.edu and a staff member in the Office of the Provost will offer suggestions.
  • Familiarize yourself with the university’s policies on professional ethics and academic responsibility, human rights, and discrimination. Understand your role and responsibilities as a faculty member in upholding the policies.
  • Complete any required compliance trainings for your position. Consult with your departmental office to determine the specific requirements. For example, all new UI employees with greater than 50% appointments must complete a Harassment Prevention Education course within the first months of employment, annual and First Amendment Training, and all new instructors must complete an online FERPA training program.
  • Activate a UI-sponsored individual membership in the NCFDD. The institutional membership allows all UI employees free access to the NCFDD tele-workshops, e-newsletter with faculty success tips, facilitated learning communities, resources and tools.
  • Participate in at least one faculty development workshop and/or campus forum. Check your college, department, Office of the Provost, Center for Teaching, Office of Teaching, Learning, & Technology, and OVPR Research Development Office websites for events.

Worklife

During Your First Semester

Teaching

  • Invite a faculty colleague or a staff member from the Center for Teaching to observe one of your classes and provide feedback on your teaching. Request permission to observe the classroom of a senior faculty member known for their exceptional teaching.
  • Balance your time between teaching and research by setting realistic preparation limits. New faculty are encouraged to spend no more than two hours of preparation per hour of lecture. Early career faculty often over-prepare, which can limit time for research, writing, and professional networking. Consider exploring efficient teaching strategies that deliver essential content, foster active learning, and help you maintain a sustainable workload.
  • Use the resources available through OTLT or contact the ITS Help Desk - 319.384.HELP (4357) | its-helpdesk@uiowa.edu, as you continue to creatively use technology in your instruction.

Scholarship

  • Check the Office of the Vice President for Research website for policies, funding, and tools to support researchers, scholars, and creators.
  • If publishing a book is required for tenure in your department, consult with the University of Iowa Press and/or attend a workshop on book publishing.
  • Write down your research and writing goals for the semester. Do a quick reality check: Are these goals realistic for one semester? Map your goals onto your calendar by week. Print your goals and hang them in your main workspace.  

Service

  • Develop a standard statement to use when asked to serve on committees or commit to other forms of service. For example, “That sounds really interesting, and my department chair asked me to talk with them before taking on any committee assignments.” This provides you with time to consult with a senior-level faculty member who can then assist you in determining the relevance of the request to your career goals.

Career Development

  • Arrange a meeting with the chair of your department to discuss requirements and procedures for promotion and/or tenure review. Familiarize yourself with the University of Iowa’s Promotion Procedures for all regular-track and adjunct faculty.
  • Create a Faculty Development Plan that includes the following faculty success factors:
    • Limit lecture preparation time. Aim to spend no more than two hours of preparation per hour of lecture. While this may be challenging at first, faculty who adopt this approach often find they cover essential content more effectively, appear more relaxed, and foster greater student engagement. Over-preparing can lead to content overload and reduce time available for research and writing.
    • Write daily. Dedicate [at least] 30–60 minutes each day to scholarly writing. Even short, consistent writing sessions (as little as 15 minutes) have been shown to boost productivity and reduce anxiety about meeting scholarly productivity expectations.
    • Engage with colleagues. Spend at least two hours per week in conversations about teaching and research. Though it may be difficult to prioritize, these interactions often lead to valuable insights, collaborations, and tangible assistance in getting a research program launched and/or improving teaching success.
    • Track your time. Keep a daily log of how you spend your work hours. Recording time commitments helps early career faculty monitor how well they are meeting the three commitments listed above.
    • Integrate research interests into lectures. Doing so leads to greater enthusiasm for teaching as well as recruitment of students as research assistants.
  • If you haven’t done so yet, activate a UI-sponsored individual membership in the NCFDD. Develop a career advisory network of peers, internal departmental mentors, and external mentors. The NCFDD has developed a tool to help you think through “Your Mentoring Network.”
  • Sign up with an on-line academic career development network. These networks vary in their support, but many send regular reminders that support you in your research and teaching agendas. Examples of useful on-line networks include:  SuccessfulAcademic.com, NCFDD, Tomorrow’s Professor.
  • Create a “positive feedback” file, which includes supportive e-mails and letters of thanks from students and colleagues.
  • Familiarize yourself with the organizational structure of your department and the campus community.

WorkLife

  • Get to know the Iowa City/Coralville community through the following websites: UI Build a Career | Build a Life,  Think Iowa City and Iowa City Downtown District.
  • Get to know Iowa gems through Discover Your University experiences.
  • Revisit the list above and make time to do the activities that you didn’t have time for in your first semester, and that you continue to believe will benefit you and your family.
  • Maintaining work/life boundaries may be more manageable if you have a clear focus and sense of purpose guiding your activities. If you haven’t yet, write a personal mission statement that includes all your life roles (e.g., professor, spouse/partner, parent, son/daughter). Clarify your goals within each role and plan your time accordingly. 
     

During Your First Year

Teaching

  • Maintain a teaching portfolio with all class materials, assignments, syllabi, and exams. See the UI Center for Teaching for teaching portfolio resources.
  • Discuss your teaching load with your department chair and avoid, if possible, excessive new preps, large class sizes (without teaching assistants), and hectic teaching schedules.

Scholarship

Service

  • Seek guidance from your department chair and mentors regarding importance/relevance of service requests and committee service, as they relate to tenure and/or promotion. Learn how to say “no” and when to say “yes.”
  • Learn about your department’s expectations for new faculty’s service requirements. Also ask about how those expectations change from pre/post tenure.

Career Development

  • Anticipate the natural rhythms of the academic year. Prepare for increased commitments during the spring semester - plan ahead and stay on track.
  • Prepare for and make good use of your Annual Review. Refer to the university policies and procedures for Promotion and Tenure, as well as your collegiate policies, procedures, and resources for preparing review materials (e.g., College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Promotion and Tenure webpage).
  • Review the dossiers of other successful faculty members in your department.
  • Familiarize yourself with institutional policies and procedures. Understand how your role as a faculty member supports the UI Student Success Team Initiatives.
  • Attend a Faculty Senate meeting with a senior colleague to learn how faculty governance works.
  • Familiarize yourself with the campus resources available to assist you should you experience personal or professional challenges. See the “Important UI Resources” section on p.2 for offices ready and willing to support you.

WorkLife

  • Thrive in our inviting and creative community. Iowa City offers the perfect blend of academic energy, cultural opportunities, and outdoor recreation. For on-campus art events, see the Performing Arts at Iowa or Hancher Auditorium calendars. The University of Iowa Hawkeye Athletics Department offers numerous year-round sports events, and the University Lecture Committee brings a wide range of noted speakers to campus.  
  • Check out the UI Employee Discount Program. You’ll be surprised at the discounts offered on hotel rooms, food, and household goods and services.
  • Don’t forget to care for your physical and mental health. Events and local resources to support you can be found on the liveWELL website.

Important University of Iowa Resources

In addition to collegiate resources, the following resources may be useful to understand your rights and responsibilities as a faculty member.

Additional information can be found on the University of Iowa Faculty Policies and Campus Resources

Sources Cited and Other New Faculty Resources