Blazing New Trails - Connexions

Service to the Profession: The Forgotten Element of Tenure and the Importance of Faculty Mentoring 321
Assisting New Faculty
Understanding the responsibilities and role of an assistant professor who has chosen to
follow the tenure track places an equal responsibility on the current faculty members to serve
as mentors and guides. One key to helping junior faculty during the typical transition period
into higher education is the assistance provided by senior faculty (June, 2008). Tenured
faculty members are able to steer junior professors away from potential errors in managing
their time, balancing teaching, research, and service requirements, and learning the culture of
their departments (June, 2008). Greene, O’Conner, Good, Ledford, Peel, and Zhang (2008)
recognized that as new faculty enters the profession, the “responsibility to nurture and guide
the teaching and research talents of young professors” falls on the shoulders of the university
and their respective departments (p. 429). With that said, the somewhat forgotten requirement
for service goes unaddressed.
As a mentor and a guide for junior faculty, established professors become valuable
resources to assist novice assistant professors with beginning research projects, advice on
balancing research with teaching responsibilities (Young, 2002), and initiating service
opportunities that supports a successful tenure plan. By establishing a sound and productive
mentoring relationship with already tenured professors, new faculty members garner not only
support and guidance in research and teaching endeavors but are also presented with service
opportunities that allow them to learn more about their chosen profession and the workings of
higher education.
METHODOLOGY
In order to gain an understanding about the connective relationship between service
and tenure at Texas colleges and universities as well as how established faculty can assist new
faculty in the area of service, this study examined the beliefs and perceptions of practicing
professors regarding the service requirement for tenure and the means by which they were
assisted with service opportunities. The research questions that guided this study were:
1. What role does service play in acquiring tenure?
2. How are assistant professors informed about the tenure process?
3. What are possible areas for the acquisition of service opportunities?
In order to collect relevant quantitative and rich qualitative data, a mixed-method research
design was incorporated through the use of the electronic survey engine Survey Monkey.
Mertler and Charles (2011) contended that a mixed-method approach “capitalizes on the
strengths of both quantitative and qualitative research” (p. 319) as well as the fact that
quantitative data allow researchers to examine useful information and qualitative data allow
“individuals to express their own perspectives on the topic” (p. 319). With the issue of service
and how it relates to tenure, the mixed-method approach provided valuable data.
The quantitative data were automatically collected and analyzed through the
disaggregation component of the survey engine. Qualitative data were collected from three
open-ended statements. From the collected responses, similar comments were coded and
themes were identified regarding the beliefs and practices offered from the professors on the
issue of service and tenure.
The survey was electronically emailed to the professors of 62 colleges and universities
identified as member of the Texas Council of Professors of Educational Administration