0.4 Erickson, d., hensley, p., & Kinsey, g. (april 2010). lessons  (Page 5/7)

Understanding of the university culture . Coming as a surprise to many, the university culture was found to be much different than that of K-12 education. This appeared to be one of the major barriers, along with scholarship expectations, to a successful transition into the professoriate. “The general isolation of the professoriate, at least relative to what I was used to in K-12 [was a barrier]. This improved as I worked to develop collaborative relationships, but it was not automatic.” Another stated, “Understanding the culture, procedures, isolation, no formal mentoring, other colleagues were helpful, but expectations could be better.” Along with understanding the university culture was a frustration with some of the hallmarks of higher education. Responses included, “Red tape, politics, lack of speed in decision-making.” “Learning the ‘politics’ and the unwritten rules.” “Navigating the tenure and promotion process, state and university system procedures (paperwork, approvals, travel, etc.).” “Realizing the university moves much more slowly than the public schools was difficult.” “Not understanding governance procedures and university policies. Informal practices were not always revealed to begin within the mentoring process.”

Lack of time and/or over commitment . Many participants reported a lack of time and difficulty in balancing the demands of teaching, scholarship, and service. Learning how to budget time well was another challenge for those entering the professoriate. “Teaching was more difficult than I thought it was going to be.” “Learning to allot my time to focus on scholarly work.” “No secretary in preparing [the]course agenda.” “Little staff support, limited resources to support teaching and professional activities.” “I taught electing different courses in [the] first four years, so I had at least one new course every term, summer, spring, and fall.” “The routine of it – not as structured as K-12.” “Not enough time – I wrote on weekends – never enough time to write during the week/in the office.”

Also, those new to the profession were often asked to assume some form of leadership responsibility almost immediately upon hire, including (a) supervision of fieldwork, (b) program direction, assessment and accreditation activities, (c) university committee work, (d) chairing of faculty searches, (e) admissions, (f) recruitment, (g) dissertation committee work, and (h) advising masters’ students. As former school administrators, many respondents found themselves volunteering for additional duties. “I volunteered for many things. Wallace grant partnership board, editorial work, SREB training modules, college curriculum committee, faculty senate, beginning a principal center prototype, writing several huge US Department of Education grant proposals, president-elect of [the state’s research association].” “After being a middle school principal for a small school for ten years, I was used to doing MANY things, wearing many hats, and multi-tasking. Then, after becoming a new professor, I overwhelmed myself with many commitments and responsibilities and research and publication, to the detriment of my personal home and family life.”