Advice for New Faculty Members

As a first year Assistant Professor, I felt simultaneous joy and dread about my new job. Incredible freedom, a significant amount of pressure, and uncertainty about the best day-by-day approach for acquiring tenure all combined to leave me feeling like a person running through an unfamiliar burning museum in the middle of the night. Boice's book provided the structure for my precious hours at a time when the sheer number of possibilities was overwhelming. In fact, the goal of the book is to provide methods for getting more done on a regular basis. Before reading Boice's book, a normal day would see me working 6-10 hours on a single task such as class preparation, research, or writing. By the end of the day I may have made progress, but not as much progress as one would expect, and I would often end the day feeling that I was slipping behind in my schedule for all of my other tasks. Having read the book, I now structure my day with several Brief Regular Sessions, making short progress in many if not all of my projects each day. All of my projects stay fresh in my mind and I find that my subconscious often provides insights between sessions. I find that now I make faster, higher quality progress and have a bright outlook on all of my projects...and thus on my potential for tenure. Boice also stresses starting projects before one feels ready, then stopping before one feels finished, both techniques that I find make new projects easy to start and then continue. Preparing a new class seemed daunting, but doing just 5-15 minutes of preparation is easy and that time added up until I was no longer daunted. The book is structured into teaching, research, and service, but all three of the sections use similar techniques for similar benefit. I found the research section the most engaging and useful and wish it had been the first section, though I do plan on re-reading the book as time permits. Unfortunately, the book can be a difficult read; it repeats concepts, moves slowly, and can be dry at times. As such it is perfect for occasional reading and I have had great success at reading one page per day (note the brief regular sessions). I vigorously recommend this book for any new professor or graduate student planning to get a tenure track job. In addition, Boice provides 10 pages of references to back up his research and claims in the book if further reading is desired.

I am surprised that anyone who criticizes this book as obvious is bothering to read such a book. If it is so obvious, then you are probably one of the "exemplars" that Boice studied to formulate his analysis. Either that, or one of the struggling faculty members he studied, who fail because they are too proud to believe that anyone else has anything to offer. For the rest of us mortals, this book is fantastic. One thing other reviewers have not emphasized is the extent to which Boice bases his advice on his field studies of faculty. It apparently has been his life's work to study what determines whether university faculty succeed or fail. This gives him unique credibility.Yes, I acknowledge that it may be a bit off-putting because it is written somewhat in the style of self-help books, i.e., very informal, a bit repetitive, with some of that schtick that runs: "follow my 5 step program to success, because I have uncovered the key heretofore only known by a few, etc." However, the big difference between this and any self-help book is that he can back it up with research. I guess that's how you write self-help books for academics. (And don't misunderstand me, even when it sounds like a self-help book, it's like the better self-help books. This is clearly a labor of love for Boice.)This book is like one of those rare, great mentors. It doesn't tell you war stories, or give you a laundry list of techniques. Instead, it tells you how to be effective at your job. It describes the day-to-day processes and habits that so many successful people are terrible at articualting ("well, you just do it"). I suspect most academics really can use this. Yes, it's probably the kind of stuff that would be obvious to an outgoing, outwardly directed person like a salesman or politician, but the inwardly-focused types who tend to be drawn to academia really need this kind of help.

Some reviewers have criticized this book for being obvious. I found it anything but. The culture of my field says that the way to write a paper is to set aside large, uninterrupted blocks of time. It was an eye-opening experience to see hard data that show it is more effective to write in brief daily sessions. These writers are roughly twice as productive by several measures (pages written, manuscripts published) and also report themselves to be happier. This idea changed my professional life. When I recommend this book, I also warn people that also the book is chock-full of useful information, it is also badly written. Life is ironic. I do find it worth wading through Boice's painful prose to get the nuggets of great information. One more word---the advice in Boice's book can be *very* difficult to follow. I found the book only somewhat helpful with, for example, the difficulties of stopping when one feels ``on a roll.'' I have nevertheless found this an invaluable book.

I'm in the second year of a tenure track position, and it's really true that the universal social expectation is that getting tenure, especially the process of writing for publication, involves a whole lot of suffering, and that only the strong (definitely not including me) survive. Robert Boice has written a deeply spiritual and inciteful book not only about the tenure process and academic writing, but about how to live life mindfully and joyfully. I cannot recommend this book too highly.

In an earlier book, First-order Principles for College Teachers, Bob Boice advised us to moderate classroom incivilities, learn to begin before feeling ready, appreciate the value of waiting, and work in short reflexive intervals. In this latest book, Boice expands his focus to the other aspects of a productive and emotionally satisfying scholarly career. He begins with teaching and then goes on to write about non-teaching activities. In masterful strokes, he lays out the case for mindful work as the key to teaching, writing, and service. Boice urges us to focus on the process of working, rather than its products. We need to work with constancy and moderation, rather than in hypermanic bursts that ultimately burn us out. Moderation is the key, and Boice makes the case with persuasive arguements and excellent examples. I felt my own tension draining away even as I read the book! I have put his principles into practice in my own work, and I will buy copies for all my graduate students, so they can do the same.This is a wonderful, wise, and witty book.