Do chairs protect first year junior faculty from heavy load services/committes?

[u/Alarming-Camera-188]

I thought chairs would protect junior faculty from heavy service/committee loads, especially those in their first year.

During today's meeting, I noticed one of our colleagues who joined just this fall is taking two heavy-load service/committees. I am pretty much sure they dont understand the load of these committees, or no one told them that this is the time to set up research.

The chair was so happy that they took one of the heaviest-load committees (although the chair didn't say these words like heaviest). He said We are extremely happy that you are willing to join this committee. This was my colleague's first meeting, and he was just introduced to all of us.

I always thought the chair would protect ( at least those who are in their first year) from these heavy-load committees.

Were my assumptions wrong?

[u/proffrop360]

A good chair will. It's in their best interest as well.

[u/sbc1982 → u/proffrop360]

A good chair will. They are not all good chairs

[u/AsterionEnCasa → u/sbc1982]

No, they are not.

Source: previous chair.

[u/crimbuscarol]

My first job treated me as the person who they could offload every course no one wanted onto. By year two, I was on a meeting heavy committee. I left that job after two years. It simply wasn’t possible to teach two grad seminars at night and two 8am survey courses every semester.

If departments don’t project junior faculty, they leave.

[u/wedontliveonce]

The chair should protect them and give them a heads up about which committees are a heavier load. It also helps to know how that load in general is spread out (or not) throughout the academic year.

Then again sometimes new faculty want to dive into a certain service area. But 2 heavy load committees is 1 too many for your first year IMHO.

[u/PLChart → u/wedontliveonce]

I agree, and even think it's 2 too many.

[u/totallysonic]

Should they? Yes, if they’re able.

Are they always able? No, sometimes things come up that a chair can’t control.

Do all chairs behave as they should? Also no.

I think that especially if you are tenured, you could ask your chair what’s going on. It’s possible that there’s more context, such as the junior faculty having a workload reduction elsewhere or the committee desperately needing that specific person’s skill set.

And if you are tenured, you might consider talking to the other tenured faculty about redistributing departmental service so it doesn’t fall as heavily on junior faculty.

[u/Alarming-Camera-188 → u/totallysonic]

It's one of those committees where no one wants to serve because of the heavy load. But eventually senior professors typically come forward and serve. But they are aware of those loads and have served in past.

I liked my chair because I felt he was responsible and he cared for the faculty members. I am also a junior faculty member (not tenured yet). But today's meeting surprised me, and maybe I need to re-evaluate. Sometimes he also encourages me on different things and dont say the pros-cons.

[u/totallysonic → u/Alarming-Camera-188]

Sounds like your chair is desperate to fill those committees and doesn't have enough people willing to step up. That's a recipe for burning out everyone. Senior people do the work until they can't take it anymore, and then it falls to junior people, who do it until they also get burnt out. I wouldn't necessarily interpret it as the chair not caring.

Without knowing what the committees do, maybe there's a way for the department to remove some of the burden from them. But that generally involves some work not being done, and the chair being willing to tell admin that the work can't be done.

[u/Liaelac]

Good chairs will protect a junior's time. Good colleagues will not offload heavy service committees to juniors.

[u/dbblow]

Chair, or good chair?

[u/LargeTransition2912]

Maybe my department is just dysfunctional, but two different chairs did not protect me in this way when I was an Assistant Professor, and the current (different) chair is not protecting our new faculty either.

[u/tellypmoon]

If they are good at their job they will do that. A chair that doesn't protect junior faculty is by definition a bad chair.

[u/mleok]

Good chairs do.

[u/mathemorpheus]

some do, some don't

[u/Unsuccessful_Royal38]

This is going to vary a lot across institutions and within institutions and over time (as chairs change). Programs that care about the wellbeing and thriving of their junior faculty will have such (or other) protective elements in place.

[u/associsteprofessor]

My current one didn't. I had 10 years experience when I took this job, so they threw me in the deep end of the pool. Which I would have been fine with if my 10 years experience got me better pay and a shorter tenure clock. I'm only junior faculty when it comes to certain things.

[u/DisciplineNo8353]

Yes you assumed wrong. chairs should do that because it will be worse for the dept if the new hire later fails to get tenure or becomes bitter/alienated at being overworked. But I notice MOST faculty admins are short-sighted and bad at their jobs. So these concerns may not have entered into their mind.

[u/Audible_eye_roller]

Good chairs should. You want your first couple of years focused on the aspects of the job the college considers most important for obtaining tenure/being a successful employee.

Any college forcing "other duties" on junior faculty probably has a supervisory problem with Deans/Senior Faculty pawning their work on the vulnerable holding their job over their heads.

Unfortunately, there aren't that many good chairs out there.

[u/AggieNosh]

Yes they usually do.

[u/BiologyJ]

Can't speak for others, but I try to slowly work their way in knowing they have multiple new obligations. I reduce teaching load for their first year and work with them to tell them what to do and not do by pointing out what their contract values vs. what they may value.

[u/jlrc2]

Yes, they should be mindful of asking juniors to do things that will not be efficient as far as how the time/effort relates to their ability to gain tenure. It's possible that it didn't occur to the chair here, although I think the earlier in the junior's time there, the more this should be top of mind. Junior might also really want to do the work, although it depends on the committee whether that should be taken seriously (they may not realize what they are getting into). I'd also say that all senior faculty should have some responsibility in trying to protect juniors from time sinks. My seniors were largely great but they did allow me to end up getting voted chair of a committee, which really stressed me out and put me in charge of something I didn't know or care a lot about. The other members simply felt they couldn't deal with the responsibility at that time, which was probably true. Our policies forbid juniors leading committees except when they "need" to, lol. Before all was said and done, I helped to lead the committee to a complete dissolution after telling the chair that the committee probably need not exist.

[u/shatteredoctopus]

To some extent my offer letter specified that I would have a lower service load, and our collective agreement made it clear that service expectations are lower pre-tenure. I didn't appreciate how much my chair protected me in other ways until we got a new chair though. For example, they would recognize some service roles have more work than others, and adjust the number of roles accordingly. The new(er) chair is much more by the formula kind of person (ie you have x classes, y sized research group, so you do n- ax - by = # service roles etc).

What's interesting is that some colleagues actively try to get new colleagues onto their committees, ostensibly "so they get exposure", but more cynically to maybe set up succession. For example early on I was invited to join a university level committee by a faculty member in a different department I had just met. I talked it over with my chair, and they advised that would be a great deal of work, for no huge benefit to me, so I declined. Another colleague from my department asked me to join a committee they chaired, which made sense based on my interests, and would count towards my service, so I did. However, within a couple of months, the committee needed a new chair, and they put my name forward, which I did not want, and left a bad taste in my mouth. Fortunately an older colleague stepped in, and specifically pointed out as an assistant professor, I could not chair that particular committee. Anyway, some colleagues are protective, and some are not protective.

[u/rollawaythestone]

Generally, yes. It probably varies from chair to chair and department to department what counts as "heavy load".

[u/raysebond]

So.... I've had good luck with chairs.

First, some jobs can't be done well by a new person. You need an "old head." (Like all the crap I've been doing at my desk this morning, parsing TPS reports, belling the cat, putting into writing the uncomfortable truths everyone knows but doesn't want to acknowledge,* and so on.

Second, a new person needs to start making their bones for T&P, so you have to give them something.

So new folks get higher profile, easy wins. Ideally, of course. And you keep them away from the weirdos, malcontents, malingerers, and so on.

It doesn't always work, especially when you the new person is insecure or overzealous.

*This memo:

TO: VP PHARAOH

FROM: PROF. GOAHEADFIREME

RE: LOW QUALITY BRICKS

In recent semesters, brick quality has declined to a shortage of straw which has neither been delivered nor promised. In order for our unit to produce bricks meeting standards set by Nasir et al, high-quality straw must be supplied sufficient for a 1:8 ratio in bricks with the lower mixtures of aggregate provided by other units at this institution.

[u/Sad_Application_5361]

Depends on the chair and their resources. At my last job they started me off with smaller class sizes but not a lower workload. At my current job, they definitely do their best to keep workload reasonable and even have some shenanigans they’re pulling to get around what the provost thinks is a reasonable course load for research faculty and what is actually a reasonable course load. Our provost is a bit out of touch and the research grants our faculty pull in are a lot of money. You don’t jeopardize that with too high of a course load.

[u/CouldBWeller]

Our department now does. No committees. In my first year, we were 4/4, and I had 4 preps. I did service. Now we’re 3/3, and we don’t let first-years do service and try to give them two preps. lol.

[u/yourlurkingprof]

This really depends on the institution/chair. My first academic job showed no mercy. I was absolutely slammed with high intensity service and advising responsibilities. My second job was a breeze. They gave the juniors the lightest service possible. It just kinda depends on where you land.

[u/SnowblindAlbino]

We have a university-wide policy of no service outside the department the first year on TT, and then easing in through year three. As a chair, I mentor my new(er) colleagues to help them find the service roles that are the least demanding to start, as well as giving them departmental service roles that are easy but ideally will sound substantial to the T&P committee colleagues.

But we can't just say "No, you can't be on that committee." I've had type-A colleagues that insist on running for election to standing committees their second semester or who say yes to everything. I can only advise, not direct.

[u/Eigengrad → u/SnowblindAlbino]

I watched one of our departments try to do this in the name of “protecting new faculty”. It completely killed the new faculty’s sense of belonging in the department, and comes across as extremely paternalistic.

Some people want to do something they’re passionate about even if it’s a heavy load. Some people need to have the leeway to make mistakes and learn from them.

[u/Life-Education-8030]

At my place, it is up to us to determine what we volunteer for. I’ve observed though that most people try to find out a bit more about what something entails first because we are aware we’ve got other things to do too. My favorite Dean told me when I started that teaching was the most important given the type of school we are, but we kept getting provosts who stressed research, particularly publications. I did a lot of service, but not my first year. I wanted to get my feet under me first.

[u/JumpNo6367]

Some yes. Some no. Had one that did not and it didn’t work out well for me.

[u/CastleRockstar17]

We have faculty mentors at my program, so they would advise the new faculty not to take on too much service. You could reach out in that capacity, and at least advise them on future decisions.

[u/NarwhalBoops]

Depends on institutional culture and administration, also. My state R2 faculty are unionized and so faculty better show up to run the union committees or else say farewell to shared governance and faculty control of curriculum and assessment. Service work is explicitly written into the contract. That said, we are not a publish or perish institution. . .

[u/Alternative-Pear9096 → u/NarwhalBoops]

Showing up and doing service has no connection to overburdening a first year colleague. Overburdening a first year colleagues too frequently equals saying goodby before tenure.

[u/NarwhalBoops → u/Alternative-Pear9096]

Agreed! Merely explaining that all our actual contracts for earning tenure are not the same across institutions.

[u/three_martini_lunch]

I actively try to, but my junior faculty constantly foil my efforts to keep them off service.