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Within 9 Months Checklist

Within the First Semester

The first semester of your faculty appointment at UL Lafayette will build your knowledge of the resources and opportunities that are here to support your work, and to cultivate your informal network of colleagues who share similar interests and those who are in your discipline.

  • Meet with a faculty mentor in your department.  Reach out to the mentor directly if you haven't been approached or assigned one.
  • If you will be engaged in sponsored research, meet with the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, and familiarize yourself with the grant opportunities, processes and support available to you as a faculty member.
  • If you will be teaching, explore the resources, services and workshops available to you through the Office of Faculty Affairs, Academic Success Center, and Distance and Electronic Learning.
  • If you will be a frequent user of the libraries, familiarize yourself with library services.

Within Nine Months

Planning the years to come at UL Lafayette starts with evaluating your activities in the first year and your priorities.  As you reflect on your first year and plan ahead, consider...
Your Academic Activity

  • Establishing your campus intellectual presence–Depending on your field, opportunities to cultivate a network of colleagues who share your discipline, research or teaching. Interests arise through seminars, workshops, mentoring activities, writing groups, faculty retreats, or joint lab meetings.  Take advantage of these occasions formally and informally.
  • Personal and professional development–Participate in one or more of the University's professional development workshops or discussion groups, review the offerings and identify areas where you have benefited, and where you look forward to honing further skills or developing new ones.
  • Balancing your personal and professional life–Consider your personal connections in the wider community beyond UL Lafayette. Join organizations that are of interest to you.
  • Goals–Plan your research, teaching, academic or clinical activity in the coming year, prepare for an annual meeting with your Department Chair to discuss your plans for courses, grant submissions or other academic or clinical activity in the one-to-two years ahead.
  • Set both short-term as well as long-term goals.
  • Consider the balance between different types of activities and their contribution to your professional advancement as well as impact on your work/life balance.

Further Reading

  1. Survive and Thrive: A Guide for Untenured Faculty. Wendy Crone. Morgan and Claypool Publishers. 2010.
  2. McKeachie's Teaching Tips. Wilbert McKeachie and Marilla Svinicki. Cengage Learning. 14th edition 2013.

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