New Faculty: A Practical Guide for Academic Beginners (review)

New Faculty by Lucas and Murry is written primarily for scholars beginning faculty careers in higher education. Its readability, depth, and breadth broaden its appeal to experienced faculty who seek new ideas and to graduate students studying the role of faculty in higher education. Furthermore, as student affairs professionals seek to foster collaboration with their academic colleagues, New Faculty, provides an invaluable perspective on the challenges and rewards experienced by beginning faculty. The understanding facilitated by New Faculty can set the stage for thoughtful outreach from student affairs practitioners who seek collaboration with faculty.

Lucas and Murry lead readers on a journey thorough the many hoops and hurdles that both daunt and define the success of faculty early (and indeed later) in their careers. After grounding their work with an exploration of the institutional environment and the need to find a mentor, they explore faculty work activities including teaching, fostering active learning, advising, publishing, securing grant funding, service, and legal issues. They conclude with a thoughtful afterword.

Hundreds of sources are integrated brilliantly in this highly readable, useful work. In addition to rooting themselves in the literature of the field, the authors' perspectives are informed by their extensive experience giving workshops to new faculty. The result is a book that is rich in its clarity of expression and thoughtfully complex in its conceptualizations. It is clear that the authors understand the importance of appealing to students, and readers, with different learning styles. They demonstrate this by using a variety of writing styles and formats in which they convey useful advice from the scholarly literature, their personal ideas, and anecdotes from their experience. The layout is visually appealing and has a well-organized presentation of ideas that most scholars can readily implement.

The major topics addressed come directly from the more common questions the authors have heard at their workshops for new faculty. As experienced by the author of this review, New Faculty is likely to confirm many personal instincts, support the advice of helpful colleagues, and help academic beginners to develop a deeper understanding of their role. One of the greatest values of this work is that it answers questions new faculty might not even think to ask. For example, how can we engage our students in active classroom activities that enhance learning? What exactly is best to include in a cover letter one sends to a journal editor? What should be included in a book prospectus? Is it ever acceptable to have one's work considered by multiple outlets simultaneously? What is the difference between a grant and a contract? How realistic should one's submitted grant budget be? What is the difference between direct, indirect costs and cost sharing for grant-funded projects? How do I decide whether or not to accept a committee assignment? These are a few of the many questions one finds thoughtful answers to in New Faculty.

Faculty who work primarily with graduate students will find the advice for advising graduate students particularly helpful. While comprehensive, the advising chapter could have benefited from a discussion of college student development and its implications for advising. Even a small portion on Sanford's concepts of challenge and support (Sanford, 1962) would have added a useful developmental framework from which to view advising activities. More advice on strategies for teaching graduate students relative to undergraduates would also have been helpful. Certainly the advice provided on teaching can apply to graduate students; however, more specific information in this area would be an improvement. Still, their section on teaching is one of their strongest, with particularly helpful lists of suggestions for syllabi and creative classroom teaching techniques.

Lucas and Murry also offer a powerful argument for engaging in scholarship regardless of institutional publishing requirements. Their list of fundamentals of writing is not only a helpful guide for...