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[onomatopoeia]

I'll be new on the tenure-track this fall.  I came across several advice books on Amazon for new faculty:

Boice, Advice for New Faculty Members
Hall, The Academic Self
Lucas & Murry, New Faculty: A Practical Guide for Beginners
Sawyer, et. al., The Art and Politics of College Teaching: A Practical Guide for the Beginning Professor
Diamond, Preparing for promotion and tenure review : a faculty guide
Silverman, Teaching for tenure and beyond: strategies for maximizing your student ratings
Silverman, Collegiality and Service for Tenure and Beyond
Schoenfeld & Magnan, Mentor in a manual : climbing the academic ladder to tenure
Whicker, et. al, Getting tenure

Are any of these to be recommended?  Avoided?  Others (not on the list) that I should be aware of?  Thanks!

[voxprincipalis]

Personally, I found the Boice and Schoenfeld/Magnan books nearly useless; I was issued both of them so I felt obligated to read them, but I really disliked them. BUT had I read them when I was starting out I might have felt differently, and of course your mileage may vary. It depends partially on how much you know "going in" -- how much teaching experience you've already had, how familiar you are with the institutional culture of academia, etc.

For info on how to approach teaching, you might enjoy Ken Bain's What The Best College Teachers Do.

Try your local library first -- then decide if you want to buy. Or, I might have my Mentor in a Manual lying around somewhere and I can send it to you. (Maybe I threw it out when I moved from my last job, though; I can't remember.)

VP

[dr_dre]

Yes, I read some reviews of the Bain book and it sounded very interesting. I also wondered if anyone has written "What Crappy College Professors Do." Identify the worst professors in the country, study them, and write up what they have in common... I think it would be an interesting read. And it would be the sort of thing that might make us all feel better about what we do in the classroom. I like the idea of these teaching advice books, but I'm afraid I'll come away with more guilt at a time when I need to think positive, smile a lot, and look toward the end of term.

[zharkov]

For specific suggestions I'd recommend McKeachie's Teaching Tips.

For a more general narrative about college teaching, I'm the Teacher, You're the Student by Allitt.

[onomatopoeia]

I guess I should clarify--I do already have considerable teaching experience (3+ years as a visitor), so I'm mainly interested in books that deal more with being on the tenure-track, academic culture, politics, etc.

I have the Bain and McKeachie books already, and I think they're both great!

[reader]

The initial list of books are all pretty good.  I found them all helpful in varying degrees.  The problem for me is that most devote very little time in exploring each area of a new professor's life.  I recommend branching out to find more extensive discussions in other sources. 

Regarding teaching, I always enjoy books in critical pedagogy as they have been most helpful in developing my own sense of what it means to "teach" students.  I very much like Ira Shor's books Empowering Education and Critical Teaching & Everyday Life.  I also like Parker Palmer's book The Courage to Teach.  Of course, there are many others out there.

I also recommend a little book called Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development by David A. Kolb.  Wow -- that book made me completely reconsider how I approach the classroom. 

If you intend to apply for grant funding, I recommend thumbing through grant-writing books.  Again, many are available to get you started like the arrogantly titled The Only Grant-Writing Book You'll Ever Need and the more simplistic Winning Research Funding.  Both are good for getting your feet wet in the process.

Finally, I found books on the history and development of higher education to be very helpful.  A sampling of interesting books I read include Newfield Ivy and Industry, Smith Killing the Spirit, Caplow and McGee The Academic Marketplace, Barzun The American University, and Marsden The Soul of the American University.  Each one is full of "nuggets" for orienting to higher education. Other titles I would also recommend are Academic Charisma and the Origins of the Research University, Equity and Excellence in American Higher Education, The Creation of the Future, The Rise of American Research Universities, The Chosen, Remaking the American University, The Future of Higher Education, and Powers of the Mind: The Reinvention of Liberal Learning in America.  These books and others like them bring you up to speed on contemporary debates on curriculum, tenure, graduate vs. undergraduate teaching, etc., etc, and help you integrate into the academic profession as a whole. Other authors to look at are Clark Kerr and Derek Bok.  You might also be interested in books that focus more on the professorate as an occupation like The New Academic Generation and The American Faculty: The Restructuring of Academic Work and Careers.

Good luck!

[sibyl]

If you are going to be at a liberal arts college, I highly recommend Good Start by Gerald Gibson.  It's brief yet thorough, covering teaching, research, and service, as well as addressing emotional issues, organizational dynamics, and self-management.  It's realistic, but joyful about academia.  Gibson used to be a LAC dean and is now a LAC president; I only wish his current institution didn't treat job candidates so disrespectfully.

I also like Robert Birnbaum's How Colleges Work as a good guide to how things get done within the academic culture, and Richard Light's Making the Most of College as an easy-to-swallow primer on how to help students maximize their collegiate years.

I have the Lucas & Murry on my shelf, though I haven't read it.  A quick flip-through suggests that it's very dense, formal in tone, and seems to take a somewhat cynical approach to negotiating academic life.

You may also want to look at Deneef and Goodwin, The Academic's Handbook.  Many voices, many aspects of academic culture, and a good short bibliography in case you do want to keep on reading.  (I appreciate the spirit of reader's response, and I'm tempted to offer my own long list, but I think a short list may be more useful for your purposes.)

Happy reading... and come on back!

[winnie]

A. Leigh DeNeef and Craufurd Goodwin, The Academic's Handbook tells you about how academic life is organized. A little dry, but helpful. Finally you can find out what a dean does.

Kathryn Hume, Surviving the Academic Job Hunt (?--may not be exact title). The title is misleading. It has important tips about the politics of being in a new job, including why you shouldn't talk a lot or at all in first faculty meetings.

Ms. Mentor's Impeccable Advice for Women in Academia, by Emily Toth (who also writes the CHE "Ms. Mentor" column). Reveals a lot of political secrets newbies need to know. Useful for all genders and much more forthright than most.

[jammer]

I hate advice books, but I actually liked Boice....   The idea of being efficient in using small chunks of time is really important in a crazy-busy, multi-tasking job like being an academic - not that I've actually completely implemented his ideas,  but I'm trying.

I think that this is really a matter of personal preference.  Take a couple of weeks this summer and start reading until you find one you like.

[southprof77]

As a new professor I have liked:
1) Semenza's Grad. Study for the 21st Century. (I came across this book during my last year in grad school, and it was a I-wish-I-known-that-at-the-time moment.  BTW: It is subtitled "How to Build an Academic Career in the Humanities," so it is the sort of book you can pick up in mid-stream and use to adjust your course without feeling micro-managed.)

2)Germano's Dissertation to Book.  (I'm at a research institution, and Germano offers sage-like advice on getting a real honest to goodness research program up and running.  Could be entitled effective habits and useful strategies for tenure.)

3)Pedagogy (If you are wondering how to be an effective teacher, this journal is where I would go rather than the books generally speaking.  Its focused in the Humanities, but talks about everything from how to teach poetry well to knowing engaging diverse constituencies and interests in the classroom effectively.)

[onomatopoeia]

Thanks for the great suggestions, everyone--this should keep me busy over the summer!

[untenured]

Are you going to read all of those books?  I'd never have the discipline.  I'd be too busy having fun outside in the nice weather or something.

Untenured

[onomatopoeia]

Oh heck, no--I'm with you.  I just meant that I'd have plenty to choose from for those (rare) moments when I prefer to be cloistered indoors!  I expect that I may look at a handful over the course of the year.

[untenured]

Yes, do that.  If this is the coming summer before your tenure-track job, you may want to prepare syllabi and think about a research project.  For heaven's sake though enjoy yourself!  You deserve it.

Untenured