Demystifying Faculty Advancement Over Breakfast

By Keith Gillogly

The event was attended by both newer and senior faculty members, prompting open, constructive dialogue about faculty careers and working to demystify academic advancement. 

“When I look at myself coming up through academia, one of the things I realize was how much of it was secret,” said Gustavo Arrizabalaga, PhD, senior associate dean for faculty affairs. “There are rules we don’t know about.”

While addressing attendees, he said that, in terms of writing grants, being good mentors, seeking tenure, and even managing finances and personnel, faculty members often learn by trial and error — “and that’s silly.”

Instead of veiled secrecy, Arrizabalaga wants transparency and awareness to inform Jacobs School faculty activities. “These things are learnable and teachable, and there are best practices about how to do them,” he said.

Throughout the event, faculty affairs staff shared resources, information, and tips promoting faculty advancement and engagement with the Jacobs School and local communities.

The staff presented updates to the faculty affairs website and highlighted events and community outreach activities. They also encouraged faculty to participate in workshops on trainee mentorship and other topics.

The group also sought to shed light on faculty promotion and to be inclusive of not just tenure track but all faculty, including those with clinical, research and volunteer faculty appointments.

Jessica L. Reynolds, PhD, associate dean for faculty affairs, outlined the promotion process, discussing needed letters, teaching evaluations, and voting and committee meetings. The process is multi-stepped and can be prolonged, so she emphasized continual communication with department chairs and peers about expectations and timelines.

“Open communication with your chair and with those committees that manage promotion is really important,” she said, while noting that promotion is just one facet of career growth. “There’s so much more to faculty development than just promotion.”

Arrizabalaga added that while rising faculty should show achievements across scholarship, service and teaching, they shouldn’t fixate on quantity of published papers or federal funding obtained — traditional achievement markers. Instead, review committees are taking a more holistic approach to promotions and tenure considerations, he said.

During an interactive activity, attendees shared their own ideas promoting faculty success, which included providing more opportunities for grant writing training, career building workshops, and mentoring meetings.  

During the event, Allison Brashear, MD, MBA, UB’s vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School, sat down for a candid discussion sharing her own journey through academia and advice for faculty.

The interview was conducted by Anyango Kamina, PhD, assistant dean for trainee and faculty development.

Brashear discussed how her clinical trials work bolstered her move from an exclusively clinical role to tenure-track faculty while at the Indiana University School of Medicine. “You never know when a door is going to open and you’ll have an opportunity,” she said.

Up-and-coming faculty members, Brashear noted, should be purposeful about showing that they’re working toward the next level. “It’s important to demonstrate that you have a continued path. Because past success predicts future successes,” she said. For example, obtaining more substantial funding to replace starter grants is key, she said.

Brashear encouraged faculty to always be sharing and disseminating their work and findings, which includes many avenues besides just publishing scientific papers. “Always be driving toward making sure that you’re having an impact,” she said. Doing so keeps the scientific community informed and communicates the value of science to everyone, she said, urging faculty to contact the Jacobs School's Office of Communications to help share news.

She said her love for connecting people and helping them achieve their own goals and successes motivated her to become a dean. Now, she said she’s most proud of the welcoming culture of the Jacobs School and its commitment to learning and leadership. “We can do any number of things, but we can’t manufacture that.”