Words of Wisdom from Experienced Grad Students

A few weeks ago, Core Programs hosted its annual fall welcome for international graduate students with more than 120 students in attendance! During the event, experienced graduate students were asked to share their tips and strategies with incoming international grad students.

We found the majority of these insights are helpful to all graduate students across the University of Washington. Take a look at some of these tips and see which work best for you:

Don’t hesitate to speak up if you have a question.
Don’t try to perfect, just work hard and do your best.
You are not alone.
Learning to cook for yourself will save you money.
A big part of doing good research is about revising, revising, and more revising.
Consider “light therapy” during the winter if you are experiencing Seasonal Affective Disorder. There are options for free light therapy (for students) at The Counseling Center and Hall Health.
Go to campus events for free food (and building community).
You are more than good enough.
Don’t confuse being busy with being productive.
It can be good sometimes to push yourself out of your comfort zone.
Save Sundays for adulting (e.g. go over your weekly budget, write a list of errands, cleaning, etc.

We hope you find these insights useful, and let us know what works for you!

Best,

Core Programs—Office of Graduate Student Affairs
University of Washington

How to study for general exams

I could use some advice on how to study for General Exams in the social sciences. I’m especially having trouble getting through all the reading I’m supposed to do! Any tips on *how* to read for exams? How about studying for generals, more broadly?

–Anonymous

*A version of this question and the subsequent student answers were first posted in the UW Graduate Student Facebook Group. They have been edited for clarity and re-published anonymously with the permission of the question-asker.

Hi, there!

Whew. What a great question! Preparing for General Exams is one of the most challenging and daunting aspects of a doctoral career, but I’m confident with a strong plan and your determination, you’ll enter your exam well-prepared!

Let’s start with how to prepare for General Exams more broadly. Thankfully (for you and for the Guide), UC–Davis has a comprehensive and accessible guide with tips for approaching your general exams.

This guide breaks preparation into five, concrete steps: understand how the qualifying exam works; know your examiners’ interests and personalities; prepare early; reduce your stress; and have an exam day plan. Check out the article for more advice on putting these steps into action!

Inside Higher Ed also features a guest blog post from Ph.D. candidate Stephanie Hedge on studying for General Exams. Hedge recommends writing every day, as well as reading previous exams and writing practice questions.

I hope that these resources, combined with conversations with your advisor, committee members and peers, will help you to feel more confident in how you organize yourself for the General Exams.

The other piece you asked about is how to read all the material you need to cover for your General Exam in a timely fashion. The Guide has gathered several responses from people who have completed their General. Read them below.

On the whole, they made it clear that you should be strategically skimming these texts — not reading them cover to cover — and focusing on the material as it relates to your research and the history of the field.

“Resist the urge to read everything cover to cover. Instead, skim through the entire book or article — spending at most 20 minutes on this step — and then speed read through it focusing on the beginnings and ends of each chapter. If anything doesn’t make sense, go back and read more carefully.”

“Write a mini review for each book from the perspective of your research and your reading list. For me, this helped me read strategically and also better remember what I read. Your committee might be different, but for my purposes knowing the highlights of an argument was important but knowing what X author said on page 53 in the footnote (for instance) was not. And that made it easier for me to read quickly.”

“Read reviews by others to get a second opinion on books you have to skim.”

“Try focusing on the network of conversation as opposed to a single article or book. For example, think about how author X responds to author Y, author Z disagrees with author Y’s response, etc. If you can keep track of that (especially as it relates to your questions) then you don’t need to devote nearly as much time to reading each piece itself, and the intro/conclusion plus footnotes will be enough to tell you how an article or book fits into rest of the literature.”

You will likely find it helpful to develop a system to organize all your reading notes.

One student suggests: “Try using your phone for notes. You may use Siri to dictate important sentences (verbatim or your own analyses/connections to other work, with a symbol to differentiate them). At the end, you should have about a page or two per book or article. That way, it’ll be easier to review that before your exam!”

This Grad Hacker article suggests a few different strategies: using a Wiki, a blog, or even an old-fashioned scrapbook!

Best of luck!

–The Grad School Guide

Ask the Grad School Guide is an advice column for all y’all graduate and professional students. Real questions from real students, answered by real people. If the Guide doesn’t know the answer, the Guide will seek out experts all across campus to address the issue. (Please note: The Guide is not a medical doctor, therapist, lawyer or academic advisor, and all advice offered here is for informational purposes only.) Submit a question for the column →

Postdocs, Take Stock of Your Skills!

As the season turns to fall, it’s a good reminder to check in with how your career preparation is going. In past newsletters, we have shared tips and resources about career exploration, self-assessments, informational interviews, assessing readiness for academic careers and other elements that are so essential to the career preparation process. Regardless of your next job, it can help you to spend time reflecting on skills, competencies and unique strengths you’ve developed through graduate school and during your postdoc fellowship training.

You have developed skills that are valuable to your next employer, whether you are going into an academic career or seeking a position in other sectors. And you have developed skills and strengths whether you know it or not! It can help in your process, particularly if you are experiencing self-doubt or imposter syndrome when it comes to the job search (we all experience this!), to have a former co-worker or current team member give you feedback on what they see as your unique strengths and contributions to the team. Here are just a few examples of how accomplishments that may feel routine as part of your extensive training really are giving you great skills:

Completion of your Ph.D. or a postdoc project requires you to become skilled in project management, leadership and organizational skills. You are responsible for setting and meeting deadlines, reporting on results to your PI and mentors and building new collaborations as your project evolves and new questions arise. It’s also likely you’ve organized a department speaker series, hosted an outside speaker or helped to organize a conference. These activities reflect a range of skills that many positions in diverse sectors will appreciate.

You are comfortable presenting your work, which is likely very complex and technical, to a variety of audiences. Through your training, you’ve learned to ‘read the room’ and present your ideas at an appropriate level. In a research group meeting, you can be very technical. Conversely, when describing your work to your family and friends, you likely use more generalities. You’ve learned to use the power of persuasion to convince funding agencies to support your work, for your committee to move you towards graduation, to set strategic visions for your project and to motivate other team members. These skills are invaluable both inside and outside of the academy.

You have learned to make progress even when not all of the information is known. The most exciting projects are the ones with outcomes that are unknown but once figured out, lead to new questions and avenues to explore. This requires comfort with ambiguity: the definition of a graduate and postdoc experience. Often times, the whole picture is unknown when you start a project, but you figure it out as you go along. Your ability to think on your feet, to manage stress, and to tolerate change is remarkable and should be highlighted.

A more expansive list of skills and competencies can be found here: (1) Professional Skills and Competency Checklist, (2) Core Competencies Self-Assessment Checklist, (3) UW OPA blog on transferable skills. By reviewing these common capabilities upon which employers evaluate applications, you can determine which skills you have already developed, and more importantly, identify those that need further attention before you feel fully qualified for a job. Also, remember that if a posting matches your skills by roughly 75 percent, it’s a good idea to go ahead and apply (see The Muse). Employers often identify all the traits an ideal candidate will have; however, most don’t fit the bill 100 percent. If you’re close, go ahead and apply! You are ready for your next professional adventure.

Creativity: Maybe she’s born with it; maybe it’s something she learned?

Is it possible to learn creativity and originality? Why are some people more creative than others? I find it hard to generate original ideas and research questions. I learn things because they are interesting but I find it hard to take it one step further and develop a follow-up research project. Is this because I do not have the capacity to be a scientist? Or can it be related to having a very hands-off advisor and being isolated so I don’t have anyone from whom I can learn these thinking patterns? I am surrounded by very creative individuals who constantly spew out original content that I myself cannot do. I feel like an employee surrounded by entrepreneurs. Am I hopeless?

— Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,

This is a really interesting question! (Look, you’re developing great questions already!) I’ve pooled several resources that I hope, together, will give you the confidence, knowledge and motivation to kick-start your research.

To answer your question, I first turned to a couple experts right here at the University of Washington. I broke your question into two main ideas: “Is creativity malleable, and, if so, how do we build it?” And, “How can I develop a strong research question?” To answer the first question, I called upon Crystal Farh, associate professor of management at the Foster School of Business, who studies creativity. For the second question, I consulted Madeline Mundt, head of the Research Commons.

Since your question was so interesting, I also decided to consult another abundant (though occasionally unreliable) source of advice: Academic Twitter. I tweeted your question to Dr. Robert Epstein, a psychology researcher who studies creativity in business. Dr. Epstein replied and pointed us toward his 2015 article in Harvard Business Review on building creativity among your team.

I hope you’ll be relieved and excited to hear that yes, it is possible to develop creativity; creativity is a product of traits we can build in ourselves. However, these traits are not necessarily easy to develop. Please see the full answers from our experts, and a bit of advice directly from the Guide, below!

On creativity, and how to build it

Crystal Farh, associate professor of management, Foster School of Business:

“What an interesting question! First, let’s define creativity. Creativity is generating output that is both novel and useful. Research on creativity (at least in organizational settings) suggests that there are some individual differences that facilitate creativity — but interestingly, very few of those individual differences are “fixed” or “innate.” One of the key factors, for example, is knowledge. Creativity often emerges from the combination of new and old ideas in uncommon ways. Having knowledge, thus, and access to new information is one of the key ways to enhance one’s creativity.

Another key factor is motivation, particularly intrinsic motivation. Compared to more conventional types of work, creative work is challenging, ambiguous and often discouraging. There is a great deal of uncertainty around whether one’s ideas are good or not, whether others will positively evaluate those ideas or whether anything will come of those ideas. Thus, it takes a great deal of effort and persistence to keep at creativity, and motivation and self-confidence that one can be creative is hugely influential in predicting actual creativity. To be fair, creativity has also been linked to innovative cognitive style, which captures innate differences across individuals in their propensity to think in novel ways.

However, it is worth pointing out that knowledge and motivation are both malleable factors that are within the control of the individual and can be improved over time. It is also worth pointing out that creativity often emerges from engaging in the creative process — in other words, going through structured steps of generating ideas, reflecting on problems, and scanning the environment for relevant information and solutions. Again, these steps are within the control of the individual and can be developed. Moreover, there are a number of environmental factors (e.g., the behaviors of your supervisor, your coworkers/fellow classmates, support for creativity in the context) that also matter a great deal.

So, to address your question: you are not hopeless. There are lots of factors affecting creativity that you can nurture and practice over time. With sufficient knowledge and motivation, dedicated engagement in the creative process, and a favorable environment for creativity, I am confident that you will come up with your own exciting, creative research ideas.“

Developing a research question

Madeline Mundt, head of the Research Commons:

“A good place to start is to identify your subject liaison librarian and pay them a visit. Subject liaison librarians can help you generate and refine research questions, and they have in-depth expertise in research and developing research questions that will be applicable to the way things are done your field of study. Subject librarians help many students develop research questions, as it’s a very common question — definitely nothing that indicates you’re not cut out to be a scientist!

Subject librarians are also great people for students to connect with throughout their time here at UW, since they can help with much more than just generating research questions. They can help with research strategies, focusing topics, tracking down research, comprehensive literature searching, and more.“

Being gentle with yourself

I wanted to give you one more piece of advice, Anonymous, directly from the Guide. The way you talk about your peers and compare yourself to others in your lab makes me wonder if you may be experiencing a kind of imposter syndrome. I’d sum it up as “feeling inadequate or hopeless, specifically in your work, despite being quite adequate.” Please read the mentor memo and decide for yourself if you relate to these sentiments.

So, Anonymous, be patient with, and confident in, yourself. Remember that you were selected for your program and asked by your P.I. to join your lab for a reason. You are not hopeless — on the contrary — the fact you’ve made it this far is strong evidence that you are indeed cut out to be a scientist!

Wishing you the best of luck in your research and in your program! If you have any follow-up questions, or want to ask a different question, please do not hesitate to reach out. The Guide will be here!

— The Grad School Guide

Postdocs, Start on the Right Foot at UW!

The OPA had the pleasure of welcoming a group of new postdocs to the UW at our orientation on September 20, 2018. It was great to spend time with everyone at both the orientation and professional development sessions, as well as the Taco Bar to celebrate National Postdoc Appreciation Week. We truly value your role at the UW and want to help you achieve your professional and personal goals as you move toward an independent career.

For those who could not attend, or have maybe been at the UW for a bit but still have questions about resources and opportunities, we share some highlights of the resources and career development thoughts here:

The mission of the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA) is to holistically support postdocs throughout the UW. Our website provides resources for all aspects of your professional development: career exploration, skill building, writing productivity, grant writing, mentoring and support networks. In addition, you can schedule an appointment for a one-on-one discussion of your pathway to independence, strategies for managing conflict and career exploration.
The UW Postdoc Association (UWPA) works to establish and support a committed network of UW postdocs and provide professional support (e.g. career seminars, research symposium). The UWPA works to support postdoc parents with an innovative Postdoc Parent Group! Postdoc leaders are creating opportunities to improve postdoc experience at the UW.
A newly formed Diversity Postdoc Group is starting off this week, recruiting new members. Thanks again to postdoc leaders for stepping forward to create this group aiming to provide community building, mentoring and targeted professional development, and improve research and training culture. See announcement below for contacts and information on the first meeting.
If you are interested in an academic career, please look for upcoming announcements from the Future Faculty Fellows workshop and the Science Teaching Experience for Postdocs (STEP) program; both are open to all UW postdocs. We recommend attending the Future Faculty Fellows early in your postdoc experience as it helps you plan for your future.
The UW Career & Internship Center provides downloadable guidance documents focused on the job search for academic careers and diverse career pathways.
If you find yourself in a difficult situation and would like some advice, you likely know that you can reach out to your mentors, department chair and administrators, and us at the OPA. An additional resource is the Office of the Ombud, where you can receive confidential, neutral and informal guidance concerning job security, career advancement and research collaborations, and planning for difficult conversations.
The Institute of Translational Health Sciences (ITHS) provides access to funding (e.g., KL2) and workshops focused on career development and grant writing.
Finally, when looking to unwind from a long day of research, make your way to the Intramural Activities Building (IMA) or the Waterfront Activities Center (WAC) where, for a reduced rate, you can access the pool, fitness classes, workout facilities, and boat rentals. There really is no cheaper gym membership in town, and they have a Gear Shed where you can check out outdoor gear for your next adventure.

We closed with a brief workshop sharing tools and strategies for making the most of your postdoc experience. It is important to start planning your career progression, build your mentor team (individuals that are invested in YOU), set goals that are attainable and specific, explore diverse career pathways, and learn how to network more effectively. There are some great planning tools that can help you, such as ImaginePhD.com. Importantly, be open to new ideas and don’t be afraid to jump in a new direction. Keep a look out for our OPA professional development programming and e-newsletters where we will take a deeper dive into: Effective Individual Development Plans; Pathway to Independence; Careers in Industry; Diversifying Your Funding Portfolio, and much more. We want you to enjoy your time as a postdoc at UW, so let us know how we can help you be successful and feel supported.

Learning to Let Go of Perfectionism in Grad School

I am a perfectionist by nature, but the professors have told us not to be that way in grad school. How do I shut it off? – Anonymous

Some of the content from this article was first published by Core Programs. It has been revised and updated.

Dear Anonymous,

Thanks for writing in! I applaud your self-awareness to know that perfectionism is part of your nature and something that may keep you from putting your best foot forward in graduate school. Please know that you are not alone in struggling with perfectionism. The culture of academia tends to promote the notion that your work is always under the toughest scrutiny, leaving little room for error or work that may be rough around the edges.

Your professors are likely telling you to let go of perfectionism because that mindset is extremely difficult to sustain in graduate school. Let’s consider why that may be true. For some students, perfectionism may lead to staying up all night to finish a paper, which — especially when done repeatedly — may be detrimental to their emotional and physical health. Other students may set goals that are impossible to reach which may lead to procrastination, avoidance and feeling not good enough.

I encourage you to shift your thinking so you can acknowledge yourself as a whole person. Four thoughts below may give you ideas for how to approach your work differently:

Accept – Perfectionism reduces you to the sum of what you can and can’t accomplish. The reality is you can’t do it all, and you can’t do it all perfectly. Be concrete and intentional in your goal setting each quarter, so you can do work that is manageable and meaningful to you. Adjust your goals as you go so you know what is really possible to accomplish now, this weekend or this week.
Invite – Perfectionistic thinking distorts the way you perceive the quality of your work and can contribute to isolation. Instead of feeling like you have to buckle down and work harder, make time to ask peers, faculty advisors and colleagues to talk through your work with you and help you to clarify your ideas. Framing something as a “work-in-progress” can take some pressure off. Knowledge production is a process, not a product. Nobody just “gets there” from sheer self-determination.
Ground – Perfectionism can perpetuate obsessive thinking on school or work-related projects. Intentionally spend time with friends, family and community who know you are more than just a graduate or professional student. Your community can help remind you that you are a partner, sibling, parent, friend, artist, dancer, gamer, hiker… the list goes on and on.
Enough – Accepting “this is enough” means that you have done the best you could given the time, experience and resources available, and it is time to be done. It also means you are enough, just as you are. Remember that intellectual and professional development are constant processes that require supportive feedback, self-revision and personal growth over time; you won’t get there all at once, and that’s OK!

I hope this gives you some ideas of how to move forward. I also want to leave you with additional resources that some of your fellow grad students have found helpful:

The Battle Between Perfectionism and Productivity: A Ph.D. student gives some well-tested advice for figuring out why you are struggling with perfectionism and how to cope with it.

How to Overcome Perfectionism: This tool from an anxiety-awareness organization in Canada gives steps for recognizing and coping with perfectionism.

This’ll Do: Kelly Edwards, associate dean of Student and Postdoctoral Affairs in the Graduate School, explains her family’s saying “this’ll do” and why she has carried it into the workplace.

As well, if you are still feeling overwhelmed or simply want more specific strategies for coping with perfectionism, I encourage you to consider short-term counseling with the UW Counseling Center. Managing academic stress as well as moods and thoughts are all topics appropriate for short-term counseling, according to the Counseling Center.

All the best,

The Grad School Guide

Ask the Grad School Guide is an advice column for all y’all graduate and professional students. Real questions from real students, answered by real people. If the guide doesn’t know the answer, the guide will seek out experts all across campus to address the issue. (Please note: The guide is not a medical doctor, therapist, lawyer or academic advisor, and all advice offered here is for informational purposes only.) Submit a question for the column →

5 Tips for Managing Your Time Wisely

Depending on your grad program, we know that you are busy with course work, teaching classes or writing your thesis or dissertation, while also fulfilling life and work responsibilities off campus. We see you and know how hard you are working! Below are time management strategies that we hope will be helpful as you work toward your goals in the coming weeks and months.

Review your time. It’s important to know exactly how you are spending your time, before coming up with a time management plan that works for you. Take note of what your usual distractions are: Facebook? Email? As you develop your schedule, create times where you can turn off those usual distractions. Save them for a break or reward at the end of a productivity session.

Schedule productivity. What times of the day or evening are you the most focused and ready to work, so you can study or write? Block out those times on your schedule, and do manageable chunks of work. For example, focus on reading or work on a paper non-stop for 25 minutes, then take a five minute break. This “Pomodoro” technique has been shown to help people make steady progress towards completing a project (hint: none of us can focus for four hour blocks!).

Set priorities. Time management doesn’t work if you have too much on your plate, so set priorities in order to have better control over your schedule: 1. Block out hard deadlines for things like final projects, conference presentations, funding or internship applications, etc. 2. Make incremental progress on long-term projects, while prioritizing other tasks with immediate deadlines. 3. Take stock; Are there some commitments you need to say “no” to, or “not right now”? It is OK to postpone certain activities or engagements — or even drop a class from a heavy course load — if the timing isn’t right for you.

Develop your system. After you have reviewed your time, identified the best times you are productive and set priorities, set up a calendar or task system that will work for you. Some students work well with online calendaring, while others prefer physical to-do lists. Some students usw both! The goal is to set something up that will help you use your time wisely each day and each week. Sometimes to-do lists can feel daunting, so choose two or three tasks you will accomplish each day, then enjoy the satisfaction of crossing them off your list once they are completed.

Fuel yourself. You are a whole person, not just a graduate student, so (let go of the guilt) and make space each week to spend quality time with friends and loved ones and to do your favorite re-fueling activities. Also, make getting enough sleep a priority as it will improve your focus, help you think creatively and ensure that you are your best self. Finally, when you complete a task (no matter how big or small), reward yourself by watching an episode of your favorite T.V. show, cooking yourself a nice meal, or having friends over for games night. Here are more examples of affordable ways to treat yourself.

Feel free to let us know what time management strategies work for you!

Best,

Core Programs—Office of Graduate Student Affairs
UW Graduate School

Research Culture and Climate: It’s On Us (again)

” We create culture in our moment by moment interactions with one another.”
—Teresa Posakony, Emerging Wisdom

As a number of recent National Academies of Sciences reports have shown, we have work ahead of us within academic and research environments across the country. As early career researchers, postdocs can struggle to fit in an institutional culture and risk being taken advantage of by later stage researchers (1). Other evidence also shows that women or otherwise under-represented trainees are not only vulnerable to harassment but are also at-risk of being excluded from research opportunities, either explicitly or implicitly (2). We must do better than this.

At the UW, there have been a few long-term efforts to advance organizational culture, in particular regarding how we treat one another. One example is the UW School of Medicine (SoM)’s Policy of Professional Conduct. It was developed more than a decade ago by faculty and trainees together, and is endorsed by department chairs and the dean for use in annual faculty reviews and promotion considerations. The policy applies to everyone in the SoM, with the goal that all people — faculty, staff, fellows and students — act in a professional and ethical manner. The language was recently updated to reflect more of the unique features of research relationships and learning environments to complement the clinical focus of the earlier policy.

Here’s an excerpt from the policy, as the language is evocative of what we expect here at the UW and may be of use to you, whether in the SoM or elsewhere. After all, it is up to us to hold each other accountable to these standards. For example:

Unprofessional behavior means behavior that violates laws or rules regarding discrimination and harassment, violates rules of professional ethics (including professionalism in clinical, educational, research or business practices), or is disrespectful, demeaning, retaliatory, or disruptive. Bullying is unprofessional behavior that misuses power to control or harm others.

Discrimination and harassment is as defined in University of Washington (UW) Executive Order 31. As of the effective date of this policy, this includes discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, citizenship, sex, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, or military status.

Disrespectful, retaliatory, or disruptive behavior includes, but is not limited to behavior that in the view of reasonable people has a negative impact on the integrity of the healthcare or research team, the care of patients, the education of students or trainees, or the conduct of research, such as:

Physical assault or other uninvited or inappropriate physical contact;
Shouts, profane or offensive language;
Degrading or demeaning comments;
Discriminatory or harassing behavior or language (as defined above);
Retaliation in response to a person raising concerns about a behavior that may violate laws or policies (such as discrimination), or present a threat to safety or security
Threats or similar intimidating behavior, as reasonably perceived by the recipient;
Exploiting, neglecting or overworking those in subordinate positions;
Unreasonable refusal to cooperate with others in carrying out assigned responsibilities;
Failure to respond to inquiries within a reasonable time frame; and
Obstruction of established operational goals, beyond what would be considered respectful dissent.

As postdocs, we know you can be especially vulnerable because your future may rely on letters of recommendation from powerful others. The National Academies report recommends, as the OPA has for many years now, that postdocs have a mentoring team: a deeper bench of faculty and advisors you can turn to so you do not become isolated or feel you have to endure faculty misbehavior. These conversations are growing on our campus and there are many faculty who support you. If you find yourself in a difficult situation, please seek help or advice from any of the confidential resource offices listed below.

Another recommendation: find community, or make your own. For example, postdoc Gilbert Martinez (Pbio) has come forward and offered to host a group conversation with other URM postdocs to find out what you need and to reduce the isolation you may feel. See below for his invitation to you, and please do reach out. We all need deep support systems!

References:

The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (2018). The Next Generation of Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences Researchers.
Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2018)
Sexual harassment and the toll is takes.
Have the Sciences Had a #MeToo Moment? Not So Much.
School of Medicine Policy of Professional Conduct

UW Resources:

Debunking myths about tenure-track positions

This week, the School of Medicine hosted a two-day Future Faculty Fellows workshop under the leadership of Drs. Chet Moritz and Rosana Risques. The panels and workshops addressed all elements of a successful academic faculty application package, including how to negotiate your first position. For the 90+ postdocs present, one of the more confusing sessions was the “money panel” where we discussed all the different ways you can get paid to be a faculty member (regardless of title).

Dr. Kelly Edwards joined Drs. Moritz and Risques to describe the variety of arrangements they had each been through, from Acting Instructor, Acting Assistant Professor or Research Assistant Professor to Associate Professor with a 50% component with tenure, and full Professor “without tenure for reasons of funding.”

As you can tell, faculty positions come in a number of varieties, each with different characteristics and expectations. As shown below, the time spent at each early stage is limited. Acting appointments are optional, and are there to give you time and support needed to build publication and funding track records that will help you compete successfully for a permanent faculty position.

What’s tenure mean, anyway? It means the University is making a permanent commitment to you for your faculty position. However, it does not mean that there is guaranteed and permanent funding with that position. Each of our UW departments has different components to the salary — often referred to as “A plus B”. Part of the salary (anywhere from just 10% up to 50-60-75%) is covered by “hard” money from the department or University; for the additional “soft” money component, the faculty member is expected to cover it via grant dollars, additional teaching commitments, or clinical service.

In addition to tenure, each entry-level faculty appointment has different rights, responsibilities, and expectations. This is dependent upon your school and department, and by the Faculty Code. For example, some tenure-track Assistant Professors must provide their summer salary, usually from external grants. Similarly, some Research Assistant Professors are not awarded independent research space without external research funding. When you’re investigating a potential position, be sure to clarify the opportunities, expectations, policies and procedures for the given University and department.

Other myths we discussed included whether having a K-award or career award covering 75% of your salary was really the only way to start out as a funded junior faculty member. There are many other models, including being an active co-investigator with a diverse number of research projects and groups, even outside of your primary department. To be competitive for Assistant Professor positions, often “without tenure for reasons of funding” or even with tenure with expectations of a “B” or “soft money” component, the main thing is to show you are fundable and can compete with a variety of funding agencies. Having a diverse funding portfolio and a robust set of research collaborators can set you up for success, even in challenging economic times.

Confused? Come talk with us at the OPA and we’ll be happy to answer questions and sort through the questions to ask as you are evaluating different positions. Even as you are inquiring about job positions, it is important to explore what “tenure-track” means for that department or University. As you get into second visits and interviews, it can help to ask harder questions: what kind of start-up or initial period of support is available? What kind of support is there within the department or school for grants administration? What teaching opportunities or obligations are there with the type of position you have? What kinds of bridge funding are available, if needed? Remember, during the negotiation, the Chair is looking to recruit and support you at their institution. Ask for what you legitimately need, and work with the Chair to make the most complete package as you start your independent career.

The postdoc experience continues to receive national attention.

In our last newsletter, we shared some take-home messages from the annual National Postdoc Association (NPA) meeting. Here at UW, we hope you were able to join the UWPA for their 14th annual research symposium last week. In addition to the wonderful talks and posters from UW postdocs, the UWPA welcomed postdoc-advocate and national leader Dr. Gary McDowell as the keynote speaker. Dr. McDowell became the first Executive Director of The Future for Research after completing two postdocs in research. Among his other national publications and activities, Dr. McDowell most recently served on the National Academies of Science (NAS) task force that, just two weeks ago, presented their recommendations to support postdocs entitled The Next Generation of Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences Researchers: Breaking Through.

In his plenary talk, Gary summarized the historical perspective that framed the charge to the NAS task force:

The attention to the postdoc experience is not new. A 50-year-old book, entitled The Invisible University: Postdoctoral Education in the United States, highlights many of the same issues that still affect postdoc training and mentorship today.
Postdocs should be encouraged to spend more time as independent researchers and thinkers, not simply data-generating factories!
While 80% of US biomedical PhDs transition to postdocs, only ~8% eventually move on to tenure-track jobs in academia (though many more secure academic positions that are “without tenure for reasons of funding, or WOT”).
Where do postdocs turn for guidance in non-academic careers, be it in industry, foundations, government, or public policy?

With this background, the NAS task force met throughout 2017 with the goal of influencing funders and institutions to step up and take responsibility for the gaps that persist. In particular, they emphasized shared responsibility for postdoc experience and early career researchers, transparency in postdoc pathways and alumni outcomes, accountability for mentorship and a clear separation between the employee and trainee components of the dual-role postdocs hold.

Training and mentorship for postdocs is the responsibility of funders (NIH, NSF) and employers (universities and companies), and it should be transparent and sustainable. The NAS has specific recommendations to ensure the growing biomedical workforce is properly trained and supported.
Similar to increasing the diversity at the graduate level, research institutions should be more intentional and proactive to recruit and retain more underserved and underrepresented postdoc fellows.
Emphasis should be placed on the successful transition to independence, with a particular focus on quality mentorship (including formal training of mentors) and a coordinated increase salary, in the number of fellowship opportunities (F- and K-awards), and partnerships with businesses (via the NIH SBIR/STTR programs).
Postdoc training should be term-limited at five years, facilitating the ability to transition successfully to better-paying positions in a timely way.
Research institutions and the NIH should expand the number of staff scientist positions to accommodate the growing number of postdocs who transition from mentored training career stage to research positions.

As we often say here at the OPA, the national reports recognize postdocs as part of the essential research and learning ecosystem at our research institutions. We could not do this work without you, and we look forward to continuing to partner as we work toward tangible improvements to the postdoc experience.