New faculty 101: an orientation to the profession [engineering teacher training]

In August 2000 the North Carolina State University College of Engineering (USA) with partial sponsorship from the SUCCEED Coalition organized and presented a one-week orientation workshop for new faculty members. The workshop goal was to equip new faculty members to become what Robert Boice calls "quick starters", who meet or exceed their institution's expectations for both research productivity and teaching effectiveness in their first one to two years. Two days were devoted to research program startup and management, two to effective teaching, and the final morning to managing time, integrating into campus culture, and earning tenure and promotion. The participants were unanimously and overwhelmingly positive in their responses following the workshop, and their enthusiasm has continued at gatherings and in surveys in the months that followed. This paper describes the workshop content and activities, summarizes follow-up support and assessment plans, and offers suggestions for planning and implementing similar programs.