The Wiley International Handbook of Mentoring

14Faculty‐Inspired Strategies for Early Career Success Across Institutional Types: The Role of Mentoring

Vicki L. Baker¹, Leslie D. Gonzales², and Aimee LaPointe Terosky³

¹ Albion College, USA

² Michigan State University, USA

³ Saint Joseph's University, USA

Tenure‐track faculty lines and hiring are two of the most substantive, yet vulnerable areas of investment within colleges and universities. Thus, it is imperative that key individuals, such as department chairs, deans, senior colleagues, and faculty development professionals be aware of the labor expectations into which today's new faculty step, and how to best support these individuals. Moreover, it is imperative that faculty work expectations be understood in terms of institutional type. In other words, although the challenges and opportunities may seem rather consistent across all types of post‐secondary settings, researchers indicate that different institutional types (e.g., community colleges, liberal arts colleges, research universities) have drastically varying levels of resources and infrastructure, unique organizational cultures, and distinctive relationships with external stakeholders (e.g., businesses, government, and public), all of which have some bearing on the experiences of early career professors (Baker, Terosky, & Martinez, 2017; Conrad & Gasman, 2015; Jameson, Clayton, Jaeger, & Bringle, 2012; Schneider & Deane, 2014).

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight some of the distinct challenges and opportunities ...