By Jennette Lovejoy, Ohio University

Similar to Breed’s (1955) description of how newsroom socialization happens by “osmosis,” graduate students also learn by keenly listening and watching the habits, routines, and accepted norms of the faculty and administration at their respective institutions. Open faculty meetings, job talks, interactions at the copier, advising, and co-authoring research papers are a few ways we are molded and shaped into academicians. At conferences, we give paper presentations side-by-side tenured faculty and our peers. We receive feedback on teaching evaluations as if we were faculty. When submitting a manuscript, we receive the same peer review as if we were all endowed chairs. We hope.

There is value in this equality; it allows us to know and experience the world of academia as a student with the clear reality of what it may be like in a faculty position, if we watch and take the time to listen and work with faculty who are willing to share their time, insights, and expertise with us. So much of navigating class schedules, teaching loads, research agendas, and leadership involvement is being able to watch someone else do it, ask questions, and learn through the process so that there are not disillusions or unrealistic expectations. [Read more...]