General
- Organizational structure of the department. Processes by which decisions are made and opportunities for involvement.
- Availabilities and allotments of resources for supplies and other research and teaching expenses. Support staff availability and expectations.
Research and Resources
- Importance of grants and how much effort should be invested in obtaining research funding.
- Departmental expectations of percent of your salary to be supported by external grant funding
- Expected percentages of cost sharing on grants. For laboratory space, expectation of amount of indirect funds recovery per square foot of occupied laboratory space.
- Departmental assessment of shard cost for use of common equipment in its service contracts
- Relevant conferences to attend and travel support.
- Authorship etiquette on collaborative efforts, expectations and policies regarding publishing.
- Budgets for research and overall resources available to faculty members.
- Perceived and self-identified research niche that faculty member contributes to the department.
- Expectations/policies and opportunities for research presentations in the department by junior faculty member or their graduate students.
- The culture of collaboration on research in the department and the institution as a whole.
Teaching
- Nature of teaching requirements and instructional environment.
- Expectations and policies regarding construction and contents of teaching portfolios for tenure review process.
- Support and guidance on teaching preparation.
Student Supervision
- Expectations regarding supervision of graduate and undergraduate students. What to expect from students, how to identify and recruit students with whom to collaborate, and what to keep in student files for recommendation writing purposes.
- Serving on a student/dissertation committee and qualifications for becoming a Ph.D. advisor.
- Advantages and disadvantages of hiring post-doctoral associates.
- Pay scales set for graduate students and doctoral students
Service
- Policies, expectations and advice for service on committees within the department and the university at large.
- Opportunities and advice on professional service outside of the university (e.g. How much paper and proposal reviewing is reasonable? Review boards? Journal editorships? Should you organize a national event?).
Review Process
- Length of appointment, process and timetable for review (third year and tenure) and results (e.g., what do you submit, how reviewers are selected, advice and criteria for selecting reviewers if you are responsible for submitting your own list of outside reviewers).
- Important information to include on your vita.
- Policies for determinations of school and departmental raises. Procedures for discussing desired pay increases and soliciting formal or informal feedback during your pre-tenure career.
Personal Issues
- University and departmental policies and procedures for asking for and receiving family and personal leave.
- Childcare assistance.
- Expectations for day-to-day visibility in the department.
- Official procedures and resources for sexual harassment, conflict resolution and counseling.
- Adapted from “Suggested topics of Discussion for Mentor/Mentee Pairs” (NYU Steinhardt, 2013)
