Abstract:
When I became a new assistant professor, some fifteen years ago, I thought I had finally passed the last roadblock in my career. How naive could I be? I soon learned that being in a fifty-five / forty-five percent research and teaching position did not represent the entire job actually expected of me. I thought my main responsibility was to generate considerable amounts of reasearch support and publish volumes of high quality research papers, with teaching and advising being nuisance duties everyone had to perform. However, I was informed that, in addition to teaching and research. I was also expected to perform considerable service to my department, local community and/or to a scientific affiliation. After nearly five years of fourteen to sixteen hour days, working weekends, never getting the job finished and experiencing poor health, I realized that my main academic duty was to be a teacher. All of the work-related anxiety that I experienced as a junior faculty member was removed when I learned to approach my daily duties as if I was simply teaching different audiences. By doing so, I regained the balance in my life, actually became more productive and collegial, and within one year acquired tenure and promotion. I offer this personal account so that someone just beginning his/her career will learn from my mistakes and find success and satisfaction in an academic environment.
Keywords:
balanced teacher
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