Supporting Visiting Faculty: A Checklist
1. Goals of the Visitor’s Time at Amherst: What to Convey and Discuss
- Convey that Amherst wants visitors to thrive and to use their time here to plan their next career steps.
- Note that the department should assign a mentor to visitors with multi-year contracts, if this is of interest to the visitor.
2. Departmental Expectations about Teaching: What to Convey and Discuss
- Discuss substance and goals of visitor’s courses and how they fit into the department’s curriculum
- Describe workload and grading expectations for courses in the department
- Provide deadlines for submitting course materials
3. Resources Available at Amherst: What to Convey and Discuss
- Note that most opportunities available to tenure-line faculty are available to visitors too
- Offer as examples: faculty orientation events, teaching and professional development workshops, teaching consultations through the Center for Teaching and Learning, funding for speakers
- Check in with Pawan Dhingra to confirm that an opportunity is available to visitors
- Describe the ADC’s role and responsibilities and services the department provides for faculty
- Plan for helping the visitor make connections with faculty and staff outside the department
4. Mentoring around Teaching: What to Convey and Discuss
- Ask visitors whether they would like to have their classes observed
- Ask visitors whether would like to attend a class taught by the chair or another colleague
- Note that there is an expectation that teaching evaluations will be solicited from all of each visitor’s students in all classes (similar to procedures for pre-tenure faculty)
- Note that “annual conversations” take place with visitors who have multi-year contracts, if this is of interest to the visitor.
5. Help with Tackling the Job Market: What to Convey and Discuss
- Ask if the visitor would like to do a mock job talk
- Ask if the visitor would like the chair or another senior colleague to review the visitor’s job application materials (e.g., CV, cover letter, teaching statement, research statement)
- Ask if the visitor would like the chair to provide a letter of recommendation around teaching
- Discuss what makes someone an attractive candidate for a tenure-track job
6. Department Meetings: What to Convey and Discuss
- Convey expectation that visitors are invited to attend department meetings unless the meeting concerns searches or personnel matters.
- Discuss department meetings’ norms and procedures
7. Faculty Meetings
- Note expectation that visitors will attend the first faculty meeting when they are introduced.
- Convey that it is understood that visitors have many competing obligations and that attending faculty meetings may not be the best use of their time
- Discuss norms and procedures of faculty meetings