Getting Started

Our faculty support programs draw on research on what faculty find most helpful in advancing their work, including Robert Boice’s influential The New Faculty Member, which examines how the work patterns of new faculty who are highly productive researchers differ from those who take longer to get started. Here is a convenient summary of Boice’s findings: “The New Faculty Member.”

Other useful orientation pieces are “How to Prepare New Courses While Keeping Your Sanity” and Teach Better, Save Time and Have More Fun.

Principles of Instruction: Research Based Strategies that All Teachers Should Know is a short overview of active learning strategies supported by cognitive science research on how we learn.

The early career faculty resources provided by On the Cutting Edge are some of the best materials on the web. While this NSF-funded site focuses on Geoscience faculty, you will find outstanding resources on teaching, research and career development that are broadly useful.

Tips for New Faculty on Teaching from the Teaching Center at Washington University provides a set of resources conveniently coordinated with getting started at UA:

The University Center for Assessment, Teaching, and Technology is the place to start when considering resources here at UA.

The MERLOT Pedagogy Portal from California State University includes a wide range of materials on topics beginning with what to do in your First Day of Class

Additional Resource Links

These resources will help you schedule your classes, coordinate online and extracurricular activities, and build your syllabus.

These programs will ensure student success in the classroom and beyond.

These resources will help you expand your work with student engagement and online learning to design learning opportunities that meet the needs of all students.

These resources will help you integrate your teaching into your overall program of work.