The Associate Professor Pivot: Funding and Re-centering Your Research Agenda

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I help mid-career researchers develop sustainable, impactful research programs designed for the next phase of their careers. Click here to find out more.

Service creep is the greatest threat to a mid-career research agenda. Protecting your legacy requires developing a firm, strategic "no" to low-impact administrative asks.

This week, we are diving into specific steps you can take to be proactive with service requests, continue building your research program, and document your workload (if you missed last week, click HERE). Following these steps will get you more white space in your calendar, increase your productivity, and remind you why you started this job in the first place.

The Service Avalanche:

That mid-career faculty are burdened by service is not news. The data is strong, and the lived experience is real. But what took me a while to appreciate is how this experience also varies depending on who you are. One study, published in the American Economic Review, found that women are more likely than men to volunteer, be asked to volunteer, and accept requests to volunteer. Recent data also supports a “minority tax” for underrepresented faculty in higher education, who are asked to do more service to meet diversity requirements, including mentoring and committee work.

But this doesn’t have to continue to be the case for us! Below I have outlined approaches that I’ve developed. My goal isn’t to avoid service, but to be strategic about it without damaging my reputation.

The Strategic "No" Script:

Your script starts before you open your mouth to say, “no”. It starts with you getting clear on what your work is. Where do you want your career to go? And how will you get there? It starts with conversations with your chair and/or leadership and sharing your plans in detail. It starts with you being honest about your own workload. Saying “no” without a plan will affect not only the immediate request, but all service requests afterward, too. Being a “team player” matters.

Once you’ve solidified your plan, you’re ready to manage the next service request. When it happens, start by asking clarifying questions to fully understand the obligation. How much time is being committed to this work each week or month, and for how long? What is the composition of the committee? What are the outputs?

Also ask yourself whether you can use this committee to advance your own work? For example, if you are interested in student wellness, working with Student Affairs could help you build relationships with students that will yield future participants. Or, if you are interested in leadership in higher education, joining your faculty senate would give you an opportunity to see academic leadership up close and connect with senior leaders for advice and mentorship.

If the service request doesn’t check these boxes, then it’s time to start crafting the “no”. First, can you trade the service request? Talk to your colleagues and see if they have a committee they would be willing to give up that’s in better alignment with your work. Second, ask your chair/leader what comes off your plate, or what they're willing to wait on while you take on this new service request. Third, graciously and firmly say “no”.

Aggressive Focus:

Now comes the hardest part. Stick with your “no” and use your time productively. As mid-career faculty, it is easy to fall into the mental trap of thinking we are “too busy” with service to advance our research careers. So, we waver on our “no’s” and pick up the service asked of us, even when it doesn’t help us achieve our goals. Or when we have unassigned time in our calendars, we waste it on low-yield work that can’t be quantified for our advancement.

Either way, when you do this, you demonstrate to your department that you “want” the service. If you can demonstrate through grants, publications, presentations, and other academic currency that you are doing the work, low-yield service requests to you will not land in your inbox. Since I can guess that you have at least one outstanding writing project that needs attention, check out this previous post for getting more writing done to get you started.

Hopefully, written out like this, you can see how you can start actively controlling your service requests, continue growing your research program, and gain a little sanity back in your calendar. If you need some guidance on how to get this started, click the link below, and I will be in touch.

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