Junior Women Faculty Network

The Junior Women Faculty Network (JWFN), established in 1998 with a grant from the Alcoa Foundation, fosters the professional development and success of UM’s women assistant professors and helps them learn more about various aspects of life at the University. JWFN’s social and educational events also enable junior women faculty to establish cross-disciplinary networks and friendships.

Calling upon the advice of a panel of faculty advisors, the JWFN continues to grow in several directions, exploring a wide range of issues including tenure and promotion; research and funding; teaching; relationships with students, colleagues, and administrators; and the balance in personal and professional lives.

For More Information

To make sure that you are included on the JWFN membership list, contact Jean Waltman (jwaltman@umich.edu). She will also provide more information about JWFN and CEW programs and services, including the ones described below.

Please complete the JWFN Questionnaire

Modified Duties Policy for Faculty

The President's Advisory Commission on Women's Issues (PACWI), chaired by CEW's Carol Hollenshead, played an important role in shaping the revision of the modified duties policy for faculty. The cover memo to
SPG 201.93 now clarifies that teaching relief during extended sick leave for recovery from childbirth should be considered separately and in addition to a parent's new entltlement to modified duties to adjust to parenting.

Offered in Recent Semesters

“Path to Tenure” Workshop"

We dub this popular annual event a “behind closed doors” session, during which a panel of senior women discuss their personal experiences and best advice for achieving tenure at UM. We invite a different group of panelists every year, and their valuable comments bring junior women back again and again. This workshop was held recently. Read the notes from one such workshop.

"Establishing Personal Writing Plans and Goals" Workshop

Rena Seltzer, ACSW, Personal and Professional Coach

Workshop Description:
Junior faculty members who do not develop early patterns of regular writing often describe their sixth and seventh years as being “overwhelming,” “stressful,” and even, “the worst year of my life.” The purpose of this workshop is to support professors in the beginning of their careers to start early and to:

1. Develop long and short term writing and publishing goals that are specific, rather than vague

2. Learn how successful academics find time to write

3. Make a personal plan for regular, moderate periods of writing

4. Develop social support for writing

5. Reframe the process for greater effectiveness and enjoyment

I. Positive Framing of the Writing Process: Use of Metaphors
Often anxiety about tenure leads people to experience the process as one akin to pushing a rock up a hill or being sucked into a black hole. Reframing the process and establishing positive metaphors for the processallows faculty members to work with greater ease and enjoyment. It is also important to keep the positive reframe in mind over the long run.

II. Setting Goals and Timelines
Faculty often become frustrated when they first attempt to set out specific timelines and goals for their writing, but they find that it works. One technique, for example, is to work backwards from tenure to set goals that are clear and specific. Faculty members should also systematically repeat the process of evaluating progress and setting new goals.

III. Regular, moderate, daily writing
There is a dramatic difference in the output of regular writers as compared to binge writers. Writing daily offers many advantages, even if the time allotted to writing is fairly brief.

IV. Using structures to support regular writing
Structures support writing. Some possible structures include setting a timer before beginning to write and joining a writing group. Successful people are not those who don’t need structures, but those who are willing to consistently employ the structures they need to reach their goals.

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Additional CEW Information:

In addition, CEW’s programs and workshops include many offerings that interest junior faculty.

Notes from Path to Tenure Workshop: Senior women faculty to tell their personal experiences and advice for achieving tenure at the University of Michigan.

"Mentoring: How Important Is It To Your Career?" CEW's suggestions on how and why to seek out mentors for your career success and satisfaction.

“Tenure Clock, Modified Duties, And Sick Leave Policies: Creating ‘A Network Of Support And Understanding’ For University Of Michigan Faculty Women During Pregnancy And Childbirth”—A report of CEW’s 2003-04 web-based survey.

Principles for Best Practices: A Collection of Suggested Procedures for Improving the Climate for Women Faculty Members in Science and Engineering Departments (2003)

A Report on the findings of Junior Women Faculty Focus Groups held in 2000-2001.

Notes on the Jayne Thorson Workshop on Negotiation presented in Winter 2001

Links to University of Michigan Policies and Offices of Interest to Women Faculty

The tenure clock policy (SPG 201.92), which extends the tenure clock for faculty who give birth or have major dependent care responsibilities, is outlined in the Standard Practices Guide.

The modified duties policy (SPG 201.93), which allows faculty women to be relieved of classroom teaching responsibilities during the semester in which they give birth, is outlined in the Standard Practices Guide.

Academic and Staff HR Services provides advice and consultation to faculty, and academic administrators, covering the entire range of personnel issues for faculty and including leaves of absences, sabbatical eligibility, salary issues, outside consulting requriements, and appointment criteria, as well as issues involving the sexual harassment policy. Contact this office for questions and advice regarding specific policies including the Tenure Clock and Modified Duties.

Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) oversees research, scholarship, and creative activity at UM, including the Division of Research Development and Adminstration. Contact this office for information on funding sources, research policies, proposal preparation, and current research programs.

The Faculty Handbook outlines all University policies and practices relevant to those holding faculty appointments.

For More Information

Contact Jean Waltman, (jwaltman@umich.edu) with questions or to receive additional information about the Junior Women Faculty Network. Resources for Junior Women Faculty

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