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Mapping Your Academic Career: Charting the Course of a Professor's Life
One of Nijay Gupta's Best Academic New Testament Books You're finishing your first year of teaching. It's been exciting and gratifying, but there've been some wobbly episodes too. How will you carve out a space to flourish? You're feeling secure in mid-career, with some accomplishments to be proud of. But what should success really look like? You're nearing the end of your career, and sometimes apprehensive about the blank slate of retirement. What might it look like to finish well? In Mapping Your Academic Career Gary Burge speaks from decades of teaching, writing and mentoring. Along the way he has experienced and observed the challenges and tensions, the successes and failures of the academic pilgrimage. Now, with discerning wisdom and apt examples, he hosts the conversation he wishes he'd had when he started out as a college professor, identifying three cohorts or stages in the academic career and exploring the challenges, pitfalls and triumphs of each. Wherever you are in your teaching life, this is a book that will reward reading, reflection and discussion.
144 pages, Paperback
First published August 3, 2015
21 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
Gary M. Burge
63 books27 followersGary M. Burge (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is dean of the faculty and professor of New Testament at Calvin Theological Seminary. He previously taught for twenty-five years at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. Among his many published books are The New Testament in Seven Sentences, Theology Questions Everyone Asks (with coeditor David Lauber), A Week in the Life of a Roman Centurion, Mapping Your Academic Career, The New Testament in Antiquity (coauthored with Gene Green), and the award-winning Whose Land? Whose Promise? What Christians Are Not Being Told About Israel and the Palestinians.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 30, 2024
2024 reads: 11
Rating: 5 stars
Rating: 5 stars
July 10, 2016
Summary: Traces the career trajectory of a college professor, identifying the factors that mark the successful passage from one "cohort" to the next, the risks to be negotiated in each season of work, and key resources for career development.
When many of us are young, we give relatively little thought to what the "map" of a career might look like and what differentiates a career that is successful and fulfilling from one that is not. Often, the focus is on landing a good starting position in a field for which one has prepared and then advancing within it. Often, though, we think the passage into adulthood is simply one of obtaining a real job, which we do in some form, with promotions and achievements, until we retire. What Gary M. Burge proposes, in this case for the academic career of a college professor, is that there is a discernible course that can be traced for college professors, and certain marks that differentiate successful and fulfilling journeys in academia from those that are not.
He breaks the career trajectory into three "cohorts". Each of the cohorts is discussed in one of the chapters of the book. Each section includes helpful addenda on topics like mentoring, sabbaticals, financial planning, and retirement planning.
Cohort One faculty are those who have completed the doctorate and are pursuing tenure, which defines the key theme of this cohort: security. The chapter assumes those who have been appointed to tenure track positions and may have been more helpful if it included some material for those who have not yet been able to land such positions. It focuses on the formation of one's core identity as a professor, on building strong peer and mentoring relationships, and on experiencing strong student and college validation of one's work. I thought one of the most interesting sections here was his discussion of "toxic anxiety" and the importance of early intervention. This cohort ends with the granting of tenure.
Cohort Two is concerned with the theme of success. Key factors are effective teaching that connects with students, the pursuit of scholarship, often honed to a particular sub-discipline that one becomes "expert" in, for the sheer interest and enjoyment of the work, and the finding of one's own voice, both in one's discipline and institution. The pitfalls here are in not continuing to develop professionally, a type of egocentric disengagement, and unresolved institutional dissonance. Successful faculty are sought after by students, are making a distinctive contribution in their scholarly work, and both speak into and represent well the institutions with which they are affiliated.
The third cohort has to do with significance. These are "senior" faculty moving toward the end of their careers and are in the midst of a redefinition of both themselves as they age, and what is truly important within their work. If they negotiate this well, they become valued mentors to junior faculty and become more focused in their scholarship. If they have indeed grown in wisdom, they are often trusted "adult sages" to students who don't want them as a friend but as a caring adult who listens and mentors. At some point, this stage ends in retirement, with the wise counsel of doing so before one has to.
Burge does not address the question of exernal changes: institutional change, disciplinary change, technological change, and change in student culture. Perhaps this is implicit in the developmental process he charts, but it seems to me that we are in a season of rapid change in higher education and how one negotiates this in the course of an academic career is significant for each of the cohorts, and especially the latter two.
One thing I appreciated was that while written by someone who is clear about his own faith commitments and published by a Christian publisher, the text is written neither for a Christian audience nor laced with Christian jargon or biblical references, other than occasional references to the author's scholarly work in New Testament. This book could be used with any group of faculty concerned with faculty career development. It is generic to concerns all faculty face.
Burge wisely counsels talking with those who are ten years ahead of us to help us understand what's ahead. This book, while no substitute for such personal interactions, is a helpful guide to think about the contours of, and important questions one must address in, the course of an academic career. He points out the dangerous "rabbit trails" academics can pursue that end in disillusionment and disappointment, as well as the essential tasks one must address for growth. This is a helpful handbook for academics at any stage of their careers.
When many of us are young, we give relatively little thought to what the "map" of a career might look like and what differentiates a career that is successful and fulfilling from one that is not. Often, the focus is on landing a good starting position in a field for which one has prepared and then advancing within it. Often, though, we think the passage into adulthood is simply one of obtaining a real job, which we do in some form, with promotions and achievements, until we retire. What Gary M. Burge proposes, in this case for the academic career of a college professor, is that there is a discernible course that can be traced for college professors, and certain marks that differentiate successful and fulfilling journeys in academia from those that are not.
He breaks the career trajectory into three "cohorts". Each of the cohorts is discussed in one of the chapters of the book. Each section includes helpful addenda on topics like mentoring, sabbaticals, financial planning, and retirement planning.
Cohort One faculty are those who have completed the doctorate and are pursuing tenure, which defines the key theme of this cohort: security. The chapter assumes those who have been appointed to tenure track positions and may have been more helpful if it included some material for those who have not yet been able to land such positions. It focuses on the formation of one's core identity as a professor, on building strong peer and mentoring relationships, and on experiencing strong student and college validation of one's work. I thought one of the most interesting sections here was his discussion of "toxic anxiety" and the importance of early intervention. This cohort ends with the granting of tenure.
Cohort Two is concerned with the theme of success. Key factors are effective teaching that connects with students, the pursuit of scholarship, often honed to a particular sub-discipline that one becomes "expert" in, for the sheer interest and enjoyment of the work, and the finding of one's own voice, both in one's discipline and institution. The pitfalls here are in not continuing to develop professionally, a type of egocentric disengagement, and unresolved institutional dissonance. Successful faculty are sought after by students, are making a distinctive contribution in their scholarly work, and both speak into and represent well the institutions with which they are affiliated.
The third cohort has to do with significance. These are "senior" faculty moving toward the end of their careers and are in the midst of a redefinition of both themselves as they age, and what is truly important within their work. If they negotiate this well, they become valued mentors to junior faculty and become more focused in their scholarship. If they have indeed grown in wisdom, they are often trusted "adult sages" to students who don't want them as a friend but as a caring adult who listens and mentors. At some point, this stage ends in retirement, with the wise counsel of doing so before one has to.
Burge does not address the question of exernal changes: institutional change, disciplinary change, technological change, and change in student culture. Perhaps this is implicit in the developmental process he charts, but it seems to me that we are in a season of rapid change in higher education and how one negotiates this in the course of an academic career is significant for each of the cohorts, and especially the latter two.
One thing I appreciated was that while written by someone who is clear about his own faith commitments and published by a Christian publisher, the text is written neither for a Christian audience nor laced with Christian jargon or biblical references, other than occasional references to the author's scholarly work in New Testament. This book could be used with any group of faculty concerned with faculty career development. It is generic to concerns all faculty face.
Burge wisely counsels talking with those who are ten years ahead of us to help us understand what's ahead. This book, while no substitute for such personal interactions, is a helpful guide to think about the contours of, and important questions one must address in, the course of an academic career. He points out the dangerous "rabbit trails" academics can pursue that end in disillusionment and disappointment, as well as the essential tasks one must address for growth. This is a helpful handbook for academics at any stage of their careers.
August 20, 2020
Developmental view of an academic career. Large focus on good fit with the organization(al mission). Helpful at any stage of an academic career -- and be helpful as a map for oneself as well what to considering when mentoring others. Will be using this as a reference.
March 30, 2016
Regardless of where you are in your academic career (I happen to be at Cohort 0) I believe that this is a great read. Burge takes his wisdom and invites his readers into an academic life that's transformative and fulfilling.
May 1, 2019
Reading this book feels like sitting down for a caringly honest conversation with an older faculty member. Burge traces the three main stages of faculty (Cohort 1, racing to tenure; Cohort 2, tenured and with several years at the institution; and Cohort 3, longstanding faculty members closer to retirement). Though the tenure-track system is on the decline, it's so helpful to think about an academic career in these categories, and learning to find a rhythm of research, teaching, service, and living. I found the Cohort 3 section to shine, likely because Burge is in that cohort. However, it's helpful to know what to expect in Cohorts 1 and 2 and how to make the most of one's time as a faculty member.
October 22, 2024
Helpful but pop psychology could/shoud give way to Scripture’s superior wisdom on the matters.
A mostly helpful paradigm to conceive of stages of development and descent for academic faculty. It’s, however, unfortunate that the author uncritically assumes the wholesale validity of psychologists’ theories (i.e., Jung, Maslow, Erikson, etc.). It would have been most helpful for Burge (a biblical studies professor) to have presented the development/descent of careers in light of the treasure trove of Scripture regarding youth, adulthood, and sage years, as are ubiquitous in biblical wisdom literature, for example.
A mostly helpful paradigm to conceive of stages of development and descent for academic faculty. It’s, however, unfortunate that the author uncritically assumes the wholesale validity of psychologists’ theories (i.e., Jung, Maslow, Erikson, etc.). It would have been most helpful for Burge (a biblical studies professor) to have presented the development/descent of careers in light of the treasure trove of Scripture regarding youth, adulthood, and sage years, as are ubiquitous in biblical wisdom literature, for example.
December 18, 2019
A tale of the lifespan of being a professor. This book lacks cohesiveness beyond the 3 "cohorts" (stages). It goes from tales of eccentric professors,financial advice, and vague spirituality. I found a few of the tales amusing and some of the advice thoughtful. But overall, this book was too scatterbrained for my taste.
May 23, 2017
A short book that reads more like a Chronicle article than a career book. I would have liked for it to be much longer actually. I felt that most topics could have been much better fleshed out with more examples.
March 19, 2018
Dr. Burge is a guide that walks you through the practical realities of being a professor. I'm technically "cohort 0" but this book is a tremendous blessing to me as I hope to begin teaching one day. Lots of wisdom and core issues to reflect on are on every page of this book.
November 5, 2019
A thoughtful, accessible read for k12 teachers as well as university professors about being intentionally invested in their career. Also includes ideas on how to avoid burnout and being engaged with what really matters.
May 24, 2018
Terrific book for academics at every stage. A quick read, but full of wisdom and insight. I've recommended it widely and hope that others pick it up.
December 20, 2015
Gary Burge is professor of New Testament at Wheaton College and boasts a career of over thirty years teaching. He wrote Mapping Your Academic Career as a resource for faculty development programs and to shepherd Academics (or would-be-academics) through the various cohorts of Academic life.
2473Burge draws on the insights of developmental psychology and applies it to academia, particularly the vocation of professor. He identifies three developmental cohorts that faculty goes through out their careers. Cohort 1, represents professors starting their academic career (rough age range is 28-38); Cohort 2 are established professors (rough age range 34-55); Cohort 3 are professors nearing the end of their career (age range 50-70) (23).
Each stage in a faculty's career has its own characteristics, dangers and goals. Professors in cohort 1 are looking for security . This cohort is the stage where professional core identity is formed, peer relationships are formed, and professors receive validation from their students and institution (30-43). There are also accompanying risks with this stage: skill failure, failure to assimilate, cynical peer groups, toxic anxiety, challenges unique to female faculty, and issues around personal boundaries (43-55). If all things go well, cohort 1 comes to a close with security, often in the form of tenure
Cohort 2 is made up of those who found security but are pressing forward to develop a successful career. Here too it is possible for professors to go off the rails (i.e. disengaging and feeling entitled after you receive tenure). Burge warns, "We can fail in any cohort if we are not self-aware" (66). It is this stage where professors hone their teaching skill, bring mastery and focus to their disciplines and find 'their voice' (67-78). However cohort 2 professors run the risk of failing to develop personally, growing increasingly egocentric, or experiencing increased dissonance with their academic institution. The proper close of this cohort would mean mastery in teaching and scholarship, and a successful career.
Cohort 3 is occupied by significance. Professors at this stage experience a change in their role, sometimes a diminishment. They are no longer the movers-and-shakers and their comptenecy in their disciple may slip as a result. Yet their understanding of their role and contribution also changes. A few may become 'legacy scholars' with a solid and growing list of publications. Others may become sage elder offering wisdom and mentoring a younger generations (111). This risks of this cohort include disengaging and disinterest in their careers, self absorption and reculsivity, technology anxiety, and role confusion. But those who master these will pour into the lives of younger, up-and-coming professors. This cohort closes with retirement.
I am not a career academic but have friends in that world and recognize some of the challenges that Burge describes. I think he has keen insights for professors and faculty development programs. Anyone in that world will find this book extremely helpful, irregardless of whether they teach at a Christian institution like Professor Burge or at secular inistution. I give this book four stars and will be recommending it to several of my friends.
Note: I received this book from IVP Academic in exchange for my honest review.
2473Burge draws on the insights of developmental psychology and applies it to academia, particularly the vocation of professor. He identifies three developmental cohorts that faculty goes through out their careers. Cohort 1, represents professors starting their academic career (rough age range is 28-38); Cohort 2 are established professors (rough age range 34-55); Cohort 3 are professors nearing the end of their career (age range 50-70) (23).
Each stage in a faculty's career has its own characteristics, dangers and goals. Professors in cohort 1 are looking for security . This cohort is the stage where professional core identity is formed, peer relationships are formed, and professors receive validation from their students and institution (30-43). There are also accompanying risks with this stage: skill failure, failure to assimilate, cynical peer groups, toxic anxiety, challenges unique to female faculty, and issues around personal boundaries (43-55). If all things go well, cohort 1 comes to a close with security, often in the form of tenure
Cohort 2 is made up of those who found security but are pressing forward to develop a successful career. Here too it is possible for professors to go off the rails (i.e. disengaging and feeling entitled after you receive tenure). Burge warns, "We can fail in any cohort if we are not self-aware" (66). It is this stage where professors hone their teaching skill, bring mastery and focus to their disciplines and find 'their voice' (67-78). However cohort 2 professors run the risk of failing to develop personally, growing increasingly egocentric, or experiencing increased dissonance with their academic institution. The proper close of this cohort would mean mastery in teaching and scholarship, and a successful career.
Cohort 3 is occupied by significance. Professors at this stage experience a change in their role, sometimes a diminishment. They are no longer the movers-and-shakers and their comptenecy in their disciple may slip as a result. Yet their understanding of their role and contribution also changes. A few may become 'legacy scholars' with a solid and growing list of publications. Others may become sage elder offering wisdom and mentoring a younger generations (111). This risks of this cohort include disengaging and disinterest in their careers, self absorption and reculsivity, technology anxiety, and role confusion. But those who master these will pour into the lives of younger, up-and-coming professors. This cohort closes with retirement.
I am not a career academic but have friends in that world and recognize some of the challenges that Burge describes. I think he has keen insights for professors and faculty development programs. Anyone in that world will find this book extremely helpful, irregardless of whether they teach at a Christian institution like Professor Burge or at secular inistution. I give this book four stars and will be recommending it to several of my friends.
Note: I received this book from IVP Academic in exchange for my honest review.
November 30, 2015
I picked up this little volume at this year's AAR-SBL gathering, and buzzed through it. It should be essential reading for anyone who has, or is contemplating having, a career in the academy. Weaving insights from his own long experience, liberally seeded with anecdotes and wisdom from his own readings in psychology, as small as this is, this is nonetheless a resource to which professors will turn again and again.
June 22, 2016
Probably not particularly helpful for anyone outside of academia, but as an early-career professor I found it both helpful and reassuring. It's short and an easy read, and much more of a general guide than a success manual; there are no productivity tips or steps to more engaged students. But I appreciated having the big picture of the arc of an entire career and I imagine that I will be coming back to this book.
September 10, 2015
v interesting and helpful. Sure I will revisit.
Written with a religious audience in mind but relevant for anyone.
Written with a religious audience in mind but relevant for anyone.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews