The first six months of your faculty appointment at Stanford are an opportunity to build your knowledge of the resources that are here to support your work, and to cultivate your informal network of colleagues who share similar interests and those who are in your discipline.
1. Meet with the faculty mentor assigned to you by the department Chair. Reach out to the mentor directly if you haven't been approached.
2. If you will be engaged in sponsored research, meet with Pam Jahnke, the junior faculty outreach coordinator in the Office of the Dean of Research, and familiarize yourself with the grant opportunities, processes and support available to you as a junior faculty member.
3. If you will be teaching, explore the resources, services and workshops available to you through Teaching Commons.
4. If you will a frequent user of the libraries, meet your curator. Familiarize yourself with library services.
5. Launching your research group: if you are interested in having graduate student research assistants, learn from the directors of graduate studies and admissions in your department about the processes for admitting students and funding expectations. Discuss best approaches to engage current graduate students in your work.
6. If you will be interested in including postdocs or other research staff on your team, check with the relevant office on campus for posting position announcements, appointment processes and policies (Office of Postdoctoral Affairs for postdocs, and your Department Manager for other staff).
Further Reading
For assistant professors in lab settings:
At the Helm: A Laboratory Navigator. By Kathy Barker. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press. New York. 2002.
