The Academic Role: What do Faculty do?

Have you ever wondered what academics or faculty do? What is the "academic role"? To give you an idea of the broad scope of academia and the wide variety of activities that I, as an academic, am involved in, I decided to take a snapshot of a typical week in my calendar. Do remember, that academic roles differ from one another. Some faculty do much more teaching while others are expected to spend most of their time on research.

Many of the weeks in my calendar differ from one another and it is the variety that is really exciting, but which also requires some effective project management skills. On Monday, I was involved in external examination at another university, while on Tuesday, I was presenting a postgraduate short course in the morning and accompanying a PhD candidate to an assessors’ meeting in the afternoon. On Wednesday, there was an undergraduate exam paper moderation session, followed by a research project discussion between myself and the co-authors, and the day ended with a school e-learning meeting. On Thursday, I was involved in some consultation work for industry, followed by a Senate meeting. On Friday, the week ended with a Wits Sport & Health (WiSH) Research Group management meeting and a group consultation between staff and students. These are the fixed events and in-between, the to-do list must also be nurtured.

My To Do list is filled with things like arranging our Faculty of Health Sciences Research Day, making revisions on a research paper, loading resources on our Learning Management Platform… Academic life is full of variety.

Build yourself an EPIC academic CV! Enroll in the Academic CV Secrets course. If your future self is a professor, then the best time to start your academic career is now. And even if you are in an academic position already, this course will give you some ideas on how to grow your academic CV so that you can accomplish your career goals and in the process, change the world for the better.

Grab the latest draft of your CV and add activities and outputs to it as you navigate through the course. If you do not have a CV, no worries. Take a notepad and jot down your activities and outputs as you follow along.

We’ll cover all three pillars of academia, namely teaching, research and service, including practical implementation of the information provided. I share some tips & tricks and interrogate two job adverts to give you an idea of what to look out for when you put your CV together. You’ll also get links to valuable resources such as CV examples and templates, potential interview questions, and cover letter tips and tricks. To ensure that you can refer back to the content at a later stage, you’ll get an ebook that contains all the course information.

Throughout this course, you’ll get a sneak peek of the types of activities that feature in my own CV and academic portfolio. Each time I applied for promotion, from lecturer to senior lecturer, again from senior lecturer to associate professor, and then to full professor, I had to submit an academic portfolio, also referred to as a dossier. The activities mentioned in this course are illustrative of typical academic activities and will give you a good idea of details to add to your own CV, and last, but not least, you’ll have a very good glimpse into what academia is all about.

Click here for more information. Enroll today and I’ll see you on the other side.

I share your excitement about your future in academia!

If you are a (post)graduate student working on a masters or doctoral research project, and you are passionate about life, adamant about completing your studies successfully and ready to get a head-start on your academic career, this opportunity is for you! Join our awesome membership site - a safe haven offering you coaching, community and content to boost your research experience and productivity. Check it out! https://www.researchmasterminds.com/academy. 

Photo by Charlotte May