Career Development: Developing Academic Savvy and Working Smarter Not Harder

Due to the nature of clinical education, universities require faculty of clinical programs to maintain national certification, competency and practice clinically.   There aren’t any equivalent requirements for non-clinical faculty, thus, the clinical scholar has less time to develop scholarship.  NP faculty scholars need support to develop their scholarship so that they are able to be competitive with non-clinical colleagues for advancement and opportunities for scholarship. How do a novice or junior faculty members gain expertise as an educator while building a scholarly and substantive curriculum vitae and advance their career when opportunities for mentoring are limited or not available?

The purpose of this presentation is to provide novice/junior faculty with information that will assist them in developing their careers as nurse practitioner (NP) educators and scholars. The presentation will discuss the most common career trajectories, and factors of success. Exemplars of service (local, regional and national levels), scholarship (publications, research, innovative educational methodologies), interdisciplinary education, presentations (national, international) and awards are a few of the areas to be discussed. The role of a mentor and choosing a mentor or mentors during one's career to guide and facilitate this process will also be highlighted.

NP faculty need to identify both their long and short term career goals, the criteria needed to achieve them, and set a realistic time-frame for achievement. All professional activities need to directed towards the long term goal. Working smarter is essential to advance from novice to expert, and from expert to master educator.