Local Author Book Talk with Joshua Schimel

Chaucer’s Books (3321 State Street, Santa Barbara) will host local author Joshua Schimel for a book talk and signing of his latest book  “Your Future on the Faculty: How to Survive and Thrive in Academia” on Thursday, January 18 at 6 p.m.

Book Description of “Your Future on the Faculty: How to Survive and Thrive in Academia”

In graduate school we are trained how to be scholars, and maybe how to be effective teachers. But there is much more to being a college or university faculty member—and most of it is left to figure out on one’s own. This job isn’t hard because the core scholarship is hard, but because of the complex mix of activities that scholars must figure out how to juggle. These are dominated by human and institutional structures within departments, universities, societies, and professional communities. Succeeding and thriving as an academic call for developing wider, “non-academic,” insights and skills into how these operate and how to operate effectively with, and within, them. Functioning as an academic is about the relationships we develop with our communities of students, campus colleagues, professional peers, and our university administrative and support staff—the people who enable faculty members to function.

Your Future on the Faculty: How to Survive and Thrive in Academia is organized into four sections, each focusing on one aspect of the human systems that are fundamental to succeeding as an academic. Section 1 starts in the center with new faculty, as they build their careers. Section 2 looks at university administrative systems and the staff who manage them. Section 3 focuses on teaching and training roles. Finally, Section 4 looks at wider professional networks outside of university publishers and academic communities.

Author Biography –  Joshua Schimel received his Ph.D. in soil science from UC Berkeley and became an assistant professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks before moving to the University of California Santa Barbara. He studies how soil processes regulate ecosystem function,particularly in the Arctic and in dry California systems. He was served in many roles including Chair of the Environmental Studies Program, Chair of the UC Systemwide Council on Planning and Budget, and as Associate Dean of Sciences. He is the author of Writing Science: How to Write Papers That Get Cited and Proposals That Get Funded (OUP, 2012).