A Successful Faculty Member: Essential Components

Abstract form only given. The central function of higher education is strong contribution of faculty members in disseminating knowledge to the students as well as to the peers. To become competitive the universities in India are including advance technical information in the instructional curriculum. Additionally, several higher educational institutions are in a transitional phase from teaching-only universities to comprehensive universities. The individuals who have selected their careers as university faculty members in this environment need to understand their roles for a successful career. Even though the balance between different tasks such as research, teaching and service vary from institution to institution the general functionality of the faculty member should be quite uniform. The rewards and challenges involved when one decides to be faculty member in a university/institute where research is encouraged in addition to teaching, is discussed here. It is typically required to publish a significant number of peer reviewed papers while writing proposals and trying to get them funded. To establish a research program it is required to attract and learn how to deal with graduate students while one is still trying to figure out the incredibly time-consuming labor of planning and teaching new courses. Some keys to time management, people management, effective teaching and service recommendations will be outlined. Some norms from the US universities will also be outlined.