Access, Referral and Recruitment

Conducting Office Hours
Teaching Effectiveness Program, University of Oregon
This overview of effective office hours addresses who comes to your office, how much time to allocate and when, and how to conduct the meeting.

Students
California State University System
This site links to student service centers at all 23 CSU campuses,

GSAS Guide for Teaching Fellows on Writing Letters of Recommendation
Verba, C., Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. Harvard University
This guide offers tips for writing a letter of recommendation, including contents, how to acquire sufficient information, handling an easy, in-between and difficult case, questions of format and style, and offers four example letters.

Recruiting and Admissions Resources for Faculty and Staff
Graduate School, Virginia Tech
This site provides faculty members with information about resources, services and what to consider when developing a recruiting plan.

Student Advising and Mentoring


Accessibility to students
Faculty members have responsibilities for in-class engagement of students, but there are important responsibilities related to teaching that occur outside the classroom as well.  Students may have questions about course content, seek advice on programs, or need learning accommodations. One-on-one contact with students is an important component of faculty life, and can make an enormous difference in the choices students make about a course of study, or whether they are  successful in a course or not.  Facilitating connections for students is an important faculty role.

Referral for student support services
Campuses offer many services to help students learn successfully.  Knowing what the resources are will help new faculty members appropriately refer students.  These may include student health centers, student advising, learning labs, writing centers, study abroad offices, student disability centers, scholarship offices, clubs and student associations, graduate programs, and many others. Many of the issues that students need help with may be addressed through these services. One-on-one contacts with students are prime opportunities to make these referrals.

Recommendations
Faculty are regularly asked to write letters of recommendation, and they often make the difference between students being accepted to programs, offered scholarships, or earning awards or not.  This can be a time consuming activity, but if handled in an organized way is manageable and rewarding.  Tips on how to go about this from experienced faculty will help smooth the process. Similarly students may ask for a recommendation about professors to do research with, and you may know a professor doing research in an area similar to students’ interests and be able to help them connect.  This could be the case for undergraduate research programs as well as students pursuing Master’s degrees.  Making recommendations is an important role of faculty, and with experience and a few suggestions from accomplished faculty can be a very rewarding aspect of academic life.

Program recruitment
Programs grow or fade based on the degree to which faculty recruit students.  Literally every interaction we have with students is an opportunity to encourage, inform, and invite students to participate.  We do not always think of ourselves as recruiters, but everything we do from our enthusiasm, to our commitment, to our depth of knowledge, to our engagement with students communicates a message about the field of endeavor.  We are our own best advertisement for our programs.  We will consider ways faculty may become more effective recruiters.

Possible questions to ask about Student Advising and Mentoring:

  • Student access to faculty
    What is the importance of student access to faculty, and how might we maximize the impact of one-on-one time with students?
  • Student services referral
    What services are available, and when it is appropriate to refer students for services?
  • Making a recommendation
    How do faculty set up an organized and effective means of handling letters of recommendation and connections with faculty with similar interests?
  • Recruiting for programs
    What activities are most effective for recruiting students to our programs?
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