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...majority of academicians, success as an assistant professor is predicated upon success as a scholar (Smaby, 1998, 1999). Indeed, the counseling profession has offered a variety of written guidelines and recommendations for successful endeavors related to research and publication (e.g., Davis & Sink, 2001; Gladding & Wilcoxon, 1987; McGowan, 1997; Sink, 2000; Smaby, 1998; Thompson, 1995; Wilcoxon, 1998). In addition, programs addressing successful submission of manuscripts for publication in counseling journals--a key component of scholarship--are often featured at professional conferences.
Addressing the broader context of successful scholarship in higher education across disciplines, Boice (1995) has suggested that new assistant professors are typically underprepared and that the majority of them find or devote minimal time to scholarship. In this regard, Boice (1995) asserted that
The majority of new faculty, especially women and minorities, report experiences of surprising neglect as apprentice researchers/writers.... Without the self-efficacy borne of reasonable mastery in ... writing, new faculty remain doubtful and inefficient, rushing but never quite catching up, rarely meeting their career plans or potentials. (p. 415)
Boice (1991, 1995) also examined differences between the 10% to 13% of new faculty who achieved productivity as scholars during their 1st year and their peers who were less successful. Specific to scholarship, the "quick starters" devoted a minimum of 3 hours each week to scholarship, and they integrated research with teaching (Boice, 1991, p. 111). The more successful new assistant professors in Boice's (1991) studies initially invested in "regular practice and comfort as writers" rather than the "process and product of writing" (p. 114). Striking a balance in time devoted to teaching, scholarship, and interactions with colleagues was an essential element of successful teaching and scholarship. Boice (1995) also suggested that "the most basic skills of writing are more a matter of how to work than how to write. They deal more with timing than with rhetoric" (p. 418).
Given the importance of scholarship as one criterion for measuring success as an academician (Smaby, 1998), this article features results of a participatory inquiry focusing on seven entry-level assistant professors of counselor education who successfully engaged in scholarship during their 1st academic year. Individual interviews yielded insight related to their preparation as scholars, their attitudes toward research and writing, and the strategies they used. We offer the implications of these results for counselor-educators-in-training, faculty in doctoral-level preparation programs, and entry-level assistant professors.
METHOD
On the basis of data collected in previous studies (Magnuson, 2002; Magnuson, Norem, & Haberstroh, 2001), the first author identified 7 entry-level assistant professors of counselor education who had submitted three or more manuscripts to professional journal editors during their 1st year as counselor education faculty members. Within the identified cohort of these assistant professors (N = 38), 15 colleagues reported that they submitted no manuscripts during their initial year, 9 submitted one manuscript, and 7 submitted two manuscripts. Anticipating that valuable and unique insight regarding early success in scholarship could be derived from conversations with the new assistant professors who submitted three or more manuscripts during their 1st year, the first author proposed to the second author an inquiry that would be collaborative and participatory. With his approval, she invited each of the other assistant professors to participate in a study designed to identify factors that contributed to 1st-year productivity related to scholarship.
Research Team and Participants
The research team consisted of the first author and seven entry-level assistant professors of counselor education. Although the first author was an assistant professor of counselor education at a university where research is emphasized, her primary role in this study was that of a nonparticipating inquirer.
At the time the study was initiated, each of the seven entry-level coauthors was a 2nd-year assistant professor of counselor education, and each participant had submitted at least three articles to professional journals during his or her 1st year as an assistant professor of counselor education. The four men and three women represented private and public universities in seven states. Five of the entry-level assistant professors were Caucasian and two had Native American ancestry. At the time they assumed their first full-time counselor education faculty positions, their ages ranged from 27 to 44 years (M = 35). All participants had received their terminal degrees from accredited counselor education programs. Additional information regarding each of the entry-level assistant professors (coded with the abbreviation of AP for assistant professor and a randomly assigned number) is summarized in Table 1.
Data Collection
The first author collected data during individual interviews conducted via speaker telephone with each assistant professor. The interviews, which lasted between 30 and 45 minutes, were audiotaped, transcribed to verbatim text, and reviewed with original tapes for accuracy.
The interviews were guided by a semistructured protocol that the first and second authors developed. To invite spontaneous accounts of success in conducting research and preparing manuscripts, the interviews began with a query such as "It's my understanding that you submitted four manuscripts to editors of national journals during your 1st, and perhaps most demanding, year as an assistant professor. I'm primarily interested in how you did that." As necessary, the interviewer asked the entry-level assistant professors to elaborate on their attitudes toward writing, their preferences for scheduling time...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos
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