Because the work of getting hired, finding mentors, setting up research labs, learning to write grant proposals, defining teaching goals, supporting students and balancing it all with life can derail early-career faculty members, the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund offered up-and-coming veterinary faculty across the country a chance to embrace lessons from those who have gone before.

The Becoming Faculty Workshop ran from Friday to Sunday on the NC State veterinary campus last weekend, aiming to equip the 18 participants from 12 colleges of veterinary medicine with the tools to succeed in academia, especially important with an expected shortage of veterinary educators looming.

“NC State is committed not only to helping our own faculty on their journey of success in veterinary medicine, but helping the global academic community,” said Dr. Joshua Stern, associate dean for research at the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine. “This  workshop was meant to be a road map for them, to get them to know other colleagues from other institutions and have a community where they’re at the same stage progressing through the ranks.” 

The participants, who were nominated by their colleges and chosen through a competitive selection process, heard from 10 facilitators on a wide range of topics, including what to ask for in a startup package and how to navigate unexpected management challenges while still sleeping through the night, develop a research focus that is fundable and relevant to animal health, and create a teaching culture in your lab.

Dr. Olufemi Akinkuotu was eager to get tips on becoming a powerful teacher. Akinkuotu earned his DVM and Ph.D. in Nigeria, where he also taught veterinary parasitology for a few years. He chose to do post-doctoral work in the United States so he could learn more about experimental parasitology and recently became an assistant professor at Texas Tech University.

Well-versed in research, he says, he was looking to the workshop for help with writing grants, setting up and managing his own lab, managing people and understanding the tenure process.

“I’m looking for real guidance,” he said. “My ultimate goal is to be the best faculty I can possibly be and just to be able to proficiently manage resources, manage time and the startup funds, the aspect of getting grants and securing them and managing them.”

A Critically Under-Represented Group

Dr. Kaori Sakamoto, head of the Department of Population Health and Pathobiology at NC State, and Dr. Lauren Schnabel, professor of Equine Orthopedic Surgery at NC State, led the planning for the workshop. Schnabel participated in a Becoming Faculty Workshop early in her career, and both professors have attended the workshop, which began in 2009, numerous times as facilitators and panelists.

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund created the Becoming Faculty Workshop to run parallel with the AAVMC’s National Veterinary Scholars Symposium, where veterinary medical students who have conducted original research through summer scholars programs on their campuses can formally present their research in a professional environment.

A grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund covers all expenses for the workshop. 

“We started it because we wanted to promote the success of veterinarian scientists at getting substantial funding of the scale that comes from agencies like NIH,” said Victoria McGovern, Ph.D., senior program officer at the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. “We view veterinary scientists to be a critically under-represented group in human health research.”

Dr. John Parker, associate professor of virology at Cornell University, has led the Becoming Faculty Workshop for many years. When he was looking for new leaders, he approached Schnabel and Sakamoto, and they immediately accepted because they so highly value the event’s mission.

“Lauren Schnabel had taken the workshop early on and has grown into an impressive example of a veterinarian scientist,” McGovern said. “One reason I am excited about the new leadership is that Lauren and Kaori are both exemplars of what a high-impact career can look like. BWF is very happy to see the workshop in such good hands!”

Schnabel said participants this year included DVMs in their first year of teaching, those who have accepted faculty positions but haven’t started yet and a few who were completing Ph.Ds, residencies and post-doc positions.

Dr. Ashlyn Strickland fit the latter category. Currently finishing a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences this month, Strickland already earned her DVM at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences and is now looking for a faculty position at a veterinary college. She hopes to teach clinical microbiology.

“Epidemiology and antibiotic stewardship are a passion of mine and can really be a difficult subject for veterinarians to kind of grasp,” she says. “I think teaching that would be really good, being able to increase the passion among veterinary students for good antibiotic stewardship.” 

In addition to learning more about how to put together an application package, Strickland also was looking forward to forging a community at the workshop.

“It’s like getting a whole support system,” she said. “Hearing about everybody’s paths is important because I think all of us have been on a bit of a circuitous route, and seeing the successes through those circuitous routes is promising and motivational for those of us that are early in our career.”

Relationship-building was an important goal for the event, both Schnabel and Sakamoto said.

“This is a nationwide workshop so they become their own network as a cohort and they also create a network with the panelists,” Sakamoto said. “If there are issues that arise after they’ve left the workshop, they now have a safety net of people to call on.”

Schnabel said the workshop agenda was intentionally loose and informal to allow plenty of time for questions, answers and chats.

“Where the conversation goes depends on who the trainees are and what their needs are,” Schnabel said. “It becomes very streamlined and tailored to the individual people.”

Mentoring the Next Generation

The panelists and facilitators also came from a wide variety of personal and professional backgrounds, Sakamoto said, so that the advice would be varied.

“Some have kids. Some don’t have kids. Some are in administrative roles. Some are not,” she said. “So they all have different perspectives on the same subject matter.” 

Sakamoto stressed the importance of understanding that a healthy work-life balance is critical, even in the beginning of an academic career.

“It’s a lot about how to set yourself up to be a good teacher but also how to be successful in all three aspects of the positions: teaching, service and research,” she said. “There’s a shortage in the field. There also is a high rate of turnover for people within the first several years of starting a faculty position. We want to try to help answer all the questions, get them ideally in the best first faculty position for them, so that they want to stay.”

As a leader in veterinary education, the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine also recently organized and hosted an international curriculum development seminar with more than 100 participants in-person and virtually. Jesse Watson, director of curriculum and educator development, proposed the event after several colleges sought advice from NC State faculty members who led the College of Veterinary Medicine’s successful curriculum relaunch last fall. 

NC State hosts these focused, applicant-driven workshops to help cultivate faculty success, whether that’s in designing a curriculum or building their research careers, Schnabel said.

“Dr. Sakamoto’s whole job as a department head is helping faculty succeed,” she said. “For me, I run one of the NIH T32 training grant programs at NC State, and I’m dedicated to helping Ph.D. students and residents get where they are going next. We are completely dedicated at NC State to mentoring the next generation.”