Seminars Part II: Bring them in

I once taught at a PUI where the meager library resources and virtually nonexistent seminar program made me feel that I had lost contact with the current state of the chemical sciences.  This feeling influenced my choices on where to apply and what offer to take when I chose to leave.  Off the beaten tract locations or urban locations where there is little regional chemistry or biochemistry going on can really hamper a career.  The inability to get people to go a day or two out the way to come in for a visit makes developing a seminar program difficult.  In continuing the train of thought on seminars, let's consider what can be done to bring in speakers.

On the RO1 campus putting together a seminar series somewhat takes care of itself.  Many of the faulty at research universities know and work with other research university faculty in grant review panels, etc. and the seminar programs allow for many interactions and sharing of seminar invites.  The rates of research productivity are generally higher, allowing for frequent return visits and more importantly useful discussions on issues of research.

On the PUI/MCU campus, you have to make it worth while to come in to visit and give a seminar.  In making seminar offers, remember, your most valuable commodity is your students.  Many universities have graduate recruiting budgets to send faculty out to bring back the cream of the regions campuses.  If you don't get mail form these campuses, reach out.  Start with the campuses that your graduates have attended.  If there are other PUI/MCU campuses on our area, work with them to set up a circuit that visiting faculty can come through to hit several campuses over a few days.  These types of visit are usually in the Fall, so make your requests in July or August.

While you are working with regional campuses, how about setting up a seminar exchange.  Make a list of seminar speakers and titles or topics available from your campus and share it with the other regional campuses.  If your productivity rate is low you might not want to revisit a campus more often that five years.

In the Spring reach out to your past graduates who have gone on to graduate school, and who may be finishing up.  If schedules allow, and they are from the local region and can work in a visit when they are visiting family, they generally are happy to come back and show how far they have come.  They also become role models for your current students.

Anytime of year, find those regional PUI/MCU faculty who are nearing tenure or promotion.  The visit will become part of their service portfolio.  Don't forget to send a note on letterhead commenting on the specific types of insights they brought to the faculty in students through their seminar or conversations after the visit.  In a large department there may be member of the RTP committee who don't know exactly what a junior faculty does in their research.  I invite my own campuses faculty who are coming up for tenure or promotion to give a seminar so they can show what they are doing in their labs.

Look for regional industry or government people working in the field to a closely related field.  You will want to work with them to make sure the talk is of value to your students and faculty.  What do they get out of it?  They are helping train the next generation and they get to connect to the community.  Folks how are involved in the local ACS section are good candidates for this.

There may be other ideas out there, but these will help get a program started.  In the last part of this series I will share my thoughts on hosting seminars and how to keep the program going by not chasing away speakers.

T.S. Hall