Faculty Service

Faculty service — one third of the tripartite mission of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln — has an impact. It impacts the institution, the students, our colleagues, and the citizens of Nebraska as well as those around the world. When it is an integral part of our daily work, it can have a positive impact on our teaching and creative/ research activity. This Faculty TipSheet provides advice on how to find meaningful service and how to balance your service contributions with your work in the other mission areas of the university.

1. Serve with a purpose. When choosing a service opportunity, consider what your goals are for that opportunity. Will you gain insight into institutional or professional operations? Will you improve your visibility or socialization within the institution, state, region, or discipline? What opportunities may result from this service? How will this service experience advance your career trajectory? What relationships might arise from this opportunity that will advance your teaching, creative/research activity, or career agenda? Will the opportunity provide you with a sense of personal fulfillment?
2. Value your service. Sitting on committees, mentoring colleagues, bringing guest speakers to campus, and advising student groups are important service activities. Document the time spent, the intended goal, and whether you achieved your specific goal for the service activity and its impact on students, faculty colleagues, and/or the community.
3. Share service opportunities equally. Research shows that women faculty and faculty from minoritized populations not only volunteer more frequently for service opportunities, but also are often asked to do more service than their white male counterparts. In addition, researchers tell us that younger faculty value and seek out service opportunities more than senior faculty. If you seem to be doing less service than your colleagues, volunteer to take on more service roles, especially ones where you are taking some of the burden off of your colleagues who are doing too much.
4. Consider the impact of the service on your other mission areas and respond to requests as appropriate. Take time to think about the request. Make sure the service fits within your career plans and that you have the time to do it. When the service opportunity doesn’t align with your goals, or you simply don’t have time to add one more thing, just say no.

Here is a list of faculty governance and shared governance committees at UNL that perform necessary and important institutional service: go.unl.edu/campuscommittees.