D. Service Commitments Surviving and Thriving in Academia D. Service Commitments Women and ethnic minorities are often placed in a double bind with regard to service activities. Committee work and advising, however, are essential to the success of any academic institution. Thus, you will have to weigh how important mentoring and committee service are to you against the relatively low weight that these activities are usually given in the tenure and promotion process.
Young faculty can easily become overly involved with departmental and university service activities.
In the case of women or minorities, if you are the only woman or ethnic minority faculty member in a department, you may be asked to be a faculty advisor for relevant student organizations and to serve on many committees, including committees relating to women and ethnic minorities. Your over-involvement in committees may be perceived as demonstrating a lack of commitment to the more approved activities of research and teaching, but turning down committee appointments may be perceived as irresponsible behavior. These opportunities can be excellent ways to make contacts, get exposure to the field outside the academic environment, build relationships to help with research, and may provide a great deal of personal support as well. Particularly if there are very few women or ethnic minority faculty members in your department, people met through outside service can become part of a professional community. Such a community can be a very important contribution to thriving in the institution.