Peter Szawranskyj (Faculty Focus), Five Things I Wish I Knew My First Semester (July 20, 2026).

This article offers five excellent suggestions for new professors of all stripes.

My first semester as a faculty member taught me something I wish I had understood on day one: most of the stress did not come from teaching itself. It came from the absence of systems. I was making constant small decisions—how to answer student emails, when to grant an extension, what to do when a student disappeared, how to keep course materials organized, and how to protect research time when the week kept getting fragmented. None of those decisions seemed large in isolation, but together they created a steady drain on time and attention. 

What helped was not finding a perfect method. It was building a few repeatable habits that made the semester more manageable for both my students and me. The five practices below are simple, practical, and adaptable across disciplines. They do not eliminate the learning curve of a first semester, but they do reduce unnecessary friction. 

Hope you find these suggestions helpful. They were good reminders to me.