Learn how to master the delicate balance between teaching and research through strategic planning, effective delegation, and integrating self-care into your academic routine.

Entering the academic world as a new faculty member is both exhilarating and challenging. You’re not only stepping into a role that demands excellence in teaching but are also expected to contribute to your field through rigorous research.

We’ve all heard these common struggles: “Teaching leaves me with no time for research,” “I can only make progress on my research and writing during the summer,” or “My passion is teaching, but I’m constantly reminded that research and grants bring in the money.” Add to that the challenge of balancing administrative duties, navigating endless committee meetings, and finding time for personal life, and it’s no wonder faculty often feel pulled in every direction. With growing pressure to publish, secure funding, and juggle multiple roles, faculty burnout is becoming alarmingly prevalent, driving many academics to leave the profession altogether.1,2

Though finding the balance between these competing demands may seem overwhelming, we will explore practical strategies and actionable insights to help ease the burden, making the tightrope act of academia not just survivable, but sustainable.

Prioritize and Plan

The first step in balancing teaching and research is to prioritize your tasks and plan accordingly. On one hand, there’s the struggle to master teaching—preparing materials, juggling student emails and meetings, while research progress stalls. On the other hand, focusing too much on research can lead to subpar teaching, low student engagement, and dissatisfaction in the classroom.

So, begin by identifying the most critical tasks in both areas. Are you preparing for a new course that requires extensive preparation, or do you have a research paper with a looming deadline? Understanding what needs immediate attention allows you to allocate your time more effectively. There are also a variety of tools available to streamline your workflow and enhance productivity such as digital calendars, task management apps (e.g., Trello, Asana, and Monday.com), project management software (e.g., Notion and ClickUp), time tracking apps (e.g., Toggl and RescueTime), mind mapping software (e.g., MindMeister and XMind to assist in brainstorming and visualizing ideas), or even traditional planners to schedule your tasks.

While this new position offers you the freedom and flexibility to plan your own schedule, it also puts you in control as the master of your time. To optimize your productivity, consider structuring your day into focused blocks of time dedicated to specific activities such as teaching prep, grading, research, meetings, and personal time. Prioritizing tasks based on energy levels, not just urgency, can make a big difference. For instance, align research-intensive tasks with your peak productivity hours. Are you sharper in the morning, more creative in the afternoon, or a writing powerhouse at night? Tailoring your schedule to fit your personal rhythms is key, as there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Conduct weekly reviews to evaluate your progress, recalibrate goals, and fine-tune your plans as needed. By incorporating a combination of effective time management strategies, you can enhance your efficiency, stay organized, and confidently navigate your academic responsibilities.

Set Boundaries

One of the biggest challenges for new faculty members is learning to set boundaries. It’s easy to let teaching demands bleed into research time, and vice versa. Without clear limits, you may find yourself answering emails late into the evening or agreeing to additional committee work, which can consume precious time meant for research, teaching, and personal life.

To maintain a balance, establish clear boundaries for when and how long you’ll focus on each area.3 Designate specific times in your schedule for teaching-related activities, including class preparation, office hours, and grading. Similarly, allocate blocks of uninterrupted time for research. This might mean blocking out an entire day or setting aside a few hours each day. Protect this time from being overrun by meetings or teaching tasks. Communicating these boundaries is also important, so be clear with students and colleagues about your availability. If you set office hours, stick to them. This not only helps you maintain control over your time but also sets expectations for others.

What’s less often explored in the balance between teaching and research is the need to set internal boundaries as well. Faculty often wrestle with guilt, especially if they feel that time spent on one task is time stolen from another. To counter this, it helps to create mental boundaries that separate the different roles you play. When you’re in “teaching mode,” allow yourself to focus fully on your students and preparation without feeling like you should be thinking about your research. Likewise, when you’re engaged in research, commit to that space, free from teaching-related distractions. This internal compartmentalization helps you to be more present in each aspect of your work, preventing the mental fatigue that comes from constantly feeling pulled in different directions. Ultimately, boundary setting isn’t about isolation or rigidity. Boundaries create the breathing room necessary for innovation, reflection, and the kind of deep work that fuels academic success.

Efficient Course Preparation

Teaching, especially when you’re new to it, can consume a significant portion of your time. To manage this, focus on efficiency in course preparation. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel and can instead leverage existing materials. Using existing resources such as textbooks, online materials, and past lectures can help to build your course content. Over time, you can refine and personalize these materials, but starting with a solid foundation will save you time. It’s also important to collaborate with colleagues who have previously taught the course as they can provide valuable resources, tips, and even lecture notes to kickstart this process. However, truly innovative course prep for new faculty involves more than just cutting down on time—it’s about designing a system that minimizes stress while maximizing impact.

One key strategy is to approach course prep not as a linear task but as an iterative process. Consider building your course framework in layers. Start with the basics: core learning objectives, assessment methods, and major themes. Then, as the semester unfolds, you can progressively add more details, refining readings, discussions, or assignments based on student engagement and feedback.4 This reduces the pressure to get everything flawless upfront and allows you to adapt your content to the actual needs and interests of your students.

Another underutilized tactic is “modular planning.” Instead of viewing each course as an isolated unit, think of your teaching materials as reusable modules that can be easily transferred between different courses or semesters. By organizing your content in flexible, modular chunks, you not only save time in future preparations but also gain the ability to mix and match materials as needed. Utilizing effective student-driven learning approaches within the classroom can also help. By incorporating flipped classrooms or peer-teaching methods you’re not only engaging students but also reducing the time required for lecture prep. By adopting these tactics new faculty can streamline their workflow while creating richer, more adaptive learning environments for students.

Integrate Teaching and Research

Integrating research and teaching is often framed as a balancing act, but in reality, it’s an opportunity to create a symbiotic relationship where both aspects of academic life enhance each other.5 One approach is to design your courses around the themes and questions driving your own research. By incorporating your research interests into lectures and assignments, you’re not only enriching your student’s learning experience with cutting-edge knowledge but also staying deeply engaged with your own projects.6 This can be done by introducing case studies from your field, sharing ongoing experiments, or framing class discussions around unresolved questions in your area of expertise. This not only keeps you connected to your research during busy teaching semesters but also sparks new ideas and feedback from students.

One unique way to bridge research and teaching is through student collaboration on research projects. Instead of limiting research assistants to graduate students, consider engaging undergraduates in your work as part of their coursework. For example, students can help with data collection, literature reviews, or even small-scale experiments, with these tasks embedded into course assignments or independent study opportunities. By involving students in your research, you introduce them to the process of scientific inquiry, while also making progress on your own work. This dual-purpose teaching model not only fosters student engagement but can also lead to co-authorship opportunities, reducing the time spent on research outputs while enhancing your teaching’s practical, real-world relevance. By creatively merging research and teaching, you move beyond simply juggling responsibilities and instead create a system where both activities fuel each other.

Delegate and Collaborate

It’s important to remember that while you may be starting this journey alone, that in the end, it’s all about building the right team. The right team of individuals and colleagues to turn to when you need help and the right team to work alongside you to uncover new discoveries in your field. Thus, learning to delegate and collaborate effectively is crucial for time management.

Instead of viewing delegation as simply offloading tasks, it’s more about strategically involving the right people in the right capacities, allowing you to focus on higher-level goals. For instance, when it comes to teaching, think beyond the typical use of teaching assistants (TAs) for grading and consider how they can play a more dynamic role. Delegating smaller, yet essential responsibilities like leading review sessions, managing discussion boards, or even helping to curate course materials can free up significant time while also providing TAs with valuable teaching experience. At the same time, consider empowering students to take ownership of certain elements of the course—peer grading or student-led presentations not only reduce your workload but also foster collaborative learning environments.

Collaboration, particularly interdisciplinary, is a game-changer when it comes to expanding your research while simultaneously enhancing your teaching.7 By collaborating with colleagues, whether within your department or across different disciplines, you can share expertise, pool resources, and cross-pollinate ideas that enhance both your research output and your teaching content. Co-teaching a course with a colleague from a related discipline, for example, can enrich students’ learning experience while providing you with a broader perspective that can feed back into your research. On the research side, co-authoring papers or sharing grant responsibilities can not only lighten the load but also expand the scope of your work, enabling you to explore new angles that would be difficult to pursue on your own. A lesser-discussed form of delegation is automating administrative tasks, which is often overlooked as a form of delegation to technology. Tools like scheduling apps, automated grading software, and shared cloud storage for organizing materials can remove repetitive tasks from your plate. Freeing yourself from these time-consuming administrative duties allows you to dedicate more of your mental bandwidth to strategic planning, teaching innovation, or research development.

Self-Care, Reflection, and Adaptation

Balancing teaching and research requires more than just time management; it demands a commitment to self-care, regular reflection, and adaptation. Academia often encourages a culture of overwork, and it’s easy to get caught in a cycle of constant productivity, neglecting your well-being. However, neglecting self-care is counterproductive—burnout is real, and it affects not just your health but your ability to perform at your best.

One way to embed self-care into your daily routine is by scheduling regular breaks, even brief ones, to step away from your work. These moments of pause can help reset your mental energy, enhancing creativity and focus when you return. Incorporating movement into your day, whether through a walk, stretching, or full workouts, can further energize you. Physical activity is a proven cognitive enhancer, increasing your ability to concentrate, think clearly, and manage stress. Beyond physical exercise, be intentional about engaging in hobbies or activities that bring joy and relaxation.8

It’s essential to regularly reflect on your progress, challenges, and evolving priorities. Reflection offers a chance to step back, analyze what’s working, and where adjustments might be needed. Carve out time each week for a self-check-in: What did you accomplish? Where did you fall short? Are your current time management strategies still effective? Reflection isn’t just about identifying gaps—it’s an opportunity to celebrate wins, however small they may seem.

Remember that time management is an ongoing process. What works today might need to be adjusted as your responsibilities evolve. The demands on your time will shift as you take on new roles, projects, and responsibilities. So be prepared to adapt your approach as your career progresses. Don’t hesitate to seek support from mentors, colleagues, or professional networks. Sharing your challenges with others can provide new insights and help you find solutions. Engage in professional development opportunities that help you refine your time management skills. Workshops, seminars, and online courses can offer new strategies and tools for balancing teaching and research. Ultimately, the key is embracing adaptability and recognizing that the balance between research and teaching doesn’t always have to be perfectly even.

Conclusion

Balancing the dual responsibilities of teaching and research is a common challenge for faculty members. However, rather than viewing these roles as competing priorities, we should see them as harmonizing rhythms that complement each other. The true beauty of this balance is found not just in managing these roles effectively, but in the innovative synergy they create. Research fosters a rich tapestry of knowledge that invigorates teaching, while the dynamic classroom environment can spark fresh insights and questions that fuel ground-breaking research. As we navigate this journey, let’s recognize that the true reward lies in the seamless integration of these roles, where the pursuit of knowledge and the passion for teaching unite to shape a more enlightened and inspiring academic future.

References

  1. Powell, K. (2016). Young, talented and fed-up. Nature (London), 538(7626), 446.
  2. Forrester, N. (2023). Fed up and burnt out: ‘quiet quitting’ hits academia. Nature, 615(7953), 751-753.
  3. Bartlett, M. J., Arslan, F. N., Bankston, A., & Sarabipour, S. (2021). Ten simple rules to improve academic work–life balance. PLoS Computational Biology, 17(7), e1009124-e1009124.
  4. Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81-112.
  5. Mathieson, S. (2019). Integrating research, teaching and practice in the context of new institutional policies: A social practice approach. Higher Education, 78(5), 799-815.
  6. Obwegeser, N., & Papdopoulous, P. M. (2016). Integrating research and teaching in the IS classroom: Benefits for teachers and students. Journal of Information Systems Education, 27(4), 249.
  7. Newman, J. (2024). Promoting interdisciplinary research collaboration: A systematic review, a critical literature review, and a pathway forward. Social Epistemology, 38(2), 135-151.
  8. Rosen, J. (2018). How a hobby can boost researchers’ productivity and creativity. Nature, 558(7710), 475-477.