Overview of US Computer
Science Faculty Life Cycle
Debra Richardson
University of California, Irvine
Valerie Taylor
Texas A&M University
Life Cycle
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Starting Point: Assistant Professor
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Usually recent PhD graduate
May come from industry
Progression
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Assistant Professor
Associate Professor
Full Professor
Distinguished Professor
2
Tenure Time Line
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7 year probationary period
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Intermediate Review: During year 3
Tenure Review: During year 6
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Based upon work from past 5 years
Effective, September year 7
3
Detailed Timeline
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Year 1: Start-up
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Year 2: Focus on research
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Continue publishing with grad students
Start giving some invited talks
Take on one program committee
Continue with proposal writing
Year 4: Research dissemination
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Teach same courses
Continue with your projects
Start publishing with grad students, independent of former advisor
Work on proposal writing
Year 3: Independent research
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Teach new courses
Get our papers from PhD
Take on a few grad students end of first year
Should have significant publications independent of former advisor
Given invited talks
Continue with proposal writing
Year 5: Good acceleration
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Continue with publications
Invite top people to your university
4
Tenure Package
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Detailed CV
External letters
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Want people to say that you are established
in your field
Made an impact, significant contributions
Statement of research, teaching, service
contributions
Papers
Internal letters
5
Advancement to Full Professor
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Generally about 4-6 years beyond the
Associate Professor level
Should have international recognition as
an established researchers
Recognized in your particular research
area via:
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Editorial boards, program committees, etc.
6
Distinguished Professor
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About 1% of the faculty achieve this
status
Based upon distinguished research
contributions
7
Faculty Statistics (CRA Taulbee)
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Total faculty sizes continue to grow at a
rate of 3% during 2004-2005
85% of faculty hires for 2004-2005
were new PhDs
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Only 15% came from change in academic
positions or from government or industry
8
Faculty Losses
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(2004-2005)
For a total of 5,962 faculty, had a total of 213
losses or 3.7%
Faculty Losses:
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Died
Retired
Took Academic Position Elsewhere
Took Nonacademic Position
Changed to Part-Time
Other
Unknown
8
56
61
39
16
25
8
9
Faculty Retention
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Critical to the success of a department
Devote significant investment in the hiring of
new faculty
Activities important for faculty retention
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Mentoring of junior faculty
Providing a top environment for research
activities
Promoting faculty via awards, professorships,
chairs
10
Mentor Junior Faculty
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Mentor faculty through the tenure process
and the promotion to full professor
Mentors have the following roles:
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Acclimate new faculty to the culture of the
department and university
Provide feedback on papers and proposals
Help with getting involved with professional
service
11
Research Environment
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Having excellent students
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Undergraduate and grad students
Providing support for equipment &
space needs
Encourage and facilitate multidisciplinary discussions
12
Promote Faculty
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Nominate faculty for internal and
external (international) awards and
recognitions
Engage in development activities for
endowments for professorships & chairs
Value and appreciate faculty
13