US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit
Faculty Development in the US:
Faculty Life Cycle
Selection and Retention
Debra Richardson
University of California, Irvine
Valerie Taylor
Texas A&M University
The Academic “Ladder”
President/Chancellor
Provost/EVC
Chaired Professor
Distinguished Professor
Dean
Associate Dean
Department Head/Chair
Professor
tenure Associate Professor
Assistant Professor
[Postdoctoral Researcher]
Doctor of Philosophy
Reward Structure
Strategies for Success:
Components of the Job for which
faculty are rewarded
Research
=Scholarship=
Service
Teaching
Tenure
“a status granted after a trial period to a teacher
protecting him [her] from summary dismissal”
- Webster’s Dictionary
• Tenure is a long term commitment by the
institution and is not taken lightly
» A ”club” with lifetime membership
• ~70% of CS/CS “regular ranks” faculty at PhD
granting institutions are tenured
» ~60% of women, ~72% of men are tenured
Tenure Time Line
Usually a six-seven year “clock”
• 7 year probationary period
» Yearly oral evaluations by Dept. Head/Chair
» Intermediate “mid-career” review during year 3
» Tenure review usually during year 6
– Based upon work from first 5 years
» Tenure effective in year 7
• Typical evaluation (for tenure and beyond)
» Regular written evaluations by Dept. Merit &
Promotion (M&P) Committee, Dept. Head/Chair, Dean
and Campus/School M&P Committee
» Promotion and tenure review with letters from
external evaluators
Primary Criteria: what matters?
• Evidence of scholarly distinction, accomplishment and
impact in your field
»
»
»
»
coherent body of important work
significant theme showing growth as a scholar
sufficient productivity to show promise for sustained productivity
respect by acknowledged experts
» good teaching portfolio: good evaluations in a blend of courses (size,
undergrad/grad)
» high quality, reliable service so that colleagues respect your contributions
to the department, university, research community
• Different fields and different universities have different
cultures - such as,
» how publication patterns affect expectations
» how collaboration is assessed
» how impact is measured
No substitute for Quality
• Basic factors
» excellence in research
» excellence in teaching
» excellence in service
• Research
» How many and what kind of
papers are expected?
» How much grant support is
expected?
» How is support from industry
viewed?
» How is [interdisciplinary]
collaboration viewed?
» Is your research area viewed
favorably?
relative
importance
depends on
institution
}
• Teaching
» What do faculty expect of
students?
» What do students expect from
faculty?
» What do colleagues expect
from your course?
• Service
» How much service is really
required?
» How much can be gained from
service by getting to know
others on campus?
Research
• Evidence of research impact is most important
• Research independence is critical
» especially independence from PhD advisor
» clear individual contributions in collaborative work
• Publications
» Quality before quantity in publications
» Journal publications
– Not all journals are equal: journal reputations are best measure
» Conference and workshop publications are valued just as highly
– Bring visibility and more rapid recognition of your work
– All conferences/workshops are not created equal: leading
conferences, reputation and acceptance rates are measures of quality
• Research Funding and Graduate Advising
» Appropriate level of research funding from top agencies
» Excellent graduate students are important to advancing
Fundamental basis for academic success is
IMPACT
• Much of computer science is experimental
• Impact can be evaluated in many ways
»
»
»
»
»
»
»
»
journal publication
conference publication
curriculum development
artifact creation - especially if used or built upon
technology transition and patents
effect on standards
citations to the work
even hits on the web
… your colleagues and the M&P committee
must be convinced of impact
Tenure Dossier
• Impact must be documented in the tenure dossier
• Detailed CV
• Statement of contributions in research, teaching,
and service
• External letters
» Leaders in the field evaluating the work, stating
– established in your field
– significant contributions with impact
• Publications
• Internal letters
Advancement to Full Professor
• Based on international recognition as an
established researcher and leader in the field
» Generally about 4-6 years beyond the Associate
Professor level
• Recognized in your particular research area via:
» Editorial boards, program chairs, committees, etc.
• About 1% of the faculty achieve the status of
Distinguished Professor or Chaired Professor
» Based upon extremely distinguished research
contributions
» Chaired professors carry with them an endowment
generally from a philanthropist
Faculty Recruitment
• The top US universities are competing for
the best and brightest new PhDs and also
the distinguished scholars in the discipline
» Faculty selected based on the expectation that
they will succeed in being promoted through the
ranks
• Faculty Statistics in research universities
(PhD-granting) (according
to CRA Taulbee Survey)
» Total faculty sizes continue to grow at a rate of
3% during 2004-05
» 85% of faculty hires for 2004-05 were new PhDs
Faculty Losses
• Of 5,962 faculty at research universities , 213
faculty left in 2004-05, a loss of only 3.7%
• Faculty Losses:
Died
Retired
Took Nonacademic Position
Took Academic Position Elsewhere
Changed to Part-Time
Other
Unknown
8
56
39
61
16
25
8
• Less than .04% transfer among universities
Faculty Diversity and Equity
• Most universities in the U.S. focus on increasing
diversity of the faculty ranks
» Current blend of faculty in research universities
(also according to CRA Taulbee Survey)
–
–
–
–
13% women
20% Asian
6% non-resident alien
0.03% URM = African-American, Native American, Hispanic
» Equitable hiring and advancement of gender and ethnic
minorities
• Requires institutional transformation and a
change in culture
Challenges in Transforming Culture
• Eliminating sub rosa hiring (behind the scenes)
and promoting practices of the old guard
» (in the U.S. we call this the old boys network)
• Overcoming [perceived] issue of availability
(lack thereof) in [narrow] disciplines
• Training Deans and Chairs to utilize best
practices to achieve diversity and equity
» Encourage departments to search more broadly
» Compensate for gender differences in negotiation
styles and self-promotion
Maintaining an institutional force that
notices points of weakness and takes action
How to transform: what matters?
• Climate Change requires leadership
» Chair and Dean must encourage effective practices in
recruitment, advancement and retention
» For women and minorities, critical mass is important
and difficult initially
• Workshop series for chairs and emerging leaders
• Equity advisors as faculty assistants to dean to
seek out and ensure best practices are followed
» participate in recruitment process, approve search
committees, advertising plan & final recruitment
» implement faculty development programs
» investigate inequities that leadership might miss
» tailored to Computer Science is important
Recruitment Best Practices
• Devote significant investment in the hiring
of new faculty who will succeed!
• Best way to hire the best faculty is to
conduct a broadly targeted/defined search
• Career partner program
» Partners of women faculty (in US) are more
likely to be faculty members
• Requests for new faculty provisions must
address & show commitment to diversity
and equity
Faculty Retention
• Critical to the success of a department
» It’s much more expensive to bring in a new faculty
member than retain a good one
• Activities important for faculty retention
» Faculty mentoring - especially junior faculty but
everyone
» Providing a top research environment, and rewarding
research activities
» Providing an environment in which good teaching and
service can be accomplished without negatively
impacting research
» Promoting faculty via awards, professorships, chairs
Faculty Mentoring
• From assistant professor through full professor
• Programs especially for junior faculty
» New faculty orientation
» One-on-one mentoring for all junior faculty
– Acclimate new faculty to department and university
culture
– Provide feedback on papers and proposals
– Help them get involved with professional service
– Sometimes useful to have one person in the department
as well as a faculty member outside the department
» “Strategic planning” review panels by senior faculty
» New faculty research symposium to introduce new
faculty to established faculty
Environment
• Good research and teaching requires
recruitment of excellent students
» Both graduate and undergraduate students
• Equipment & space needs are critical for
both, especially research
• Encourage and facilitate multi-disciplinary
discussions
» Collaborations lead to some of the best
research
» Provide seed funding for initiating new
collaborations
Promote Faculty
• Value and appreciate faculty
» Announce awards to colleagues and students
• Nominate faculty for internal and external
(international) awards and recognitions
» National Academies, ACM Fellow, IEEE Fellow,
AAAI Fellow, SIG awards, …
• Engage in development activities for
endowments for professorships & chairs