How to get
tenure
October 30, 2008
Jeff McDonnell
Dept. of Forest Engineering,
Resources and Management
Outline
• Research
– Grants
– Publishing
• Teaching
– Classroom
– Graduate students
• Service
– University service though committees
– Service to journals and professional
organizations
• The P&T dossier
– How to start compiling upon arrival
The plight of an untenured
Assistant Professor
• Teaching, research and
service
– You’ll be dealt a % allocation
• The end game
– Example P&T guidelines
– What your referees asked?
• The good news
– This is doable—and can be
rather stress-free—if you
know the rules early on
– Example success stories
P&T Synopsis
Promotion to Associate Professor
• “In general, candidates for the rank of Associate
Professor should be able to show that their work
is known to national leaders in their field. This
can be demonstrated in multiple ways including,
but not limited to, scholarly publications involving
research, instruction or outreach, serving as a
reviewer or editorial board member for highly
regarded journals, being principal investigator on
grants, serving on regional or national
instructional review committees, presenting
research/teaching/outreach results at scientific
and professional meetings, presenting invited
lectures at meetings or universities, or by
committee work for agencies, professional
societies, or non-governmental organizations.”
A 50% Teaching appt.
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Satisfactory Performance
On average, teach at least
6 semester hours of
undergrad. or graduate
courses each year.
Over the evaluation period
advise undergraduate or
graduate students.
Perform satisfactorily in
teaching activities, as
judged by the XXXX School
Student Assessment of
Instruction Questionnaire.
•
•
•
•
•
Excellent Performance
On average, teach at least 9 semester
hours undergraduate or graduate courses
each year.
Over the evaluation period advise
undergraduate and graduate students.
Demonstrate excellent performance in
teaching activities, as judged by the XXX
School Student Assessment of
Instruction Questionnaire and have
evidence of teaching honors, awards,
fellowships or grants, new course
development, innovative teaching
approaches, peer evaluations, student
evaluations, or other measures of
effectiveness as described in the
University of XXX Guidelines for
Appointment, Promotion and Tenure,
Spring 2006 revision.
Develop a graduate program and
successfully complete at least 1 graduate
student (MFR, MS, or PhD).
A 50% research appt.
•
•
•
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•
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•
Satisfactory Performance
•
As senior or co-author, publish an
average of 2 scholarly articles per
year, the majority of which must
appear in national or international
•
refereed journals.
Present papers at regional, national, or
international professional meetings
•
(typically at least one per year).
Obtain external funding for at least
one graduate student or post-doctoral
student and their associated costs
•
during the evaluation period.
Serve as a member on graduate
committees (typically at least 2 during •
the evaluation period).
•
Develop a graduate program and
successfully complete at least 1
graduate student (MS or PhD) during
the evaluation period.
•
Involvement in some professional and
research service activities during the
evaluation period such as participation
in professional organizations, editorial
responsibilities, grant proposal or
manuscript evaluation.
Excellent Performance
As senior or co-author, publish an average of
3 scholarly articles per year, the majority of
which must appear in national or
international peer-refereed journals.
Present papers at regional, national, or
international professional meetings (typically
averaging at least two per year).
Obtain external funding for an average of at
least 3 graduate students or post-doctoral
students and their associated costs during
the evaluation period.
Advise graduate students (typically at least
3 per year).
Serve as member on graduate committees
(typically at least 4 per year).
Develop a graduate program and successfully
complete at least 2 graduate students (MS
or PhD).
Involvement in a multiple research and
professional service activities that may
include membership in professional societies,
regular participation in professional
organization activities, service on
committees of professional societies,
organization of seminars, conferences or
workshops, invited seminars and
presentations, international development,
editorial responsibilities, serving as a
What no one will verbalize or
acknowledge
the ultimate balancing act
• At your university, money talks
– Bring in a ton of research dough and this will
trump all
– Many examples I have seen where extremely
marginal P&T dossiers succeed when $$ big
• External to your university, money speaks
nothing
– It’s all about your research paper
impact on the field and activity as
a leader in your discipline
People above you at the
university
• Your Dean and VP for Research
– What they want from you in years 1-6.
– Thresholds for attention
• Your Dept. Head or Chair
– What he/she wants in years 1-6
• Your P&T committee
– What they should advise
– What’s best for YOU
• Thinking globally, acting locally
– Don’t be seduced by locally low
expectations times can change—abruptly!
» See WSU, Duke, ESF….
Traps
• To pursue funding, you move too far away
from your core competency
• You take on students to do things slightly
too far removed from your core
competency
• They leave without submitting the paper—
you don’t have time/ability to get it out
• You lose ground in establishing a research
brand identify (your projects are spread
intellectually thinly)
• A negative feedback loop……
But it doesn’t have to be that
way
• Like your PhD thesis, have an umbrella
• Articulate a few key research questions
to which everything you do can map
• Enhance your research brand identity by
organizing sessions, workshops,
conferences, special issues on your chosen
theme(s)
– Team up with key people to achieve
this
– NSF will sponsor with very high
success rates
Success story I
Brian McGlynn, MSU
Why/How?
• Straight from PhD to Assistant Professor
• In last year of his PhD
– Took an active interest in how the academic
game played (learned from my mistakes!)
– Morphed into an idea generator and colleague
• Hit the ground running at MSU by:
– Collaborating on proposals with network of
colleagues formed at PhD level
• Focused on student success and mentoring
• Papers kept pace with proposals
• Clear focus, mission and identity
Success story II
Thorsten Wagener, PSU
Why/How?
• Extremely productive post doc
following (also productive) PhD
• Quickly defined himself as a leader
through
– International initiatives
– Session and workshop organization
• Papers kept pace with proposals
• Clear focus, mission and identity
Funding ideas
• The 3 months of summer salary
– Pay yourself first!
– 1 mo of summer as a pre-requisite for
participation
• Even some committee work can provide this….
– Build a slush treasure chest
• Balancing your portfolio
– Take the easy money and spin off interesting
nuggets
– Contract work often requires less time
Teaching
• Like research, (classroom) teaching
can consume all available time
• You must be organized….or at least
give the appearance of organization
• Experience (my Utah State
examples)
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–
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New courses outside your research area
Handling difficult students
Last minute lectures for colleagues
etc
OSU Student Evaluation Form
Again, know the game and play it to win
• The course as a whole was…
• The instructor’s contribution to the course was…
• Clarity of the course objectives or outcomes
was…
• Clarity of student responsibilities was…
• Course organization was…
• Availability
of extra
needed
Therefore,
THEYhelp
arewhen
the ones
towas…
focus
• Instructor’s
use
ofothers
variousas
instructional
on—use
all
the
useful feedback
techniques was…
next year’s
versionwas…
• Instructor’sfor
interest
in my learning
• + 4 others on the form
Only two scores go to your
P &T file!
Teaching
Approaches to MS vs PhD students vs Post
Docs
• You will likely start with an MS student
due to funding constraints
•
•
•
•
– How much does a student or post doc cost?
A PhD student or post doc to start?
What it is to be an advisor?
Why are students so critical?
Evolving into a balance
– PhDs mentoring MS
• How to attract the best
students?
How to interact with your
students
From www.dilbert.com
Consider something like this!
How you handle students
• Treat each graduate student as if
everything they say or do reflects
fully on you
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Thesis proposal
Thesis committee meetings
Chapters
Conference posters/presentations
• Why this is important for P&T
A tightly coupled “success”
loop
Successful
Grad student
work
Successful
Papers
P&T Slam
Dunk
Successful
Proposals
A final thought on your grad
students
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•
•
•
How do you acquire an MS or PhD student?
– Applicants to the new department
– Recruiting promising undergrads
– Your own advertising
Supporting them
– Using any local grants vs external support
– TAs, scholarships
What should they work on?
– Knowing what to do with a grad student before you get to your
first job (continuing your PhD work or new stuff locally?)
– Realistic expectations
My experiences at USU as an Assistant Professor
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Kumar, V. 1993. Development of GIS-based water quality model using AgNPS. M.S. Thesis, Civil and Environmental
Engineering. Utah State University, 56pp.
Sauter, K. 1991. The use of bulk aerodynamic formulae for determining latent and sensible heat flux over melting snow: A
field-based approach. M.S. Watershed Science, Utah State University, 110, pp.
Taratoot, M. 1993. Moisture and energy conditions in a sloping laboratory soil mass. M.S. Watershed Science, Utah State
University, 75pp.
Goff, B.G. 1991. Hydrologic and erosion response of a disturbed sagebrush hillslope. Ph.D. Watershed Science, Utah State
University, 138pp.
Harris, D. 1995. A watershed simulation model with vegetation. Ph.D. Watershed Science, Utah State University, 285pp.
Sun, C. 1995. Integration of special sensor microwave imager (SSM/I) and in situ data for snow studies from space. Ph.D.
Watershed Science, Utah State University, 140pp.
Unnikrishna, P.V. 1995. Stable isotope tracer study of flow generation mechanisms in a small, semi-arid
mountain watershed. Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering. Utah State University, 230pp.
Committees
• A necessary evil of your Assistant Professor
years
• A major time sink (Don Siegel)
– “Of course I’ll serve on that committee”, “My
door is always open”, I’m as close as your
telephone/e-mail as long as you need me”
• Translation: “I’d love to waste my time, when do we
start”.
• Chairing a committee
– A Committee is a group which succeeds in
getting something done only when it consists
of 3 members, one of whom happens to be sick
and the other one absent.
Hendrick van Loon (US historian)
Other service
What should you do and how often?
•
•
•
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Grad committees of others’ students
Reviewing papers for journals
Reviewing proposals
Organizing sessions, workshops or
conferences
• Editing conference proceedings
• Reviewing Dossiers, PhD theses from
other universities, etc
The P&T dossier
• Making a case that is undeniable
– Save everything
– Document everything
– Start accumulating upon arrival
• E-mails, letters, faxes, requests….
• Your CV as an evolving document
• Let’s examine mine…..
Wrap up
• Research
– Know the success feedback loop
• Teaching
– Know the metrics for the
classroom
– Mentor your grads
• Service
– Learn how to say no
– Learn when to say yes
• The P&T dossier
– Start compiling upon arrival
– Know how to craft a slam dunk
case (see the two success
stories as a template)