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- 2008 nsf advance workshop:
- Conserving time while teaching
- Conserving time while teaching
On to the interview! (negotiating)
Got lots of other interviews?
Great! Mention them in conversation.
During your talk, use the microphone. use big font. invest in a powerful laser pointer.
Older faculty may have poor eyesight and poor hearing, but lots of clout in hiring decisions. Don’t rely on confirmation from the grad students in the back that they can see/hear you.
When it is your work, say “i”, not “we”.
Your interview talk is not the place to be modest. What did YOU do?
Budget:
Be prepared to talk at the end of your interview about roughly how much startup you’ll need, and what equipment that entails.
- If you are asked to provide a budget before your interview, a good response is that you can’t provide one without being able to see the resources available at that institution and whether you would be able to use those resources, or would need to build your own.
On to the job offer! (negotiating)
Do you need daycare in a university facility?
The wait list for daycare at many universities can easily be 2 years. At some institutions you can negotiate to be at the front of the list. UW is very egalitarian, and this is not possible.
In what year/month will your appointment begin?
Are you in the middle of a fabulous postdoc project and getting data?
Ask to defer your start date. The search process is so painful for departments that they’d prefer late than never. I deferred 6 months.
On what day will your appointment begin?
At some institutions, health coverage begins on the 1st of the month, so that is the day to start.
Negotiating your faculty position (teaching)
Preparing a new course consumes a great deal of energy
Can you secure a commitment in writing that you will be able to teach the same course for several years in a row? Of course, the chair may need to cancel this commitment in case of emergency (e.g. if a faculty member dies, etc.)
What will you teach?
The opportunity to teach a special topics course is often offered as a favor to new faculty. In most departments this opportunity will not arise again for several years. Evaluate:
- Is it being offered without strong departmental need for your course?
- Will it save you time, because you’ll use it to train students?
If not, consider delaying the special topics course. To amortize your effort, your course should be so good that students demand for it to be taught again.
Many departments offer a lighter teaching load during your first year
You may have flexibility in which term is light. If you are waiting for lab equipment to arrive, you may want your heaviest teaching load your 1st term.
Faculty reflect on their first year as “the busiest, most stressful year of their lives.”
R.J. Boice,
Higher Education (2004),
62 , 150.
In 2006, a friend (Andri Smith, Quinnipiac) and I compiled hints we thought might make the lives of first-year faculty a bit better.
S.L. Keller and A.L. Smith, “Advice for New Faculty Teaching Undergraduate Science,”
J. Chem. Ed. (2006)
83 , 401-406.
If you want a copy and can’t find one in your own library,
contact me: slkeller (at) chem (dot) washington (dot) edu.
Source:
OpenStax, 2008 nsf advance workshop: negotiating the ideal faculty position. OpenStax CNX. Feb 24, 2010 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10628/1.3
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