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Panel discussion presented by Jennifer West and Kathy Matthews at the 2010 NSF ADVANCE Workshop: Negotiating the Ideal Faculty Position, A Workshop for Underrepresented PhDs and Postdocs in Science, Engineering and Psychology September 19-21, 2010

Goals

  • Institution
    • Tenure is a life-long commitment by the university to you
    • Successful faculty – innovators, leaders, producers
    • Research objectives in line with institutional directions
  • You
    • Faculty position that meets your own research and career objectives
    • Member of functional, innovative and forward-looking department and institution
    • Security offered by tenure

What can i do now?

  • Think about your steps all along the way
    • Consistently evaluate your own progress
      • Goals
      • Mechanisms to get there
      • Ways to learn from others and engage them
    • Keep data on all your activities
    • Ask for feedback
      • Grant writing
      • Papers
      • Teaching
      • Research program organization and development

This process is the accumulation of years of effort
THINK AHEAD!!

Understand the general process

  • Learn about the promotion and tenure process at your institution
    • Ask about the process at every stage if you have questions
  • Request a copy of the policy
    • Be sure when you are interviewing that the policy is consistent with your personal goals
  • Understand the balance of teaching, research, and service that the institution AND the department will expect
  • Understand the audience(s) for the materials

General process — the dossier

  • Dossier
    • Summary of your independent career at institution
    • Information on all aspects of your career
      • Research summary (publications, grants, citations, awards)
      • Teaching summary (courses, evaluations, awards)
      • Service summary (activities, awards)
    • Inside reviews/letters
    • Outside letters****
      • Writers identified by department
      • Also usually writers identified by individual

Dossier components

  • Summary of career
    • Education
    • Honors
    • Teaching/advising/mentoring
    • Citations
    • Grants
    • Publications
    • Research/teaching summary written by candidate
  • Outside letters

What happens after dossier is prepared?

  • Department review
    • Tenured faculty generally involved in decision to recommend or deny tenure
    • Department chair writes letter
      • Some schools have subcommittee
  • School review
    • Often school-level committee reviews and makes recommendation to dean
    • Dean makes recommendation
  • Promotion/Tenure Committee (Provost)
    • Makes recommendation to President
  • President sometimes makes final decision

What happens after dossier is prepared?

  • Department review
  • School review
  • Promotion/Tenure Committee (Provost)
  • President may make final decision
  • Multiple levels of review — no one person makes the decision! Many voices are part of the process.

General process

  • Understand the timing of preparing the dossier, what you should submit and when
    • Think carefully about names for Outside Letters
  • Understand the process completely
  • Don’t wait until the last minute to prepare your materials
    • Think about your research/teaching summary
    • Ensure that your papers are submitted in a timely way
  • Ask QUESTIONS if you do not understand

General process

  • Outside letters
    • Highly influential in decision process
    • May have opportunity to suggest names
      • Develop relationships - create a network MARKET yourself!
    • Post-decision: Ask about possibility for feedback from the letters (can be useful)

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Source:  OpenStax, 2010 nsf advance workshop: negotiating the ideal faculty position. OpenStax CNX. Feb 11, 2011 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11275/1.4
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