A Path to Full ProfessorJan Twomey, PhDProfessorIndustrial and Manufacturing EngineeringWichita State UniversityWichita, KS

WHAT ARE THE GUIDELINES FOR PROMOTION TO FULL PROFESSOR?

WSU Policies and Procedures

• CHAPTER 4 / FACULTY APPOINTMENT, TENURE, PROMOTION, AND RESIGNATION

• 4.15 / Tenure and Promotion - Guidelines and Criteria• Professor: Evidence is normally expected of the following:

(1) sustained effectiveness in teaching; (2) a record of substantial accomplishment in research,

scholarship, or creative activities which has led to recognition in professional circles at the national level; and

(3) demonstrated academic leadership in the form of service to the University and the profession.

http://webs.wichita.edu/inaudit/ch4_15.htm

Auburn University3. Faculty Personnel Policies and Procedures

ACADEMIC RANKS AND PROMOTION

• “Professor is a rank requiring professional peer-recognition of the individual as an authority in his or her field of specialization.”

• “A candidate for professor should have demonstrated significant involvement in the teaching, research/creative work, or the outreach functions of the University.”

• “He or she should also have participated in professional life and have been actively involved in departmental, college or school, and University affairs.

• “For this rank, it is essential that the candidate should have demonstrated a marked degree of scholarship…”

• “By means of such activity, a candidate for the University's highest academic rank should have a respected national reputation.”

http://www.auburn.edu/academic/provost/handbook/

A FEW THINGS THAT MAY HELPguidelines are intentionally murky?

Scholarship

• demonstrated a marked degree of scholarship…” “should have a respected national reputation”– generally no one will tell you how many

publications and how much $$– influence and impact on the field • demonstrate by outside letters

– larger, long term research programs

Leadership and Impact

Teaching and Education

“should have demonstrated significant involvement in the teaching”– Continued effective classroom instruction and

graduate MS and PhD students– Curriculum design and innovation– Interdisciplinary program development

Leadership and Impact

Service

• “have participated in professional life and have been actively involved in departmental, college or school, and University affairs.”

• You are no longer protected • Local– University, College, Department– Administrative roles, search committees, tenure and

promotion,• National – Professional society, Editorial boards– NSF Program OfficerLeadership and Impact

Path to Full Professor through NSF

– My reasons for choosing NSF and situation at the time

– How to get into NSF and the responsibilities of a Program Officer

– Barriers / Risks– Long term payoffs– Takeaways

First Year Post Promotion Associate

• NSF CAREER Award – Neural networks sparse data applied to manufacturing

• Teaching 2 courses/semester• Some graduate students• Completed A.D. Welliver Boeing Faculty Summer Fellow• 2nd year in new home• Single, no family

Low productivity, bored with research, and unengaged with students and in classroom

“Jan, go to NSF!”

Alice

August 2001-August 2004

Directorate for Engineering (ENG)

Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation

(EFRI)Sohi Rastegar

Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation

(EFRI)Sohi Rastegar

Chemical, Bioengineering,Environmental, and Transport

Systems(CBET)

John McGrath

Chemical, Bioengineering,Environmental, and Transport

Systems(CBET)

John McGrath

Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing

Innovation(CMMI)

Steven McKnight

Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing

Innovation(CMMI)

Steven McKnight

Electrical, Communications,

and Cyber Systems(ECCS)

Robert Trew

Electrical, Communications,

and Cyber Systems(ECCS)

Robert Trew

EngineeringEducation and

Centers(EEC)

Allen Soyster

EngineeringEducation and

Centers(EEC)

Allen Soyster

IndustrialInnovation and

Partnerships(IIP)

Kesh Narayanan

IndustrialInnovation and

Partnerships(IIP)

Kesh Narayanan

Office of the Assistant DirectorThomas Peterson, Assistant Director

Michael Reischman, Deputy Assistant Director

Office of the Assistant DirectorThomas Peterson, Assistant Director

Michael Reischman, Deputy Assistant Director

Program Director for Diversity & Outreach

Omnia El-Hakim

Program Director for Diversity & Outreach

Omnia El-Hakim

Senior Advisor forNanotechnology

Mihail Roco

Senior Advisor forNanotechnology

Mihail Roco

Manufacturing Enterprise Systems

NSF Program OfficerManufacturing Enterprise Systems, Division of Design, Manufacture and Industrial Innovation, Engineering Directorate, National Science Foundation, August 2001–August 2004.

• Proposal review and award management:– Assumed leadership in launching, shaping, and managing the new

Manufacturing Enterprise System’s program in design, manufacture, and industrial innovation. This included managing total grant budgets of $7–$10 million per year, organizing the peer review and recruiting panelists for several hundred proposals annually, and selecting and administering the 10%–20% of those individuals receiving research awards.

• Set national research agenda:– Assumed a co-leadership role (with D. Durham of NSF) to set an agenda for a research

focus in benign manufacturing and technology for a sustainable environment. This involved making technical presentations in a variety of venues, planning and managing national and international workshops, and building partnerships with the National Academies of Engineering, the National Institute for Standards and Technology, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

• Outreach to universities, other federal agencies and international research agencies

NSF Program OfficerTypically what NSF looks for

• History of NSF funding• Insight into where research should be headed• Linkages with other NSF programs• Network of researchers • Excellent communication skills• Women and minorities

Logistics

• Several types of appointments but IPA is the best; – Unlimited travel budget plus

money to go back to your institution to keep your research going

• 2 year appointments, option to stay for 3

• Salaries are negotiable plus extra for living expenses

• Get an apartment or rent a home

Typically who goes to NSF and why?

• Mostly Full Professors entering the next stage of their academic careers in administration– Chairs looking for dean positions– Full professors looking for chair or chaired

professorships– Some looking for new institutions with improved status

• Less often Associate Professors motivated by a variety of reasons

Take advantage of every opportunity to learn and discover new area for research

Barriers/Risks Right time in your life and academic career?

Women Program Officers with kids, husbands, significant others,

2 career families.

(No examples of families with kids of HS age) • IPA do a lot of travel – (more difficult if you do have a family)

Risks for Associate ProfessorsRight time in your life and academic career?

• 2-3years away from University– Difficult keep research going, writing papers, working

with students• Return to your academic institution– Start over, recruit students, get new funding, loose lab

space• Time toward promotion? How does university

view time at NSF?• Misconception – automatically big NSF $$$

Delayed promotion to Full Professor by 3 years

Long Term Payoff• New broader research direction in Sustainable Engineered

SystemsGreen Manufacturing•Machine-level lci•Wind generator materials lci

Aviation•Cost-effective recycling•Communication and sustainability

Green Wind•Grid improvement•Reliability•Manufacturing•Sustainability elements

Healthcare•Life Cycle Inventory of Imaging, Diagnosis and Treatment•VA, KU Medical, Wesley

Education•Fall and Spring sustainability Courses•Bloomfield Foundation Award•Sustainability Lab

Long Term Payoff• Large research program funded by DOE – 11 faculty, number of post docs and students

• NSF funding – 2 awards, some workshops• Research addresses national priorities• Large diverse network of collaborators and

colleagues• Many new opportunities for leadership in research– Bern Sustainability Initiative– 2 Global Workshops on Sustainable Manufacturing

Long Term Payoff

• Leadership Roles in COE and University– COE strategic Planning Committee, Leader– Research Thrust in Sustainability, Leader– Development of (multi-discipline, multi-college)

Bioengineering Program, Co-leader– Head of T&P Committee for College

• Member of Kansas NSF EPSCoR Strategic Planning Committee

2009 Full Professor

Potential Pitfalls

• Bias against research/work – Women in STEM– K through 12– Undergraduate curriculum and education

• Service with no leadership responsibilities• Too much service• Thinking like an Assistant Professor

CLOSING REMARKS

Gender Schemas

“Implicit hypotheses about women and men do not allow us to give women the same credit for their achievements that we give men.”

Over time the disadvantage accumulates

Valian (1998) Why So Slow? The Advancement of Women. Cambridge: MIT Press

• 2004-2005 survey of faculty and academic departments in six science and engineering disciplines

• Indications that focused efforts having had some positive impacts

• Women still under represented

• Didn’t ask a key question

http://www.nap.edu/catalog/12062.html

Gender Differences at Critical Transitions in the Careers of Science, Engineering and Mathematics FacultyCommittee on Gender Differences in the Careers of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty;Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine; National Research Council (2009)

Key People

Dr. Alice Smith

Professor and Chair

Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering – Advisor, mentor, colleague,

good friend

Dr. Zulma Toro-Ramos

Dean College of Engineering Wichita Sate University– Dean, advisor

•2 Women PIs, 140 attendees•24 from the US – universities, electric utilities and independent system operators, and NSF (10 US women)•7 from the Region – Libya, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco•the rests from Egypt – universities, research centers

NETWORKS/PROMOTION of WOMEN COLLEAGUES

Thank You

Janet.twomey@wichita.edu