Preparing for Promotion(the tenure process)

Nancy M. Amato, Texas A&M University

Borrowed heavily from past CRA-W Career Mentoring Workshop slides

Nancy Amato• BS Stanford 1986, MS Berkeley 1988• PhD UIUC 1995• 6 months of 2 Postdocs (too brief)• Texas A&M

– Assistant Professor, 1995-2000– Associate Professor, 2000-2004– Professor, 2004-present– Sabbatical, Sept 2003-Dec 2004 – Graduate Advisor, Jan 2005-May 2006– Chair, Alliance for Bioinformatics, Computational Biology and Systems

Biology, Sept 2007- present– Chair, Council of Principal Investigators, Aug 2009-Aug 2010– Deputy Director, Institute for Applied Math & Computational Science,

2010-– Unocal Professor, Sept 2011-present

• Research – Motion Planning, computational biology, robotics, computational

geometry, animation, CAD– Parallel & distriibuted computing, parallel algorithms, perfomance

modeling & prediction

Nancy with some students (current and former), their kids and students (Nancy’s grand students!)

The Academic “Ladder”

PostdocAssistant ProfessorAssociate Professor

Professor

Chaired Professor Department Head Associate Dean

Dean . . .

tenure

Tenure Process

Usually a six year “clock”• Find out the evaluation process -- common

example…– Yearly written evaluations by Dept. Head (and

perhaps P&T Committee)– Mid-tenure review by Dept. P&T Committee,

Dept. Head, Dean and College P&T Committee• Some depts get external letters (3-6)

– Sixth year promotion and tenure review• external letters (typically 8-15)

No Substitute for Quality & Understand Your Institution

• Basic factors– Teaching – Research– Service

• Relative importance and expectations vary by institution – know yours!– Ask department chair/head, mentor, colleagues– Look at CVs of successful, recently tenured faculty

• Find mentors– you may or may not have a formal mentor– different mentors for different activities (teaching,

research, dept politics, etc)• ask for advice, feedback, examples, etc

Teaching• Understand Expectations of your Institution• General tips

– Want to do a good job while minimizing effort– Have an overall teaching plan/goals and update annually– Try to limit the number of new courses you teach/prepare– Shoot for a mix of ugrad (honors!) & grad (core, seminar)

courses• Negotiate for release from teaching

– As part of start-up package, for developing new coursesand labs, pre-tenure mini-sabbaticals

• Shoot for good perceptions – positive evaluations– Be available, but be careful of your time

• be on time and don’t end early• give extra lectures when it helps• keep regular office hours

– Don’t be too hard or too easy• good learning is not hard teaching

– Don’t do evaluations right after an exam

Research Advising– Recruit good students

• Review applicants and make offers to top ones ( TA from dept, RA, share with dept)

• Offer grad level reading courses (as overload if necessary)

• undergrad (summer) research programs– Learn when and how to say “no”

• A bad student is worse than no students• See them “in action” first (in class, trial project)

– Balance PhD and MS students• Try to graduate at least one PhD by year six• Don’t take on too many MS students

– Getting them to produce• Build a mentoring hierarchy

Publications• Quality before quantity in publications• Journal publications

– Understand the importance of publishing in referred journals

– Understand journal rankings in your field and related fields that you publish in

– Track special issues for faster turnaround• Conferences and workshops

– Be visible and well-respected– Understand conference/workshop rankings– Keep track of acceptance rates

• Read reviews, revise and resubmit rejected papers worth salvaging

Funding• Target funding opportunities– Visit funding agency sites regularly

• Volunteer to serve on review panels – For types of proposals you will submit – not the panels that are desperate for panelists…

• Get on a funding opportunities mail list– Apply for junior faculty awards

• NSF/ONR/ARL CAREER competitions• Other career development awards (industry, university)

• Seek advice/examples from colleagues– Ask successful colleagues to review your proposal and Listen to their feedback

– borrow sample proposals from successful colleagues

• If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again

Collaboration

• Successful Collaboration is a multiplier– Enables you to achieve more than you can on your own, is fun and

brings you new friends and colleagues• Unsuccessful Collaboration can be a negative multiplier

– Wastes times, stressful, creates hard feelings – best to nip in the bud!• Advice

– Choose your collaborators wisely - do your research before saying ``yes’’ & learn when and how to say “no”• Collaborate with Successful People – look at their CV, papers, etc• Some people may be looking for a free ride

– Be sure you are a good collaborator• Pull your weight, be on time with deliverables, etc.• Don’t take on too much – easy to happen at the beginning

• Caveats/Caution– For your tenure evaluation, people will try to assess *your*

contribution. Increasingly, collaboration is explicitly valued. Still, some people/institutions look for explicit evidence of individual contribution. So, if possible, do not do all work (papers or grants) with same team.

External Evaluators• External letter writers – Some selected by you– Some selected by your department– Can usually black list one or two people--but do so carefully

– Can informally suggest names– Some departments exclude/include:

• Thesis advisor• Co-authors and collaborators

– OK (good) to ask someone if you can recommend them as a letter writer• Provide them an easy way out -few people say “no” outright

Getting Known

• Network at Conferences – Go without a paper, introduce yourself

• Talk tours– Self invitation (I’ll be in area ….)

• Proposal Review Panels, Journal refereeing, Conference PCs– Volunteer yourself

• Host Distinguished Lectures, invite others to visit and give talks

Service

• Find out what/how much service really counts– to the department, to the school/college, to the

University, to the profession, to you

• Learn when/how/why to say no • Quality and reliability are more important

than quantity• Do what’s visible and will bring respect– from your research community– from your campus and department “elders”

Starting Out• Find mentors

– you may or may not have a formal mentor– different mentors for different activities (teaching,

research, dept politics, etc)• ask for advice, feedback, examples, etc

• Don’t do too much, too early– Take time to learn about your environment– Don’t take every student who walks in the door, join

every grant proposal you are asked to join, etc• Practice as a grad student

– Mentor ugrad & junior grad students in research– Help write a grant proposal

Overall Advice

• The most important thing is to enjoy the work you do– Keeping in mind the milestones you need to

reach to be successful at what you do• Strike a balance between your family and

social life and your career

Dos and Don’ts• Do become someone other

faculty want as a colleague• Do make a good first

impression• Do be a team player • Do get to know leaders in

your field• Do take

criticism/feedback/complaints seriously

• Do find mentors• Do get along well with staff• Do keep records• Do choose your battles

wisely

• Don’t let your research get off to a slow start

• Don’t be labeled as a bad teacher

• Don’t do too much, too early – don’t take every grad student who walks in your door or join all collaborations

• Don’t be viewed as unsupportive of department goals

• Don’t do anything that is unethical or makes you uncomfortable

• Don’t brown-nose or be insincere

• Don’t make enemies, but speak up