Overview of US Computer Science Faculty Life Cycle Debra Richardson University of California, Irvine Valerie Taylor Texas A&M University

2 Life Cycle Starting Point: Assistant Professor Usually recent PhD graduate May come from industry Progression Assistant Professor Associate Professor Full Professor Distinguished Professor

3 Tenure Time Line 7 year probationary period Intermediate Review: During year 3 Tenure Review: During year 6 Based upon work from past 5 years Effective, September year 7

4 Detailed Timeline Year 1: Start-up Teach new courses Get our papers from PhD Take on a few grad students end of first year Year 2: Focus on research Teach same courses Continue with your projects Start publishing with grad students, independent of former advisor Work on proposal writing Year 3: Independent research Continue publishing with grad students Start giving some invited talks Take on one program committee Continue with proposal writing Year 4: Research dissemination Should have significant publications independent of former advisor Given invited talks Continue with proposal writing Year 5: Good acceleration Continue with publications Invite top people to your university

5 Tenure Package Detailed CV External letters Want people to say that you are established in your field Made an impact, significant contributions Statement of research, teaching, service contributions Papers Internal letters

6 Advancement to Full Professor Generally about 4-6 years beyond the Associate Professor level Should have international recognition as an established researchers Recognized in your particular research area via: Editorial boards, program committees, etc.

7 Distinguished Professor About 1% of the faculty achieve this status Based upon distinguished research contributions

8 Faculty Statistics (CRA Taulbee) Total faculty sizes continue to grow at a rate of 3% during % of faculty hires for were new PhDs Only 15% came from change in academic positions or from government or industry

9 Faculty Losses ( ) For a total of 5,962 faculty, had a total of 213 losses or 3.7% Faculty Losses: Died 8 Retired56 Took Academic Position Elsewhere61 Took Nonacademic Position39 Changed to Part-Time16 Other25 Unknown 8

10 Faculty Retention Critical to the success of a department Devote significant investment in the hiring of new faculty Activities important for faculty retention Mentoring of junior faculty Providing a top environment for research activities Promoting faculty via awards, professorships, chairs

11 Mentor Junior Faculty Mentor faculty through the tenure process and the promotion to full professor Mentors have the following roles: Acclimate new faculty to the culture of the department and university Provide feedback on papers and proposals Help with getting involved with professional service

12 Research Environment Having excellent students Undergraduate and grad students Providing support for equipment & space needs Encourage and facilitate multi- disciplinary discussions

13 Promote Faculty Nominate faculty for internal and external (international) awards and recognitions Engage in development activities for endowments for professorships & chairs Value and appreciate faculty