Intra-University Collaborations or How to Win Friends, Influence People and Get Resources? Hal Stern Department of Statistics University of California, Irvine Workshop of Department Chairs Salt Lake City JSM, July 27-28, 2007

2

3 Background My experience: 5 years as Chair of new department at UCI Previously on the faculty at Iowa State, Harvard Your mileage may vary!

4 Working with the Administration Planning (strategic and otherwise) –Strategic Planning (especially as top-down administrative exercise) can be a hard sell –But strategic planning is important Hiring priorities Programs (undergrad, graduate, joint) Research areas Space and infrastructure –Involving the Dean

5 Working with the Administration Dont be afraid to ask for resources –Examples unique hiring opportunities resources to support teaching initiatives administrative support or matching funds for grants pilot money for research centers –You will often get no but occasionally get yes

6 Working with the Administration (Self) Promotion is important –Especially true for a field like statistics (contributions may not be known to all) –Pursue ASA, IMS Fellowships (and other recognitions) and then publicize them –Make sure folks know about Grants Media appearances Significant publications –A key point is that other Departments do this well!

7 Working with the Administration External Reviews –One important mechanism for having the administration learn about the department –Not without risk Key issues –Identifying the committee (usually candidates) –Selling the Departments strengths –Identifying where the Department can use help (opportunities not currently addressed because of need for more resources)

8 Collaboration across Departments Key in the current research environment (big science grants in both NSF and NIH) There are often others willing to step in on the quantitative side of a project –Mathematics –Computer Science Need to –Encourage faculty to collaborate –Help them succeed –Value collaborative research in reviews

9 Collaboration across Departments Rainmaking 101 –Chair (or other senior faculty) can play a key role in helping junior faculty get involved –Find out what campus colleagues are doing and look for connections (Chairs have many opportunities) –Involve junior faculty (mentoring) –Ideally they will run with it

10 Collaboration across Departments Consulting Center –Subject of Academic Reps session last year –Positives Can provide access to problems and identify potential collaborations Can be a resource for training students –Negatives Can be a real (unrecognized) drain on resources STATISTICS

11 Collaboration within Departments Communication –Meetings Agenda Invite comments from all (especially junior faculty) –Informal Learn the best way to communicate with people works best for many but not all Alternatives include drop-in visit / scheduled meeting / phone

12 Collaboration within Departments Hiring –Have the fight before the interviews are held (rather than after) Position description Creating the medium list (anyone should be able to identify someone for this list) Creating the short list (try to create a comparable group or subgroups) –Not just one senior person to be interviewed –Not just one genetics/bioinformatics

13 Collaboration within Departments Hiring –The interview visit Remember the interview is about selling your Dept as well as exploring candidates Solicit input from everyone who spent time with the candidate –After the interviews Non-binding, anonymous vote/poll Lots of discussion (lessons of CRLT (UM) Theatre Program) If no clear choice, then –Discussion –Additional information –Can meet more than once

14 Collaboration within Departments Promotion –Mentoring (informal / formal) –Frequent reviews Many universities have formal periodic reviews Equally important to have annual informal review (review of CV, meeting) –Identify issues early Non-productive junior faculty Disagreements among senior faculty

15 Collaboration within Departments Service –Ideally addressed at the hiring stage –Senior faculty are key (culture of service) –Strive for even workload –Ideally faculty have different interests (computing, space, undergrad program, grad program) –The poor team player is a difficult problem at most universities due to limited leverage Merit reviews Discretionary funds Teaching assignments