1. Getting Promoted to Full Professor
Susanne Hambrusch, Purdue University
Lori L. Pollock, University of Delaware
CAPP 2005

2. Lori’s Journey Personal Life Milestone Career Point Year
Married and moved ……………….………………….Start Assistant Professor, Rice /86
First child……………………………………………………after 2 years in that position ’88
Second child ………………….…………………………..the yankees move north ‘90
First PhD student graduates
Start as Visiting Asst Prof, UD ’91
Tenure track Asst Prof, UD ‘92
Husband leaves industry to be high school teacher, summers off ‘94
Third child……………………………………………………4 years in UD position ‘95
Promotion to Associate Prof ‘98
Two teenage girls + 2nd grader………………. Promotion to Full Professor ‘04

3. Susanne’s Journey Personal Milestone Career Point Year
2-body challenge …… Assistant Professor, Purdue 82
Associate Professor and Tenure 87
First child ………………….………………………………………………………………… 88
Second child ……………………………………………………………………………….. 92
Promotion to Full ……..……………
Associate Head …………………..……. 00
Head ………………………………………… 02

4. Susanne’s head history
Just finished third year as head
Handled
six successful tenure cases
two full processor hires
Female faculty
Hired two (one assistant, one full)
One promotion from assistant to associate

5. Comparing the Promotion Processes
Pre-tenure:
Regular (yearly/3-year) formal reviews by various department/college committees
Official mentoring structures
deadline
Post-tenure:
Yearly reviews by Dept. Head
Get feedback, hopefully in writing
Continue your mentoring relationships
No deadline

6. Example Process - Purdue
Annual review of all assistant and associate professors
Vita, teaching evaluations, proposal activity
Written report given to assistant professors
Annual meeting with the head
Annual faculty submit activity reports for raises

7. Process remarks - Purdue
Generally there is a nomination by two or more full professors
An associate professor can ask to be considered for promotion to full
Attention is paid for promoting “at the right time”
An unsuccessful promotion is a ticket to losing good faculty

8. Formal Criteria - Delaware
Promotion Guidelines from UD CIS’s Faculty Handbook (as an example)
To Full: The candidate must demonstrate substantial evidence of sustained excellence in research, along with the promise of future sustained excellence. In addition, the candidate must provide evidence of excellence or high quality in teaching, and of an appropriate level of service.
Evaluation:
quality (and to some extent quantity) of activities
quality of media where disseminated
opinions of objective specialists from outside the University .

9. Formal Criteria - Purdue
Tenure decision in 6th year “A successful candidate should have a significant record of accomplishment as a faculty member and show promise of continued professional growth and recognition.”
Promotion to full “A Successful candidate should be recognized as an authority in the fields of specialization by external colleagues -- national and/or international as may be appropriate in their academic disciplines -- and be valued for intramural contributions as faculty members.”

10. Timeline for promotion
Is there an informal timeline for promotion to Full Professor ?
Common is a six year “clock”
Four- years would be fast
Eight+ years would be slow
Some data show women take longer

11. Research Expectations
Do what you did to become tenured
Do better and more!
Research maturity and leadership
National and international reputation in some area of CS research
Leader of a nationally known research group
Editorial board member of respected journal
Program committee service
Need to use ACM Fellows, members of national academies, folks in endowed chairs, etc.

12. Department Size and Composition may matter
Purdue CS: 41 faculty members

13. Research Expectations
Maintenance of a coherent research direction, while responding to new interests and areas
A history of successful publication in top conferences and journals
Continuous funding in a constantly changing funding world
Support for MS/Ph.D thesis students
Successfully advising graduate students
Graduating Ph.D students
Possibly research multidisciplinary collaborations

14. Letters are important
Purdue and UD request letters from ten references (5 names from candidate, 5 from committee) out of a larger pool
Credentials of letter writers are important
Let the head know whom you consider the leaders in your area
Are there people you don’t want to be contacted?

15. Conferences versus journals
At higher levels in your institution, different departments will have different opinions about conference publications
For tenure, there seems to be better acceptance of the view that in certain areas in CS conference papers are the primary form of publication

16. Teaching – What to Expect
Positive teaching evaluations
Take advantage of teaching workshops offered at your institution
Possibly develop new/revamp courses
What are your colleagues doing?
Articulate your own interests
Advise honors or undergraduate research

17. Variations on Criteria for Promotion
Teaching-oriented institution or
Teaching Associate Prof:
“Have an impact on education, and distinguish yourself in some way that has visibility and applicability beyond the university (not necessarily in research)”

18. Promotion based on Teaching
Create or update key courses
Help develop new programs/majors/minors
Lead review/revision of curriculum
Assess impact of above activities and publish results, if appropriate
Bring in grants/awards targeted at education
Participate in SIGCSE community
Caution on writing this best selling text book
Note: at research institution, solid teaching record sufficient, but

19. Service – It’s Payback Time
Hopefully, you have been sheltered from doing too much service as an Assistant Professor.
Now, it is your turn to do more.
Not so fast!
Your answer: “Yes, but…”
No one gets promoted to Professor based primarily on service!

20. Service – Many Choices Available
Government
NSF review panels
Agency advisory boards
Professional & Research community
Leadership roles in key conferences in your field (e.g., program committees)
Associate Editor of leading journal in your field
Involvement in SIGCSE
Department
Undergraduate
Graduate admissions
Recruiting
College & University
Faculty Senate (elected)
Look outside your dept. for greater impact of your service
Anne: added "involvement in SIGSCE" in order to address people with teaching career.

21. Choose Service that Matters
Cost/benefit analysis + better environment + visibility + connections – stress – time
Just say “no” to the “should’s”
Journal Editor
Admit comm
SIG Board
CRA-W
Personal
Ugrad Mentoring
Space comm
Somebody “should”
Professional

22. When is it time to go for promotion?
Read promotions guidelines
Ask the head-- ‘with your vita in hand’
Talk to a full professor you trust
If the answer is “not now,” ask about your weaknesses
Look at vita of a recently promoted colleagues
When to go up for promotion? ask faculty senior to you if it is time? ask your mentor(s)
Your sabbatical may prompt the dept to get you promoted to prevent you from leaving or because they miss you while you are gone and realize how you contribute; Also may renew your research ‘juices’
What’s needed? look at recent promotions for evidence
Need to inform persons that your dept may ask for letters, that this may happen soon
Mentors - still need their advice as to how to achieve full prof
journal special issues can be by open call or by selection from a conference….be aware of these opportunities. you want to aim
for ‘critical mass’ publication in a subarea

23. General Advice (1) visit departments and give talks
invite visible colleagues as colloquium speakers
stay in touch with leaders in your area and network with possible letter writers
accept responsibilities wisely
don’t say yes to everything (especially when it comes to serving on committees)
seek out leadership
have a mentor and be one

24. General Advice (2)
Continue to ask to teach courses that enhance your research
Do not volunteer for the large, service courses
Do departmental/university service, but don’t go overboard
Make your professional service help your visibility in the community
Do things you LIKE to do
teaching can enhance research - a way of learning new things, a way of getting experimental data
need to do more dept/univ service than when you were going to tenure, but not too much….as service usually ‘counts’ the least of
research, teaching and service in the promotion scheme
try to make professional service help your visibility.
doing things you LIKE doing, will help refresh you to go back to more onerous tasks

25. What to avoid?
Switching research areas and then going up for promotion
Spending too much time on teaching
Accepting too many administrative responsibilities
Seeking promotion against the advice of respected senior faculty
Switching makes you need more time to develop references from people in the new field
Be clever in asking to teach a course you have already done to reduce the prep time;
Use the web to prepare course materials that can be reused in the future.
Committee work is necessary but don’t take on an uneven burden of this work. Often women faculty are asked beyond their measure to do these sorts of things, particularly when they prove to be good at getting things done.

26. When a promotion is not successful
At the departmental level
Try to get constructive feedback
Purdue: no votes are given, only reasons
At a higher level
Did the weakness already exist in the department?
How to handle the disappointment
anger, withdrawal, considering leaving, shrugging it off

27. Final recommendation Get yearly feedback
Communicate with your head and mentors
Be visible – professionally and in your department
Document activities and keep documents and your webpage updated
Take an active role in your promotion
Don’t wait for your promotion to happen