1. US-China Computer Science Leadership Summit
Faculty Development in the US: Selection & Retention and the Faculty Life Cycle
Debra Richardson
University of California, Irvine
Valerie Taylor
Texas A&M University

2. Faculty Recruitment
The top US universities are competing for the best and brightest new PhDs and also the distinguished scholars in the discipline
Faculty selected based on the expectation that they will succeed in being promoted through the ranks
Faculty Statistics in research universities (PhD-granting) (according to CRA Taulbee Survey)
Total faculty sizes continue to grow at a rate of 3% during
85% of faculty hires for were new PhDs

3. Faculty Losses
Of 5,962 faculty at research universities , 213 faculty left in , a loss of only 3.7%
Faculty Losses:
Died 8
Retired 56
Took Nonacademic Position 39
Took Academic Position Elsewhere 61
Changed to Part-Time 16
Other 25
Unknown 8
Less than .04% transfer among universities

4. Faculty Diversity and Equity
Most universities in the U.S. focus on increasing diversity of the faculty ranks
Current blend of faculty in research universities (also according to CRA Taulbee Survey)
13% women
20% Asian
6% non-resident alien
0.03% URM = African-American, Native American, Hispanic
Equitable hiring and advancement of gender and ethnic minorities
Requires institutional transformation and a change in culture

5. Challenges in Transforming Culture
Eliminating sub rosa hiring (behind the scenes) and promoting practices of the old guard
(in the U.S. we call this the old boys network)
Overcoming [perceived] issue of availability (lack thereof) in [narrow] disciplines
Training Deans and Chairs to utilize best practices to achieve diversity and equity
Encourage departments to search more broadly
Compensate for gender differences in negotiation styles and self-promotion
Maintaining an institutional force that notices points of weakness and takes action

6. How to transform: what matters?
Climate Change requires leadership
Chair and Dean must encourage effective practices in recruitment, advancement and retention
For women and minorities, critical mass is important and difficult initially
Workshop series for chairs and emerging leaders
Equity advisors as faculty assistants to dean to seek out and ensure best practices are followed
participate in recruitment process, approve search committees, advertising plan & final recruitment
implement faculty development programs
investigate inequities that leadership might miss
tailored to Computer Science is important

7. Recruitment Best Practices
Devote significant investment in the hiring of new faculty who will succeed!
Best way to hire the best faculty is to conduct a broadly targeted/defined search
Career partner program
Partners of women faculty (in US) are more likely to be faculty members
Requests for new faculty provisions must address & show commitment to diversity and equity

8. Faculty Retention Critical to the success of a department
It’s much more expensive to bring in a new faculty member than retain a good one
Activities important for faculty retention
Faculty mentoring - especially junior faculty but everyone
Providing a top research environment, and rewarding research activities
Providing an environment in which good teaching and service can be accomplished without negatively impacting research
Promoting faculty via awards, professorships, chairs

9. Faculty Mentoring From assistant professor through full professor
Programs especially for junior faculty
New faculty orientation
One-on-one mentoring for all junior faculty
Acclimate new faculty to department and university culture
Provide feedback on papers and proposals
Help them get involved with professional service
Sometimes useful to have one person in the department as well as a faculty member outside the department
“Strategic planning” review panels by senior faculty
New faculty research symposium to introduce new faculty to established faculty

10. Environment
Good research and teaching requires recruitment of excellent students
Both graduate and undergraduate students
Equipment & space needs are critical for both, especially research
Encourage and facilitate multi-disciplinary discussions
Collaborations lead to some of the best research
Provide seed funding for initiating new collaborations

11. Promote Faculty Value and appreciate faculty
Announce awards to colleagues and students
Nominate faculty for internal and external (international) awards and recognitions
National Academies, ACM Fellow, IEEE Fellow, AAAI Fellow, SIG awards, …
Engage in development activities for endowments for professorships & chairs

12. The Academic “Ladder” President/Chancellor Provost/EVC Dean
Associate Dean
Department Head/Chair
Chaired Professor
Distinguished Professor
Professor
Associate Professor
Assistant Professor
[Postdoctoral Researcher]
Doctor of Philosophy
tenure

13. Reward Structure
Strategies for Success: Components of the Job for which faculty are rewarded
Research =Scholarship= Teaching
Service

14. Tenure
“a status granted after a trial period to a teacher protecting him [her] from summary dismissal” - Webster’s Dictionary
Tenure is a long term commitment by the institution and is not taken lightly
A ”club” with lifetime membership
~70% of CS/CS “regular ranks” faculty at PhD granting institutions are tenured
~60% of women, ~72% of men are tenured

15. Usually a six-seven year “clock”
Tenure Time Line
Usually a six-seven year “clock”
7 year probationary period
Yearly oral evaluations by Dept. Head/Chair
Intermediate “mid-career” review during year 3
Tenure review usually during year 6
Based upon work from first 5 years
Tenure effective in year 7
Typical evaluation (for tenure and beyond)
Regular written evaluations by Dept. Merit & Promotion (M&P) Committee, Dept. Head/Chair, Dean and Campus/School M&P Committee
Promotion and tenure review with letters from external evaluators

16. Primary Criteria: what matters?
Evidence of scholarly distinction, accomplishment and impact in your field
coherent body of important work
significant theme showing growth as a scholar
sufficient productivity to show promise for sustained productivity
respect by acknowledged experts
good teaching portfolio: good evaluations in a blend of courses (size, undergrad/grad)
high quality, reliable service so that colleagues respect your contributions to the department, university, research community
Different fields and different universities have different cultures - such as,
how publication patterns affect expectations
how collaboration is assessed
how impact is measured

17. No substitute for Quality
Basic factors
excellence in research
excellence in teaching
excellence in service
Research
How many and what kind of papers are expected?
How much grant support is expected?
How is support from industry viewed?
How is [interdisciplinary] collaboration viewed?
Is your research area viewed favorably?
relative importance depends on institution }
Teaching
What do faculty expect of students?
What do students expect from faculty?
What do colleagues expect from your course?
Service
How much service is really required?
How much can be gained from service by getting to know others on campus?
Types of Institutions
Strong research focus
But good teaching is also important
Strong teaching focus
But some research is also required

18. Research Evidence of research impact is most important
Research independence is critical
especially independence from PhD advisor
clear individual contributions in collaborative work
Publications
Quality before quantity in publications
Journal publications
Not all journals are equal: journal reputations are best measure
Conference and workshop publications are valued just as highly
Bring visibility and more rapid recognition of your work
All conferences/workshops are not created equal: leading conferences, reputation and acceptance rates are measures of quality
Research Funding and Graduate Advising
Appropriate level of research funding from top agencies
Excellent graduate students are important to advancing

19. Tenure Dossier Impact must be documented in the tenure dossier
Detailed CV
Statement of contributions in research, teaching, and service
External letters
Leaders in the field evaluating the work, stating
established in your field
significant contributions with impact
Publications
Internal letters

20. Advancement to Full Professor
Based on international recognition as an established researcher and leader in the field
Generally about 4-6 years beyond the Associate Professor level
Recognized in your particular research area via:
Editorial boards, program chairs, committees, etc.
About 1% of the faculty achieve the status of Distinguished Professor or Chaired Professor
Based upon extremely distinguished research contributions
Chaired professors carry with them an endowment generally from a philanthropist