Tenure and How to Improve
Your Chances of Getting It
Andy Johnson
October 20, 2005
disclaimer - andy accepts no responsibility for the use or misuse of this information
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
Ranks
• Lecturers
• Research Assistant Professor
• Assistant Professors (tenure track)
• Associate Professors (tenure)
• Full Professors (tenure)
• This is in general - tenure and rank do not always go
together
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
What is Tenure
• As an Assistant Professor on the tenure track you
are typically on a yearly contract
• With Tenure you pretty much have your job until
you want to leave
• Roughly 75% (60% - 90%) of faculty are tenured at
U.S. Universities
• And you get more money (10% - 15% raise)
• And you get to vote on other people's tenure
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
When is the Decision Made?
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•
•
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Do paperwork at the end of year 5
Submit in fall at beginning of year 6
Hear the results next spring (end of year 6)
Can go up a year early if you are doing really well
• Or you can do it the easy way and get hired into a
department with tenure
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
Who Makes the Decision?
• All tenured professors in your department *
• Then your department chair or head *
• Then a college level committee
• Then the dean of your college
• Then a campus-wide committee
• Then the provost of the university
• And finally the regents of the university at the state
level rubber stamp it
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
Who Makes the Decision?
• The most critical group is your department
– Each tenured faculty member can vote yes, no,
or abstain on you getting tenure
– Ideally you want a unanimous or nearly
unanimous vote within your department
– A 60/40 split in the department is damaging but
you still might make it
– Less than 50/50 you aren't going to succeed
• The College usually goes along with Department
• The University usually goes along with College
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
The Department Level Meeting
• Usually 1 or 2 assistant professors are going up for
tenure at the same time
• Meeting takes a couple hours
• A Tenured faculty member presents your case (see
slide about your mentor coming soon)
• All the voting faculty members have a copy of your
paperwork (see paperwork slide coming soon)
• One voting faculty member has sat in on one of
your classes to evaluate your teaching
• Lots of Discussion of the paperwork
• Secret Ballot
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
The College Level Meeting
• Usually roughly 10 assistant professors going up
for tenure at the same time
• A faculty member from your department on that
committee will present your case
• Discussion and balloting
• I have not sat in on one of these meetings
personally
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
The Campus Level Meeting
• At UIC there are 27 full professors on committee
– 18 elected by faculty and 9 appointed by provost
– Currently: Physical Therapy, Art History, Information Decision Sciences, Social Work,
Biological Sciences, Library Health Sciences, Psychology, Nursing, Occupational
Health Sciences, Urban Planning, Emergency Medicine, Nephrology, Criminal
Justice, Pharmacology, Restorative Dentistry, Education, Mechanical Engineering,
English, Biochemistry, Digestive Disease & Nutrition, Pharmacy, Chemistry
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•
•
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On average they discuss 100 cases over 5 days
Primary and secondary reader for each case
Most cases are straightforward
They can only talk about what is in your paperwork
– Paper must speak to reviewers in multiple disciplines
• I have not sat in on one of these meetings
personally
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
What is the Success Rate?
• At UIC the success rate is about 80% if you
succeed in your department
• What if I don't get tenure?
– Typically you get a 1 year contract for year 7
– Allows you to wrap up work and find a new job
• What if I get Tenure then want to leave?
– Usually you would ask for tenure to be part of
your offer, and you would probably get it
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
The Paperwork
• Very specific format for the paperwork - and they
may tell you what that exact format is
• Need to make it very easy on reader
– Number everything so its easy to count up grants and
papers, etc
– Use very consistent formatting
• Lots of data to keep track of - so its better to do it
as you go along
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
The Paperwork
• Impact - you should have a national reputation at
this point
• Continuity of Thought / Consistency / Common
Theme in your work
• Stress your Independence
• Put accomplishments in context
– What are the norms?
– What is the availability of funding in your discipline?
– Do certain courses always have lower evaluation
numbers?
• Confront problems in a straight forward way and
explain them
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
The Paperwork
• The key is this is being read by a wide variety of
professors
• Not just in your field, or even in your department,
or even in your college
• There are lots of things you need to be good at
• Strengths in some areas can compensate for
weakness in other areas
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
References
• At UIC the requirement is full professors at
research-1 universities, or the equivalent in foreign
countries. Other schools have different rules
• Need 6 to 8 of them
• Can give (non binding) list of inappropriate
referees
• You send out a vita (resume) and a couple select
papers to each
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
References
• References typically wont agree to be a reference
unless they will give you a positive review
• How do the references know about me?
– They meet you at conferences and workshops
– They meet you at grant review panels or retreats
– They read your papers
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
Grants
• At least 1 serious grant (> 250K) with you as PI
• An NSF CAREER grant is really really helpful
• Preferably more grant $ (> 150K per year)
• Average CS in ‘04 was 240K per person per year
• Need to get beyond grants with your PhD advisor
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
Teaching
• At UIC, student evaluations average 4/5
– 3.5/5 or lower will get noticed
• You don’t need to be a great teacher, just not a bad
teacher (assuming a research university)
• You should produce a few MS Thesis graduates
before you go up for tenure
• MS Project graduates are less helpful
• You need to show you can attract and manage
students and a research agenda
• If you can produce a PhD graduate that’s a bonus
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
Service
• Need to do enough to show you care (department
committees, faculty senate, honors college, etc)
• But not that you care so much that it disrupts your
research time
• It’s a good way to show you are reliable and a
team player
• Contribution to ‘diversity’ becoming more important
• Serving as reviewer or chair of major conferences
or journals helps
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
Papers
• Need to get beyond writing papers with your PhD
advisor
• Conference papers are better than journals
– Shows you are out there meeting people
– Only high-end conferences really count
• Should have a few journal papers too by years 4
and 5
• Only high end journals really count
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
Collaborators
• Typically there is a place in the paperwork to talk
about collaborative work
• Its good to have collaborators include letters in the
paperwork to define roles
• Need to show you have a specific piece of the
work and responsibilities that you carried out
• Collaborating with known people looks good
• Collaborating with people in other fields makes it
easier to show how the work was divided up
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
How does the University Help You?
• Typically you discuss progress with your
department head or chair at the end of each year
• More serious review with you department chair or
head at the end of year 3
• You have a reduced teaching and committee load
for the first couple years to help you concentrate
on your research
• University has seminars on how to get tenure
• Even in low-money times there is usually money
for tenure based raises
• You can get a 1-year rollback for childbirth or
serious hospitalization issues
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
Importance of a Mentor
• Might be senior person in your area of research in
the department
• Might be your department chair or head
• You need someone to help you with grant writing,
department politics, and how to balance research
and teaching
• Typically your mentor will present your tenure case
to the department committee (unless your mentor
is your department chair or head)
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
What Can Go Wrong?
• Staying too close to your PhD advisor (or your Post
Doc advisor)
– This is ok for a year or two, but then you need be on
your own
– The Post Doc period is a really good time to transition
away from your PhD advisor’s work
• Not focusing your research
– Again, its ok for a year or two but then you have to stick
with something
• Not publicly showing, talking, writing about your
work
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
What Can Go Wrong?
• Departmental politics
– Your colleagues need to see you as a
responsible, reliable person
– And preferably someone they would like to have
lunch with
– You may run afoul of department cliques - your
mentor is very helpful here
– You may have the department chair or head
from hell - that’s a big problem
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
Why Talk About This Now?
• Good to know how to prioritize your time
• Good to know what to look for in a department that
hires you as an assistant professor
• You need to start thinking about connections to
potential references
• This affects thinking about joining an established
group or starting new one
– Established groups: ease your way into grants and
publishing but its harder to show independence
– Starting your own group: harder to get into grants and
publishing, but its easier to show independence
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
Commitment
• Like getting a PhD, getting tenure requires
commitment
• It has to be your priority
• If you focus on it early, and make steady progress,
it is less likely that you will feel the need to go to
the dark side later on to get it
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago
Questions?
Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago