Building Your Career in Academia

John HolcombCleveland State University

MATHFEST 2010

For those of you motivated in positive ways …

For those motivated in negative ways …

DO NOT BE A VICTIM!

Just one more slogan …

Ignorance of the law is no excuse

Scholarship

• PUBLISH YOUR DISSERTATION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!

• Find out how many papers you need• Publishing– Keep a research diary/log– Revise/Resubmit as soon as possible– The journal review clock is not in your favor

Scholarship

• Attend themed conferences (with your own money if necessary)

• Beg anyone and everyone for ideas on “doable” problems

• Collaborate wisely• Spend a summer with a collaborator• Retrain (cautiously) if necessary

Making time

• Find a system that works for you– Block large chunks of time with caution– Use smaller chunks of time– Realize you will have to be flexible– Try to stay engaged

Teaching

• Criteria at CSU “fully-competent teacher”• Student evaluations matter– If scores are low find out why and address early– Master Teacher Swap– Get data on department norms

• Seek Assistance

Teaching

• If peer review is required – make sure it happens– Do not be defensive– Ask for constructive help, especially if there are

issues• Document effectiveness– Get in writing from colleagues that exams/syllabus

are exemplary/reasonable and then document success rates

– May be easier to do in upper level courses

Teaching

• Revise/Revamp courses cautiously• Do not assign too much homework• Consider on-line homework (MyMathLab,

WebWorks, etc.) for lower level courses• Use answer keys shamelessly• Educate students about how to use the

textbook

Undergraduate Research

• Can be used as a measure of teaching effectiveness

• Lots of pros and cons

Service

• You have to do some …– Try to have a major impact on one or more

committees– Be aware of the “single body” problem– It can be the issue that tips a scale (positively or

negatively)– Get letters from colleagues as projects wrap up

General Advice

• Remember they want to tenure you• Develop and use mentors• Ask a bunch of people (from around the

institution) the same questions• Realize there is selection bias among the

tenured faculty• Evaluate where you are every 6 months• Do not let the “perfect” be the enemy of the

“good”

Consider Moving

• You are probably at your most marketable at 3-4 years post dissertation

• Let go of the idea of the perfect job in the perfect location

Tenure is not the goal, a long and rewarding career is the goal!

My Experience

• 1995-2000 Youngstown State University– Masters granting comprehensive state university– Almost open enrollment– High Teaching load (12-15 hours per quarter)– Expectation of 2 peer reviewed papers for tenure

My Experience

• 2000-present Cleveland State University– Comprehensive Masters-granting institution– Open enrollment– Low Teaching load (8 hours per semester)– Higher research expectations

Specific Experiences

• Quality of Journals– Both institutions require peer-reviewed journals– Knowledge within mathematics that impact

factors and citation indexes are not necessarily helpful

– Acceptance rates are desired

Specific Experiences

• Get the AMS Notices Article – January 2005 issues of the Notices "Patterns of

Research in Mathematics" by Jerrold Grossman. – 43% of mathematicians have only published a

single paper – 15% for 2 papers, 8% for 3, 5% for 4, and 4% for 5

papers, and 10% for 6-10 papers and 7% for 11-20 and 6% for 21-50 and 2 % for 51-100

Publishing

1 Paper 2 Papers 3 Papers 4 Papers 5 Papers 6-10 Papers

11-20 Papers

21-50 Papers

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Percent

My Experiences

• Grants– Funded grants have always counted as a paper or

more– Credit for trying as well

• Expository writing fine as long as peer-reviewed

• Textbooks “count,” but that is not a path I recommend for the untenured

My Experiences

• Software development– Could “count” if usage or impact is documented– Writing a paper about it earns a “double”