so, you want a cushy job like mine?
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So, You Want a Cushy Job Like Mine?. William Tapprich University of Nebraska at Omaha. What is My Cushy Job?. Biology Faculty, UNO UNO, Recently reclassified as Doctoral/Research Primarily undergraduate Primarily a teaching institution Research is expected and valued - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
So, You Want a Cushy Job Like Mine?
William Tapprich
University of Nebraska at Omaha
What is My Cushy Job?
Biology Faculty, UNO UNO, Recently reclassified as Doctoral/Research
Primarily undergraduate Primarily a teaching institution Research is expected and valued Normally workload is 75% teaching, 25% research Can make balance closer to 50-50
Biology Department at UNOhttp://www.unomaha.edu/biology/
21 faculty, very diverse expertise Plant science - 5 Animal Science - 9 Cell/Molec/Micro – 7
6 undergraduate majors BA, BS, Biotechnology, Environmental Studies,
Bioinformatics, Neuroscience Master’s degree
MS – thesis and non-thesis degrees
Why Would You Want My Job?
You enjoy interacting with students You want to help students make the transition from school to
profession Mostly this means you enjoy teaching But you also want to mentor undergraduates in research projects
You enjoy research But you won’t get too frustrated when teaching takes most of your
time You want to strike a balance in your career
There are several tenure profiles and all include contributions in teaching, research and service
How Do You Get a Cushy Job Like Mine?
Successful candidates must have a solid record of research productivity, good post doc is a must
We expect new hires to hit the ground running We expect new hires to attract funding early on Some, but not much, difference between candidates
at UNO and candidates at Research I institutions Teaching experience is a must in the current
environment Address the position, know the department
Nuts and Bolts
We are on a 9 month academic appointment For the 9 months starting salaries in my department
are around 54K, bennies are good Summer salary can come from grants or teaching Start up packages are dismal compared to research
universities Close to dismal compared to peer institutions Generally 30-80K in cash depending on the year and the
perception of “crisis” in the budget
Nuts and Bolts-Teaching
Workload is based on 12 hours per semester We are expected to devote 9 hours to teaching For a lecture course one hour of lecture time is
equivalent to one hour of workload So a 9 hour load would be three 3 cr courses per semester
For a lab course three hours of lab time is equivalent to two hours of workload So a course that has 3 hours of lecture and 3 hours of lab
each week is 5 workload hours
Nuts and Bolts-Teaching
Some (but not many) choose to teach 12 hour loads after tenure decision
No tenure if no research A 9 hour load usually works out to 2-3 courses per
semester We have TA help for the laboratories, but we are
expected to be in the lab with the TA If the TA is completely responsible for the lab then you
cannot claim workload
Nuts and Bolts-Research
Very little justification is necessary to get 3 workload hours per semester for research (0.25 FTE) Approved by the Dean
More justification is needed for more Must be approved by the Vice Chancellor Usually must have grant support to defray cost of hiring someone
to cover a course (buy teaching)
First year faculty have reduced teaching load There is very little pressure to generate your salary in grant
support (but this is changing)
Nuts and Bolts-Research
It is difficult to get grants, but possible Life is much better with a grant
Can hire technical help Can get post docs Can pay graduate students
In the periods between grants, there is a little internal money
Graduate students are good, but only two years Major challenge is finishing a project (publicon)
Nuts and Bolts-Research
Instrumentation is good, but no core facilities Collaborations are usually from the outside
Research loneliness is an issue You stay involved at the bench You do substantial training of both graduate and
undergraduate students Makes it difficult to be a full time grant
administrator, therefore it is difficult to be a leader in the field
Nuts and Bolts-Service
Very poorly understood component of workload Incredible number of committees and
administrative activities No workload credit So every service activity detracts from teaching and
research Must do fair share, it is evaluated for tenure Must decide if service is important to you, if yes,
can use it for tenure
Can You be Happy in a Job Like Mine?
Could be, there are many advantages You have a great deal of independence
Within the workload system, you determine how much effort to devote to research, teaching and service
Must show “distinguished” rating in two of three to get tenure without a fight
Required to show “distinguished” rating in either teaching or research to get tenure
Gratification from seeing students succeed
What Things will Make You Unhappy?
There are plenty of frustrations Teaching is hard, if you don’t like it, don’t do it
Student motivation can be uneven
Institutional support for research is spotty Very few resources to develop infrastructure Few requests justified by research are granted
Few colleagues in your field to talk to on a day to day basis