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”
