Louis A. MartinVega, Ph.D.,P.E.

1
Faculty Recruitment and Retention Insights
and Perspectives

• Louis A. Martin-Vega, Ph.D.,P.E.
• Dean, College of Engineering
• University of South Florida
• Tampa, Florida
• CIEADH Meeting
• May 17, 2005
• Atlanta, Georgia

2
Overview

• Mentoring A Case Study
• Recruitment
• Retention
• Diversity
• Final Comments

3
Faculty Mentoring A Case Study
4
Mentoring A Case Study

• 2003 Presidential Awards for Excellence in
  Science, Math and Engineering Mentoring
• -Dr. Rudy Henning
• YES-WE-CARE Program
• -Over 20 yrs, more than 2,000 students
• Rudy is 80 years young
• -Started program at age 60
• At our first meeting three years ago, he said,
• -I need to share with you my 10 year plan !!

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What do you want to achieve over the next ten
years ?

• 1 answer
• -Tenure
• 2 answer
• -Peer Recognition
• 3 answer
• -Tenure
• 4 answer
• -Well published/Well
  funded/Outstanding Teacher
• 5 answer
• -Tenure

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A Better Faculty Benchmark

• The NSF CAREER program supports
• Those who are most likely to become the academic
  leaders of the 21st century
• Those who have the most creative
  career-development plans
• Those who effectively integrate research and
  education within the context of the mission of
  their organization
• Those who show how they will build a lifetime of
  integrated contributions to research and education

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Expectations

• Leadership
• Creativity
• Effective Integration
• Lifetime Commitment

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Expectations

• That leadership extend to and include
• -significant social, political and economic
  impact at regional,national and international
  levels
• That creativity will result in
• -new research fields and produce seminal work
• That integration will bring together
• -research and education in a seamless fashion
• -the many opportunities that exist today for
  university/industry partnering and commercial
  success
• That an academic career is considered as a unique
  opportunity to
• -motivate others to follow in your path and go
  beyond your accomplishments and expectations

9
How Fair are these Expectations ?

• Not all publications are accepted
• Not all proposals are funded
• Not all students are motivated
• The bar keeps rising
• However
• -Recruitment of new faculty is a big investment !!

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What is your Plan ?

• Do you have a plan?
• What are your goals/objectives?
• Its good to have good/great mentors- however
• The Bottom line
• -Achieving success is your responsibility

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Some Hints

• Understand the academic environment you are in
  and how it is changing
• -Teaching intensive-----------Research
  intensive
• -Single discipline-------------Multidisciplinary
  
• -Department oriented---------Matrix oriented
• Understand the world outside academia and how and
  where new investments are being made
• Develop and execute your plan aggressively and
  with confidence
• Dont be afraid to lead with your heart
• Look beyond the tenure horizon----think CAREER

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Is it Worth It ?

• Being in academia is a privilege
• Independent, flexible life style.priceless !!
  
• Never have to question the value of what you do
  and its impact on society
• -You are a member of a select group
• You are a leader from day one
• In case of doubt.
• Just ask Rudy !!!
• henning_at_eng.usf.edu

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Recruitment
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Faculty Recruitment

• The most important thing that you will do as a
  chair
• Major impact on the culture and future direction
  of your department
• A shared privilege
• Therefore, it is important to ask
• - Why are you recruiting ?

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One Deans Perspective

• To assure that your department is not
  underinvested in new or emerging areas of
  research and educational opportunities nor
  overinvested in the old
• Excellent opportunity to re-examine goals and
  objectives of your departmentwhere it is and
  where it should be going
• Opportunity to better align with
  College/University mission
• Opportunity to take department to next level
• Opportunity to examine the diversity of your
  faculty
• Note of cautionToo much recruiting at one
  timemay not be a good thing

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Signature Thrust Areas
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The Search

• Once the GOAL of the search is clear, then the
  focus is on the process
• There are few activities in which we engage
  that have more powerful public impact than
  searches
• Every search committee.leaves in its
  wake..literally hundreds of candidates whose
  impression of us will be based largely on the
  courtesy, timeliness, and professionalism of
  our communications
• Furthermore, the way searches are conducted speak
  volumes about our individual and institutional
  values
• - E. Gordon Gee---- President, Vanderbilt
  University

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The Search

• Selecting and Mentoring the search committee is
  the responsibility of the Chair
• You want to select members with different
  perspectives and expertise who understand the
  goal of the search and have a commitment to
  diversity
• You want to provide mentoring on How and Where
  to Search (i.e., advertising strategies) as well
  as Best Practices for interviewing and other
  search functions
• You want the committee to maximize the quality of
  potential hires by attracting a broad and diverse
  pool of qualified applicants..i.e., be a
  Search and not just Selection committee

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Faculty Recruitment Toolkit

• Contents
• Faculty Hiring Policies and Procedures
• General Search Tips
• Resources for Diversity
• Language for Ads Announcements
• Benefits and Resources for New Hires
• Source University of Washington, Seattle WA,
  December 30, 2003,
• http//www.washington.edu/admin/eoo/forms/ftk_01.h
  tml

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Making the Hire

• Joint responsibility of the Chair and the Dean
• The dynamics of hiring are more complex every
  day and related to higher expectations
• Ex Start-up considerations, spousal
  considerations, location,
• Let candidate know that you are making a
  recommendation to hire.final offer to come from
  Dean
• Its not overtill its over.

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Retention
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• Why do Faculty leave?
• Salary
• Career Advancement
• Working Conditions
• Intellectual or collegial climate
• Family relocation
• Source USF Survey
• -

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Faculty Retention Toolkit

• Best Practices---Key Areas
• Mentoring
• Monitoring the Health and Welfare of Departments
• Transparency in Operations including Fair and
  Open Promotion and Tenure Guidelines
• Creating a Welcoming Department Culture
• Valuing Diversity in the Department
• Source University of Washington ADVANCE Center
  for Institutional Change, Seattle WA, Summer
  2003

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Faculty Retention Toolkit

• Best Practices---Key Areas
• Supporting Career Development of Pre-tenure
  Faculty
• Encouraging Mid-career Development
• Faculty Development Programs, Benefits and
  Resources
• Flexible and Accommodating Policies and Practices
• Source University of Washington ADVANCE Center
  for Institutional Change, Seattle WA, Summer 2003

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Mentoring

• Invest yourself in the professional and personal
  development of your faculty
• Make your faculty aware that you want them to
  succeed and that your job is to facilitate their
  success
• Make expectations as clear and transparent as
  possible
• Dont delegate the mentoring of your facultyat
  least not completely
• Be especially and personally involved in the
  monitoring, advising and nurturing of your
  junior faculty
• Dont compete with your faculty

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Faculty Diversity
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Faculty Diversity A Comparison1971, 2001
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Student Diversity A Comparison1971, 2001
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Current Distribution of Faculty at US Colleges
and Universities

• 90 of full professors in science and
  engineering are male
• 75 of full professors at research universities
  are male
• 64 of full-time faculty members in US are male
• Only 5 of the full professors in US are
  African-American, Hispanic, or Native American
• The gap between the of tenured men and the
  of tenured women has not changed in 30 years
• Trower, Cathy A. and Richard P.Chait, Faculty
  Diversity Too little for too long Harvard
  Magazine, March-April 2002

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A Diverse Faculty

• Diversity is not just a good idea. It is
  evidence that we are fair in our thinking and
  just in our practices
• Twenty years ago, a lack of diversity within a
  university faculty was a consequence of unequal
  opportunity in American society
• Today, a lack of diversity within a university
  faculty suggests unequal opportunity in that
  university.
• Source The Recruitment and Retention of a
  Diverse Faculty, University of
  Arizona, August, 2002

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Women in the Academy

• Not a pipeline problem
• In 2000, women earned 56 of bachelors, 57 of
  masters and 44 of PhDs awarded nationwide
• The problem is retention
• Women are still more likely than men to hold
  lower academic ranks
• Women have not reached parity with men in terms
  of tenure
• At all ranksacross disciplines and institutional
  typesfemale faculty members earn lower salaries
  than men do.
• Trower, Cathy A. and Richard P.Chait, Faculty
  Diversity Too little for too long Harvard
  Magazine, March-April 2002

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Minorities in the Academy

• A more stubborn supply-side problem
• Rice University is the 1 producer of women and
  minority PhDs in Math Sciences in the country
• Since 1998 they have produced 23 PhDs
• 12 have been women
• 8 underrepresented minorities
• Of these 4 are African-American, 4 are
  Mexican-American
• Are we looking in the right places ?
• How attractive is our academic culture ?

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Some Observations

• Let women/minority faculty know that they can say
  NO and that you will support them
• Committees.Service Activities
• Understand the Catch 22 that many of these
  faculty find themselves in
• The mindset needs to change from diversity being
  a moral imperative.to being an educational and
  research imperative
• Everyone needs an existence proofhaving to
  become something you have never seen is really
  tough !
• National Science Board Workshop on Broadening
  Participation in Science and Engineering Research
  and Education

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Final Comments

• Recruiting and Retaining Faculty
• -Your most important task
• -Where you will make your biggest impact as a
  chair
• Changing your departments culture with respect
  to recruitment and retention is not easy
• Requirements
• -Being very honest about goals and expectations
• -Creating constructive dialogue about things that
  are hard to talk about
• -Involving everyone in the process

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A Closing Thought

• Let us think of education as a means of
  developing our greatest abilities
• because in EACH of us
• there is a private hope and dream, which,
  fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for
  everyone and greater strength to the nation
• - John F. Kennedy