Academic Administration Friend AND Foe

1
Academic Administration Friend AND Foe

• Sidney H. Golub, Ph.D.
• Executive Director

Federation of American Societies for
Experimental Biology (FASEB)
2
Relevant Experiences

• Graduate Student
• Postdoctoral Fellow
• Assistant Professor (depts. of Microbiology
• and Surgery)
• Associate Professor
• Associate Professor with tenure
• Professor
• Associate Dean of Medicine, Academic Affairs
• Interim Dean of Medicine

• Executive Vice-Chancellor (Provost), Chief
  academic officer of research university campus
• Scientific society executive Science policy and
  government relations
• Have not been
• Department Chair
• Campus CEO
• In industry or private research foundation

3
What Does Your University Administration Want
From You?

• Research Productivity
• Impact
• Prestige
• Recruitment of better faculty and students
• Happy patients, alumni and donors
• Indirect cost recovery

4
What Does Your University Administration Want
From You?

•         Quality clinical care
• Competitive advantage
• Income
•         Teaching
•         Service
•         Absence of controversy

5
Things Your Administration Can Do FOR You

• Space and renovation
• (start up, bridge funds, student stipends, seed
  
• money)
• Access to students
• Protected time to do research
• Connections (mentor, collaborators, shared
  resources)
• Access to funding (donors, foundations, industry)
• Life style issues (housing, child care, leave,
  spousal employment)

6
Things Your Administration Can Do TO You

• Consume time
• Excessive clinical responsibilities
• Too many committees
• Teaching overload
• Outreach, community service
• Fund-raising

7
More Things Your Administration Can Do TO You

• Insufficient support
• Space
• Personal
• Stack the tenure deck

8
General Dos and Donts
DO
DONT

• Get a good mentor
• Understand the promotion process
• Be a good institutional citizen
• Teach effectively
• Provide quality clinical care
• Have a life

• Swim alone with sharks
• Guess at how you will be evaluated
• Do too much committee work
• Teach too much
• Do too much patient care
• Make those who love you miserable

9
Research Dos and Donts
DO
DONT

• Collaborate with others
• Get research funding
• Obtain peer reviewed funds
• Publish
• Publish in quality journals

• Lose independence
• Choose projects you cannot afford
• Do projects you cannot publish
• Keep good results secret
• Clog the literature with junk

10
Excuses That NEVER Work

• My famous colleague/department Chair/Dean/mentor
  does not like me
• I had to see too many patients
• I was busy making money for the University
• No one understands my research

11
More Excuses That NEVER Work

• I was unable to get the grants to do the work
• I got caught up in departmental politics
• I taught an especially heavy load
• I was too busy

12
SUMMARY

• To be effective and successful,
•  
• do a few things very well.
•  
• MANAGE YOUR TIME WISELY