Negotiating Your First Academic Position: A Primer for Success

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Negotiating Your First Academic Position A
Primer for Success

• Kofi Lomotey
• Executive Vice President Provost
• Fisk University, Nashville, TN

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Overview

• Introduction
• Overview of workshop
• My academic experiences
• Steps in the Negotiations
• Determining what you want to do having a plan
• Searching for a position

• The interview Preparation follow through
• Responding to the offer(s)
• The First Five Years of the Professorate
• Writing and publishing
• Achieving tenure
• Conclusion
• Summary
• Questions answers

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15 Year Plan(Outlined in 1988 after I accepted
my first full time faculty position)
Goal Projected Actual Accuracy
Tenure 1991-92 1990-91 1 yr. early
Chair 1994-95 1992-93 2 yrs. early
Dean 1997-98 NEVER! Totally inaccurate
Provost 2000-01 1997-98 3 yrs. early
President 2003-04 2001-02 2 yrs. early
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Careers in Academia

• Types of Institutions
• Small vs. Large
• PWI vs. HBCU
• Teaching vs. Research

• Academic Ranks
• Instructor/Lecturer
• Assistant Professor
• Associate Professor
• Full Professor
• Distinguished Professor
• Professor Emeritus

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Academic Interview TipsBefore the Interview

• Know the search committee
• Know the faculty
• Know the college and the institution
• Prepare an icebreaker
• Know the courses that are taught
• Be prepared with your own questions
• Know authors who are important to you
• Be prepared to summarize your publications
• Ask to meet with students, if that is not planned
• Ask to meet with relevant special interest
  groups, if that is not planned

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Academic Interview TipsDuring the Interview

• Give complete answers
• Be confident
• Do not negotiate
• Emphasize your philosophy
• Focus on your theoretical strengths
• Maintain eye contact

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Negotiation Issues Notes

• The nature of your negotiations will depend on
  level of appointment, e.g., assistant, associate,
  or full professor or administrative.
• Negotiate for all that you can before accepting a
  job it is often extremely difficult after
  acceptance.
• Some items may be inappropriate determine
  whether it is important to you if so, make the
  request.
• Salary is important, but sometimes negotiated
  perks can offset a lower than desired salary.

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When Negotiating A Salary . . .

• You must do research first.
• Find the average salary for your rank at the
  receiving institution and accept no less than
  that.
• In some instances you can negotiate for the
  maximum salary for that rank.
• Most institutions acknowledge that there is a
  separate salary scale for African-American
  faculty because there are significantly fewer of
  them available and every school wants one.

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When Negotiating Relocation Expenses

• It is fairly standard for universities to pay a
  percentage of a new faculty members moving
  costs get as much as you can!
• Percentage is usually relative to the rank of
  employment.
• If the institution claims that they are prevented
  from providing moving costs by institutional or
  state policy, ask for summer funding with no
  employment responsibilities or to be put on the
  payroll early.

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When Negotiating Other Items

• Computer equipment
• Rank
• Employment for spouse
• Parking
• Sabbatical

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The Art of Writing

• Previous writing experiences
• Writing and re-writing
• Peer review
• Clarity vs. clutter

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Types of Publications

• Books, articles and book chapters
• Other kinds of publications
• Book reviews
• Case studies
• Monographs
• Technical reports

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Publishing Articles

• Follow publishers instructions
• Find out the journal audience
• Dont get impatient
• One journal at a time
• Suggested strategy Find three and start at the
  top

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Publishing Books

• Authoring vs. editing
• Selecting a concept
• Prospectuses
• Royalties, etc.

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Types of Publications In Order of Relative
Importance

• Book
• Article in a more prestigious scholarly referred
  journal
• Article in a less prestigious scholarly referred
  journal
• Edited book
• Book chapter
• Article in a practitioner journal
• Article in a state journal
• Case studies/monographs and technical reports
• Book reviews

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Publication Issues Suggested Minimum for Tenure

• Option 1 5-8 articles and 1 book over the first
  five years
• Option 2 8-10 articles over the first five years

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Publication Issues Authorship(In Order of
Relative Importance)

• Single authored publications (or single-edited)
• Jointly authored (or edited) publication for
  which your name appears first
• Jointly authored (or edited) for which your name
  does not appear first

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Conclusions

• Summary
• Questions answers