Checking off your tenure

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Checking off your tenure to do list
Maureen Gannon, PhD Vanderbilt University Medical
Center Vice Chair for Faculty Development Associat
e Professor of Medicine, Molecular Physiology and
Biophysics, and Cell and Developmental Biology
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Tenure time?

• When should I aim to go up for tenure?
• What do I need to do to get ready?
• How do I know if Im ready?

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You must stand out in your field

• Known in the scientific community
• Body of work
• Networking
• Go to Meetings
• Interact with other labs

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What do you need to do as a faculty member?

• Publish
• Get funding
• Teach
• Communicate your science
• Service
• University
• Scientific community

Most important thing is to show consistency!
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Consistency of Funding

• show that there has been a consistent pattern of
  support for the candidate's research and
  scholarly efforts
• provide evidence and assurance that continuing
  and sustainable resources will be available to
  support the candidate's future scholarly efforts.

https//medschool.vanderbilt.edu/faculty/details-a
ppointments-and-promotionspromotion
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Tenure process
DOM Committee on Appointment and Promotions
School of Medicine Committee
School of Medicine Executive Faculty
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs
Chancellor
Board of Trust
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The tenure check list

• Chair recommendation
• External references (5)
• Teaching references
• CV in correct format
• Five reprints
• Critical references
• Documentation of teaching

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Chair recommendation letter

• Summary of academic career
• Consistency and importance of research theme
• Summarize over-riding research theme
• Summarize each individual project
• Summarize funding obtained for these projects
• Quality and originality of scientific work
• Significant publications
• Productivity
• Independence
• Evidence of contribution to education and
  teaching
• Awards

I would be very happy to look over your letter
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The tenure check list

• Chair recommendation
• External references (5)
• Teaching references
• CV in correct format
• Five reprints
• Critical references
• Documentation of teaching

?
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External references

• Give more names than they ask for
• Usuallyreferences must have the following
• Tenure at their institution
• Have not published with you in past five years
• Cannot be a current collaborator
• Do not be shy
• You may have to write the letter yourself

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Where do these references come from?

• Get known in the scientific community
• Body of work
• Networking
• Go to meetings (present a poster)
• Study section
• Meet with visiting speakers
• Interact with other labs
• Hit people up for seminar invitations!

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The tenure check list

• Chair recommendation
• External references (5)
• Teaching references
• CV in correct format
• Five reprints
• Critical references
• Documentation of teaching

?
?
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Teaching references

• Give more names than they ask for
• Teaching references can come from the following
• Medical students (classroom and clinic)
• Graduate students (in class)
• Current and former graduate students in your lab
• Current and former postdocs in your lab
• Thesis committees
• Faculty you have team taught with

https//medschool.vanderbilt.edu/faculty/details-a
ppointments-and-promotionspromotion
14
The tenure check list

• Chair recommendation
• External references (5)
• Teaching references
• CV in correct format
• Five reprints
• Critical references
• Documentation of teaching

?
?
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CV should include

• Education and training
• Professional/society memberships
• Intramural activities
• Department/university committees
• Seminar series organizer
• Training grant director
• Mentoring committees
• Extramural activities
• Editorial boards
• Grant review panels
• Peer review (list journals)
• Organizing local or national meetings
• Session chair at a conference
• Abstract review for conference

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CV should include

• Honors and awards
• Teaching
• In the clinic
• In the lab
• In the classroom
• Giving seminars or journal clubs on campus
• Thesis committees
• Course director

Do not just give a listsummarize changes you
made to the course if a course director. You
should list former and current trainees by name,
if they graduated, give date and where they are
now.
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CV should include

• Current and past funding
• list title, funding period and dollar amount
• Publications
• Primary research articles
• Reviews and book chapters
• Published abstracts
• Invited lectures (3-4 per year)

Yes, quality of publications is important, but so
is regularity and quantity. Dont sit on
thingsget them out! Average rule of thumb one
paper per grant per year minimum.
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The tenure check list

• Chair recommendation
• External references (5)
• Teaching references
• CV in correct format
• Five reprints
• Critical references
• Documentation of teaching

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Reprints
Try to pick publications without your former
mentor. Could be a review article if in a good
journal and/or is significant to the field
(demonstrates your expertise in an area).
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The tenure check list

• Chair recommendation
• External references (5)
• Teaching references
• CV in correct format
• Five reprints
• Critical references
• Documentation of teaching

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Critical References
Minimum of five references...can be same as
reprints. Medicine has a specific form for
this. Need to summarize each reference briefly
and your role on the project. Need to highlight
significance of this publication to the field
(new reagent now being shared with community,
challenged a prior dogma, new insight, new gene,
demonstrates your collaborative nature, etc.)
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The tenure check list

• Chair recommendation
• External references (5)
• Teaching references
• CV in correct format
• Five reprints
• Critical references
• Documentation of teaching

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Documentation of teaching
Medicine has a specific form that needs to be
filled out. Need to know course title and how
many student contact hours you had. Also need to
list names, status, inclusive dates for all
supervised research. A lot of this is redundant
with your CV.
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The tenure check list

• Chair recommendation
• External references (5)
• Teaching references
• CV in correct format
• Five reprints
• Critical references
• Documentation of teaching

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• Update your CV with accomplishments,
  responsibilities, and activities as they happen!
  Dont wait til you need to compile it for your
  tenure package!

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Questions?