The Future Professoriate FE 607 Introduction

1
The Future ProfessoriateFE 607Introduction
Jeff McDonnell Dept. Forest Engineering,
Resources and Mgmt. Oregon State University
2
Acknowledgements

• Don Siegel, Syracuse University
• Guru and brightest/funniest guy I know.
• Check out his cookbook

3
Why this class

• Know this reality now and start on a path that
  will ensure success
• To demystify academia and show what motivates
  people in different positions in the university
• Like making sausage..

4
It works like this
Everyone involved has their own evil master
plan..knowing this a priori helps enormously
5
Why this class?

• The university is a highly political place
• Old joke
• Why is competition so severe because the stakes
  are so low!
• The brightest people often arent the ones who
  get farthest ahead
• Its a game and there are some rules
• Theres also networking, schmoozing and other
  sordid details (that well discuss)
• This class will explore the written (and largely
  unwritten) rules of the game

6
This course

• Four meetings
• How to get an academic job
• How to get tenure
• How to publish
• How to get grants
• Readings
• Chronicle of Higher Education reprints
• Books on the subject
• Discussions
• Informal, Open and candid, Honest (brutally),
  Personal
• Think of it as group therapy!

7
Why these topics?

• When I give talks at universitiesthese are
  always the topic of discussion over beer!
• My experiences and the experiences of my PhD
  students and post docs have shown these to be NB
• When I do editing work for journalsseems that
  same issues appear over and over
• My recent Committee of Visitor review of
  NSFseems that some inside knowledge could help
• My P T committee work has shown that there are
  some simple things people should know (that no
  one in administration will ever tell you)

8
How to get an academic jobOctober 16

• PhD as a launching pad
• Things that can be done while still a student to
  separate you from the 100 other applicants
• Why Post Docs are so helpful
• A time to crank and become a idea generator
• An apprenticeship in academia (without
  distractions)
• The letter, CV (and teaching statement)
• How search committees operate
• The academic interview
• A personality contest
• The seminar not an AGU talk!
• What are the people who interview you looking
  for?
• Negotiating the job
• Salary, start-up, teaching, lab space, student
  support, summer salary
• Who has the money and power to make decisions?

9
How to get tenureOctober 30

• The plight of an untenured Assistant Professor
• You are now running a small business
• What your Dean and VP for Research want
• What your Dept. Head wants
• Whats best for YOU
• You as an hydrological Olympic athlete
• How much time to spend working out, er writing
  grants?
• Managing the madness
• How to say no gracefully
• Approaches to MS vs PhD students vs Post Docs
• Committees Something that can suck the life (and
  time) out of you
• What extracurricular work should you do (and not
  do)
• Tenure is essentially about your national
  reputation after 6 years
• The PT dossier and making a case that is
  undeniable

10
How to publishNovember 13

• Writing a paper
• The top-down approach
• Story boards, idea brand identity and structural
  formula focused on status quo, whats wrong with
  status quo and how you go beyond it
• What journals?
• Reviewing
• Why it is SO useful, how many should you review,
  ?
• As a pathway to becoming an Associate editor
• How journals work
• What motivates editors, what aggravates reviewers
• Its a numbers game
• ISI, H-Index, and all the other indices

11
How to win grantsNovember 20

• An inside look at NSF
• Hallmarks of a winning NSF proposal (completely
  different writing to a journal article)
• How the review process works
• The Panel
• Interacting with the Program Director
• Why visiting NSF in person early on is SO
  important
• Other Federal agencies
• USDA, NASA, USGS, DOE
• State and local agencies
• The good, the bad and the ugly
• What is good money and what is bad money
• For your time, your reputation, your program
• Grants as stock portfolios diversity key
• How to leverage your grant success at the
  university
• Know how this pays bills

12
Short articles in the Chronicle of Higher
Education (2008)
13
Also Read

• Kennedy, D. (1997). Academic Duty. Harvard
  University Press, 310p.
• To teach
• To mentor
• To serve
• To discover
• To publish
• To tell the truth
• To reach beyond the walls
• To change
• Other good books
• Moo, Jane Smiley
• An untenured professor, John Kenneth Galbraith
• Countless others..

14
What youll begin to appreciate

• Time management is everything
• Demonstrated enthusiasm helps overcome other
  shortcomings
• People skills help enormously
• Being comfortable speaking extemporaneously
• Being a professor is being
• An idea generator and writer
• A small business owner and company manager
• Success is easier if you go narrow

15
Introductions

• You
• Your field of study (department)
• Your career stage (new/old PhD student, post doc,
  Assistant Prof.)
• What you would like me to cover beyond that
  already discussed?