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So, You Want a Cushy Job Like Mine?

So, You Want a Cushy Job Like Mine?. William Tapprich University of Nebraska at Omaha. What is My Cushy Job?. Biology Faculty, UNO UNO, Recently reclassified as Doctoral/Research Primarily undergraduate Primarily a teaching institution Research is expected and valued

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So, You Want a Cushy Job Like Mine?

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  1. So, You Want a Cushy Job Like Mine? William Tapprich University of Nebraska at Omaha

  2. What is My Cushy Job? • Biology Faculty, UNO • UNO, Recently reclassified as Doctoral/Research • Primarily undergraduate • Primarily a teaching institution • Research is expected and valued • Normally workload is 75% teaching, 25% research • Can make balance closer to 50-50

  3. Biology Department at UNOhttp://www.unomaha.edu/biology/ • 21 faculty, very diverse expertise • Plant science - 5 • Animal Science - 9 • Cell/Molec/Micro – 7 • 6 undergraduate majors • BA, BS, Biotechnology, Environmental Studies, Bioinformatics, Neuroscience • Master’s degree • MS – thesis and non-thesis degrees

  4. Why Would You Want My Job? • You enjoy interacting with students • You want to help students make the transition from school to profession • Mostly this means you enjoy teaching • But you also want to mentor undergraduates in research projects • You enjoy research • But you won’t get too frustrated when teaching takes most of your time • You want to strike a balance in your career • There are several tenure profiles and all include contributions in teaching, research and service

  5. How Do You Get a Cushy Job Like Mine? • Successful candidates must have a solid record of research productivity, good post doc is a must • We expect new hires to hit the ground running • We expect new hires to attract funding early on • Some, but not much, difference between candidates at UNO and candidates at Research I institutions • Teaching experience is a must in the current environment • Address the position, know the department

  6. Nuts and Bolts • We are on a 9 month academic appointment • For the 9 months starting salaries in my department are around 54K, bennies are good • Summer salary can come from grants or teaching • Start up packages are dismal compared to research universities • Close to dismal compared to peer institutions • Generally 30-80K in cash depending on the year and the perception of “crisis” in the budget

  7. Nuts and Bolts-Teaching • Workload is based on 12 hours per semester • We are expected to devote 9 hours to teaching • For a lecture course one hour of lecture time is equivalent to one hour of workload • So a 9 hour load would be three 3 cr courses per semester • For a lab course three hours of lab time is equivalent to two hours of workload • So a course that has 3 hours of lecture and 3 hours of lab each week is 5 workload hours

  8. Nuts and Bolts-Teaching • Some (but not many) choose to teach 12 hour loads after tenure decision • No tenure if no research • A 9 hour load usually works out to 2-3 courses per semester • We have TA help for the laboratories, but we are expected to be in the lab with the TA • If the TA is completely responsible for the lab then you cannot claim workload

  9. Nuts and Bolts-Research • Very little justification is necessary to get 3 workload hours per semester for research (0.25 FTE) • Approved by the Dean • More justification is needed for more • Must be approved by the Vice Chancellor • Usually must have grant support to defray cost of hiring someone to cover a course (buy teaching) • First year faculty have reduced teaching load • There is very little pressure to generate your salary in grant support (but this is changing)

  10. Nuts and Bolts-Research • It is difficult to get grants, but possible • Life is much better with a grant • Can hire technical help • Can get post docs • Can pay graduate students • In the periods between grants, there is a little internal money • Graduate students are good, but only two years • Major challenge is finishing a project (publicon)

  11. Nuts and Bolts-Research • Instrumentation is good, but no core facilities • Collaborations are usually from the outside • Research loneliness is an issue • You stay involved at the bench • You do substantial training of both graduate and undergraduate students • Makes it difficult to be a full time grant administrator, therefore it is difficult to be a leader in the field

  12. Nuts and Bolts-Service • Very poorly understood component of workload • Incredible number of committees and administrative activities • No workload credit • So every service activity detracts from teaching and research • Must do fair share, it is evaluated for tenure • Must decide if service is important to you, if yes, can use it for tenure

  13. Can You be Happy in a Job Like Mine? • Could be, there are many advantages • You have a great deal of independence • Within the workload system, you determine how much effort to devote to research, teaching and service • Must show “distinguished” rating in two of three to get tenure without a fight • Required to show “distinguished” rating in either teaching or research to get tenure • Gratification from seeing students succeed

  14. What Things will Make You Unhappy? • There are plenty of frustrations • Teaching is hard, if you don’t like it, don’t do it • Student motivation can be uneven • Institutional support for research is spotty • Very few resources to develop infrastructure • Few requests justified by research are granted • Few colleagues in your field to talk to on a day to day basis

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