September 16, 2005
Faculty Role at ASU Math Department
Prepared by
The second PFMF meeting of the year was dedicated to a round table discussion with Dieter Armbruster, the chair of the Department of Mathematics at ASU, and Steve Baer, a member of the Personnel Committee, to learn about the faculty role here at ASU.
Dr. Armbruster began the discussion by detailing the 40-40-20 breakdown of a faculty member's responsibility to the department. That is, 40% of the required work a person must do is dedicated to a teaching role. Typically this is broken down into a total teaching load of 4 courses, two courses per semester. Teaching roles also encompass guiding both graduate and undergraduate students in research as well as running a seminar and other activities geared toward the dissemination of knowledge to the students and faculty. Next, they require about 40% of your time being dedicated to your individual research. The two key measurements for success in this area are papers and grant money. Furthermore, the last 20% is made up by a committee work. This area includes service to the profession by organizing conferences, outreach to community as well as working to support administrative functions within the department.
Also, in the process of answering many different questions, we were encouraged to document all work that we do in order to help expedite the “review” process. If we document all our work, it makes it easier to document our progress down the tenure track.
Finally, the meeting finished up with a thorough discussion of the tenure process starting first within the department and working all the way up to the president's decision. The key point to remember is to have recommendation letters from sources that are known to be useful and objective. Also, it is important to have recommendations from colleagues in your field of interest, and letters should come from comparable universities to yours.
Overall, the session was very informative and shed some light onto the behind the scenes operations of a faculty member's role within a University.