Preparing Pre-Tenure Materials

John HolcombCleveland State University

Mathfest 2010

CaveatSome of the advice in this presentation may

not be appropriate for your institution or circumstances

You MUST learn the expectations and procedures for your institution

Please cultivate mentors and discuss procedures with your chair

Youngstown State University1995-2000

Masters granting comprehensive state university

Open enrollmentHigh Teaching load (12-15 hours per quarter)

I believed the expectation was 2 peer reviewed papers for tenure

Tenure dry run year before tenure review

Cleveland State UniversityComprehensive Masters-granting institution

Almost open enrollmentLow teaching load (8 hours per semester)

Higher research expectations4th and 5th year reviews prior to tenure year (reviewed by dept, chair, and college committee)

Documenting ScholarshipVery challenging for MathematiciansPitch mathematics to multiple audiences:

department, college cmte, dean (less may be more)

A paragraph or section on each paper/project/collaboration

Find a quote somewhere in the Notices (I think) about how impact factors and citation indexes in mathematics are not necessarily helpful.

Number your papers on your vita and reference them by number in your narrative

Documenting ScholarshipGet the AMS Notices Article

January 2005 "Patterns of Research in Mathematics" by Jerrold Grossman. 

43% of mathematicians have only published a single paper

15% for 2 papers, 8% for 3, 5% for 4, and 4% for 5 papers, and 10% for 6-10 papers and 7% for 11-20 and 6% for 21-50 and 2 % for 51-100

Publishing

1 Pa

per

2 Pa

pers

3 Pa

pers

4 Pa

pers

5 Pa

pers

6-10

Pap

ers

11-2

0 Pa

pers

21-5

0 Pa

pers

05

101520253035404550

Percent

Documenting ScholarshipCo-authorship

Take the pulse of your department and college

You have to explain your contribution

Solicit letters from co-author or lead author that testifies to your contribution to include in Appendix

Documenting TeachingStudent Evaluation Data

Necessary evil that administrators seem to loveIf it is a Likert Scale, give the percentages for

each category and then collapseMake a bar graph for the percentage in each

categoryIf classes are small, describe the impact of

single studentsIf the scores began lower and improved, make

that clearGet data for department/college normsExplain the steps you have taken to address

the issue

Documenting TeachingDo a Master Teaching Swap

Visit a colleagues class and interview the students for 10 minutes

Tell them you will share their concerns after final grades are posted with no attribution to specific students

Have the colleague do the same thing for your class

Think deeply about the questions the colleague should ask

Documenting TeachingMake scholarly in some way major course

overhaulsArticles, presentations, etc.Give workshops or colloquiums on curriculum

enhancementsGet letters of support from others who have

used your innovationsLearn if you need to include every course

syllabus or simply ones that are a result of redesigning on your part

Documenting TeachingDocument Teaching Effectiveness

Clearly articulate the “threshold of understanding” and describe how you evaluated success or failure

Show success rate in class (especially upper level courses)

Describe the process Colleagues reviewed materials and get it in writing

Caveat: This is more rare and I have yet to see it done

Documenting ServiceChoose fewer committees/projects, but have

more of an impactDocument the impactRealize that Service may make or break your

tenure

General ThoughtsDo not leave this for the last minuteIt is up to you to make the caseHave others read itFind out what is expected in terms of

documentationAsk a lot of people the same questionsSize does NOT matterIt is like a grant in that it is never quite

done

Final ThoughtOrganization, Organization,

Organization!