Taking Charge of your Career

Andrea Danyluk

Professor of Computer Science

Williams College

Carol ShilepskyProfessor of Mathematics

and Computer ScienceWells College

Guiding Questions

• Who are you?

• Where are you?

• What do you want to be?

• What are you willing to do in order to be what you want to be?

Who am I?

• 1990-1994 NYNEX S&T• 1994- Williams College

– Department Chair– Chair of Committee on Educational Policy– Chair of Faculty Steering Committee– Committee on Appointments and Promotions

Where are you?

• Working toward goals happens in context

• Watch and listen– Read your environment to learn what you

need to do to achieve your goals– Hear what others are trying to

communicate to you

Probably obvious…

What you can learn

For promotion to full professor:

• External letters of support needed?

• Relative value of research in CS vs CS education?

• Importance of leadership ability?

• Sustained excellence in teaching?

What do you want to be?

• Administrator?– What kind?

• Researcher?– In industry?– At a more research-oriented institution?

The administrative track

• Pursue committee assignments related to your area of interest– Will help you decide whether you’re really

interested– Will support your claim of interest– Will put you in touch with those currently holding

those positions

• Demonstrate that you’re organized• Let someone know you’re interested in

administrative opportunities

Example 1:Dean of Students

• Committees– Academic Standing, Undergraduate Life,

Honor and Discipline…

• Demonstrate interest in student activities and concerns

2: Dean of Faculty

• Committees– Educational Policy, Faculty Steering,

Appointments and Promotions

• Show leadership in your department

3: Provost

• Committees– Appointments and Promotions, Priorities

and Resources

• More generally:– What does X do? – What are her/his areas of responsibility?

The CS education track

Do you want to be a Dean of CS Education?

• CS Ed. Publications

• New curricular initiatives

• Textbook publication

• Presentations at SIGCSE

• Service to the CS Ed. community

The research track

• Establish collaborations with researchers at other institutions– Will keep you “on your toes”– Can provide you with access to good minds, good

resources, etc.

• Grants– Volunteer for review panels

• Be willing to travel– Make the most of sabbaticals, summers,

conference opportunities

Volunteerism

• Provides opportunities to meet people– Name recognition– People to go to for advice

• Offers a glimpse of the workings of a school/organization/conference…

• But be careful: can be too much of a good thing

What are you willing to do…

… to be what you want to be?

• Delayed gratification– How much are you willing to give up and

for how long?

• Have to pay your dues

• Is there something that makes you happy on your way to your goal?

“yes” or “no”

• It’s ok to say “no”– No one will hate you; they might even respect you

more– Many (most?) opportunities will present

themselves again

• How to decide?– Will this opportunity arise again?– Might I regret my decision?

The move to X and back* again

• X = Administration– Students can be scary– Relationships with colleagues and/or students may

have changed

• X = Industry– Potentially invigorating in the short term– Potentially impossible in the long term

* to teaching

Pick a goal

• Even seemingly spontaneous opportunities probably aren’t so spontaneous

• Your history/experience will affect the opportunities that become available to you

• Will help inform your decisions when opportunities present themselves

• Remember that your career goals and your personal goals need to coexist

But avoid putting on blinders

• Be open to some opportunities that are off your track

• Mixing things up is interesting

• There are many good ways to live a life

• Goals are a guide -- not an absolute

Carol ShilepskyProfessor of Mathematics

and Computer ScienceWells College

Brief Bio

• 1965: BA in Mathematics, Connecticut College for Women• 1971: Ph.D. in Mathematics, University of Wisconsin, Madison• 1974: Assistant Professor at Wells College shared with husband

Sandy• 1978: Assistant Professor • 1981: Associate Professor• 1989: Professor• Various visiting appointments at Cornell, including NSF VPW

Who am I• One of the first wave of women "allowed" into math

• Heritage:

• Milepost decisions– Post Ph.D: continue mathematics research?– Later: stay with math or move to CS?– Even later: how much administration?

(photo credit http:/en.wikepedia.org/wiki/Norbert _Wiener)

Where am I: Wells College

• Liberal arts, ~600 students, single-sex until 2005, Aurora,NY

• Criteria for promotion– Excellence in teaching– Excellence in research or community service– Satisfactory in the other

• The facts of life, first year at Wells– Invited to speak at the AMS national meeting ($300 towards

expenses)– Invited to speak at an international meeting in Finland (declined)– Received desk copy of Hillier and Lieberman's Operations

Research

Consequences• Collaboration with Cornell School of OR and IE (1978-82)

– Work with Jack Muckstadt and Dave Heath in Inventory Theory, primarily for USAF

– NSF Visiting Professorship for Women 1990-91

• Consulting for Digicomp Research, Ithaca, NY (1982-present)– Stumbled into it because they needed a mathematician to analyze

program verification environments (thanks to Anil Nerode)

– Software I helped build is on helicopters in Iraq

– Systems I helped build monitor airspace at a number of AF bases

– Safety analysis I directed helps ensure a cruise missile targeted for Baghdad doesn't hit Tel Aviv

• Developing Computer Science at Wells (1982-present)– Resources: experience at Digicomp, Cornell colloquia and classes,

Wells' willingness to let me develop courses

Administration

• Wells model: shared governance per a strong Faculty Manual• Junior faculty involved in major committees• Implications: a lot of work, a lot of responsibility• Along the way

– Presidential Search Committee third year at Wells

– All major committees

– Advisory Committee often

– Currently Chair of Mathematical and Physical Sciences

• Good preparation if one wants to move to administration• Can distract from teaching and research• Corporate administration (Digicomp Research)

– Proposal writing and administration

– Personnel management

– Currently on Board of Directors

How To Reconcile Who and Where

• Institutional goals usually take precedence over individuals

• The least successful/happy new faculty don't get it– Great teaching at Cornell is not enough– Great research at Wells is not enough

• Evolution works better than revolution– I wasn't going to get enough travel $$ or time to remain a

research mathematician – I could find opportunities that fit better with Wells

• A career is a long time• There are more opportunities than you have time for• Tenure is a nice base

Discussion• Where and who are you?• Where do you want to be?• What choices do you need to make now for benefits

later?• What opportunities do you have?• What obstacles?• Who can help?