Career Workshops for Teaching Track Faculty

Computing Research Association, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

The Computing Research Association (CRA) proposes a short series of workshops on professional development (PD) and departmental policies for Computer Science (CS) teaching faculty. CS departments nationwide are experiencing significant increases in undergraduate majors and undergraduate course enrollments, resulting in an increased reliance on teaching faculty positions. For many PhD producing departments, positions such as these with academic rank and an expectation of scholarship are new, and the departments are still defining their role and career path opportunities. At the same time, new PhDs, current teaching faculty, and individuals considering a career change seek information about such positions. The series of workshops will include a 1-day PD Workshop for current teaching faculty and 2 half-day Academic Landscape Workshops for graduating PhD students, post-docs and industry professionals considering an academic position. The PD Workshop will be held in conjunction with the SIGCSE 2020 Conference. The workshop will fill a crucial need as departments have limited experience on how to mentor, evaluate, and promote teaching faculty. The workshop will highlight ways to be successful in advancing one's career, build understanding of expectations and opportunities, and provide ways to connect teaching faculty with each other. The Academic Landscape Workshops are designed for those considering teaching faculty positions and will be held in conjunction with conferences attended by a diverse range of participants. The workshops will introduce participants to the different academic teaching faculty careers, increase awareness of the landscape of academic career options in PhD granting departments, and highlight exemplars of successful career paths. They will also discuss such topics as how to best prepare, how to interview, and how to negotiate offers for teaching faculty positions. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.