Mid-cycle review

[Vid]

Folks,

The Dean of our college has adopted a formative process of a three-year assessment of the progress of assistant professors.  This review is about discussing with the Dean, Associate Deans, Department Chair, and TPR Committee Chair to better understand the faculty member's activities and goals, and also address progress and deficiencies.

Has anyone here had a mid-cycle review before? If so, could you please share your experience? Also, can I discuss my needs with them? for example, I need a bigger lab since my current one is too small and there is not much room for 2 MS students.

The Dean, Chair, and TPR's letter look supper content with my progress! I was told that I need to prepare a summary I am not sure what the summary should look like, though. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[Mobius]

It is common. Instead of just meeting expectations based on performance during a year, it gets into who likely an assistant professor will be to be granted tenure. Some schools have a process to cut assistant professors loose and others just give the faculty members a head's up they need to improve.

Essentially, your summary should highlight the progress you've made toward tenure. Research, teaching, and service. I would ask your chair what is needed.

[Harlow2]

[quote author=Vid link=topic=3358.msg123725#msg123725 date=167735635

The Dean of our college has adopted a formative process of a three-year assessment of the progress of assistant professors.  This review is about discussing with the Dean, Associate Deans, Department Chair, and TPR Committee Chair to better understand the faculty member's activities and goals, and also address progress and deficiencies.

I was told that I need to prepare a summary I am not sure what the summary should look like, though. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

[/quote]

At our place the faculty center and provost office has clear outlines.  We are a union shop and the path to tenure is described in an MOA. Might also be worth looking to see if there is a faculty handbook with a description.

[Sun_Worshiper]

I did a third year review, as does everyone in my department/university. It was like a mini-tenure review. I turned in a packet* with research, teaching, and service statements, as well as my cv, teaching materials, and several papers/articles that showcased my research. Shortly thereafter, I received a letter from the chair saying that I was on track and suggesting a few areas to focus on before going up for tenure. I don't recall if there was a follow-up meeting as well, but if there had been then this would have been the time for me to raise concerns or ask for resources.

In theory, the department can let people go at the three year mark, although this is pretty unusual. The more likely negative scenario at this point would be a nudge for the assistant to hit the job market.

* The packet had to follow a specific format, which matched the format for the tenure packet.

[Ruralguy]

If the review is positive, then sure, ask for something. Just explain why you need it now. However, magically finding more space might be difficult.

[Vid]

Thank you, folks. as always your feedback is very helpful. Much appreciated.

RuralGuy: they have numerous offices that are vacant. The problem is my Dept Chair stopped the Associated Dean for Research to give me a lab! it happened around 1.5 years ago though, perhaps this time they may consider it.

Also, I am in the job market! I got a campus interview recently (did not work out--very competitive in my research area) but one of my colleagues (through a common friend at the interview univ) came to know about my campus interview and informed the chair and the college! Do you think it will affect their decision?! They seem to be upset as I brought a good amount of $$$$ and a reputation to the department. The Department Chair told me recently that we need to give you some teaching appointments (this was what I asked for before) and improve your situation! not sure if my job hunt made them rush or not:)

Thank you.

[research_prof]

Thank you, folks. as always your feedback is very helpful. Much appreciated.

RuralGuy: they have numerous offices that are vacant. The problem is my Dept Chair stopped the Associated Dean for Research to give me a lab! it happened around 1.5 years ago though, perhaps this time they may consider it.

Also, I am in the job market! I got a campus interview recently (did not work out--very competitive in my research area) but one of my colleagues (through a common friend at the interview univ) came to know about my campus interview and informed the chair and the college! Do you think it will affect their decision?! They seem to be upset as I brought a good amount of $$$$ and a reputation to the department. The Department Chair told me recently that we need to give you some teaching appointments (this was what I asked for before) and improve your situation! not sure if my job hunt made them rush or not:)

Thank you.

They can be as upset as they like. They should have done stuff to make you happy before you started applying. This should not affect their decision, but if it does, make sure you have everything documented, so that you can take appropriate actions.

Mid-cycle review is based on performance, not whether you are applying to other positions.

[Ruralguy]

Be careful of over-interpreting people's reactions to your applying out, especially if you really don't even know how much they were told or when.
So, the mid term review was  positive. I'd just take that fairly literally. I assume they enumerated what you did well to deserve this? If so, just take that at face value.

As for the lab thing, if you have a request, make it.

Just treat applying out and anything at your current school as two separate jobs. The more you intermix, the more you start getting paranoid and such, and its not worth it.

[mleok]

Thank you, folks. as always your feedback is very helpful. Much appreciated.

RuralGuy: they have numerous offices that are vacant. The problem is my Dept Chair stopped the Associated Dean for Research to give me a lab! it happened around 1.5 years ago though, perhaps this time they may consider it.

Also, I am in the job market! I got a campus interview recently (did not work out--very competitive in my research area) but one of my colleagues (through a common friend at the interview univ) came to know about my campus interview and informed the chair and the college! Do you think it will affect their decision?! They seem to be upset as I brought a good amount of $$$$ and a reputation to the department. The Department Chair told me recently that we need to give you some teaching appointments (this was what I asked for before) and improve your situation! not sure if my job hunt made them rush or not:)

Thank you.

I haven't kept up with the drama, but how does giving you a teaching appointment improve your situation?

[doc700]

I'm curious what type of lab space you need?  If you need fume hoods, high voltage etc regular office space may not be appropriate or might require significant renovation.  That could be very costly even if the floor space is available.  Are there other labs in the area?  There also may be restrictions on what space is designed as "lab" v. "office" space. 

Thank you, folks. as always your feedback is very helpful. Much appreciated.

RuralGuy: they have numerous offices that are vacant. The problem is my Dept Chair stopped the Associated Dean for Research to give me a lab! it happened around 1.5 years ago though, perhaps this time they may consider it.

Also, I am in the job market! I got a campus interview recently (did not work out--very competitive in my research area) but one of my colleagues (through a common friend at the interview univ) came to know about my campus interview and informed the chair and the college! Do you think it will affect their decision?! They seem to be upset as I brought a good amount of $$$$ and a reputation to the department. The Department Chair told me recently that we need to give you some teaching appointments (this was what I asked for before) and improve your situation! not sure if my job hunt made them rush or not:)

Thank you.

[Vid]

doc700: it is just a regular lab no renovation is needed. I do not have instruments or any sampling research. 

mleok: This thread just reflects what my department chair told me and what would be the best strategies to discuss my needs during the mid-cycle review. No "drama" involves here. Please stop judging people!

[Ruralguy]

if you essentially just need office space for students, and with no special equipment related needs, then the request is theoretically easy, so long as empty offices exist. Be prepared for admin to tell you there'd be a move involved for that to happen, assuming the space exists at all.

Oh, and I think Mleok may have been referring to your complete story since you were applying for jobs up until now. In any case, there have been similar sorts of running stories over the last several years so its easy to mix them up.

[mleok]

if you essentially just need office space for students, and with no special equipment related needs, then the request is theoretically easy, so long as empty offices exist. Be prepared for admin to tell you there'd be a move involved for that to happen, assuming the space exists at all.

Oh, and I think Mleok may have been referring to your complete story since you were applying for jobs up until now. In any case, there have been similar sorts of running stories over the last several years so its easy to mix them up.

I'm trying to understand how having more teaching assignments improves a faculty member's situation, I guess I'm missing something here?

[Hibush]

Three-year reappointment is SOP at my place. An extremely productive colleague is going through it. I suspect it will result in the recommendation to focus on a subset of activities to have a super tenure package without burning out. That kind of assesment and benchmarking should be helpful.

[Ruralguy]

I'm thinking that maybe Vid isn't part of a specific department, and thus may by "teaching assignment," he means a means of being identified with a department?  Either that, or for whatever reason Vid hasn't taught enough classes to be properly evaluated?  I certainly don't think that in general at an R1, a higher teaching load is going to helpful. So, if that is indeed what you meant, Vid, that would be questionable.