A View of Academia in the US

Matthew Turk

Computer Science Department and

Media Arts and Technology Program

University of California, Santa Barbara

http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/~mturk

The typical path of an academic

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Career

Post-secondary

education

Secondary

education

Primary

education

• Retired from academic responsibilities

• No salary Emeritus Professor

• Work, work, work…

(Full) Professor

• Typically 6 years

• Can be forever Associate Professor

• Untenured

• Typically 6 years Assistant Professor

• 1-3 years (more in biological sciences) – optional [ Postdoc ]

• PhD – 4-5 years

• Master’s (opt.) – 2 years Graduate school

• BS degree

• 4 years College (university)

• 4 years – ages 14-18

• AP courses, science/engineering/ intl. baccalaureate programs, etc.

High school

• 2-3 years – ages 11-14

Junior high school

• 5-6 years – ages 6-12

Elementary school

• 1 year (opt.) – age 5-6

Kindergarten

College

admissions

Graduate

admissions

Faculty hiring

Tenure

Promotion

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Career

Post-secondary

education

Career

Post-secondary

education

Secondary

education

Primary

education

• Since 2005 Full Professor

• UCSB (5 years)

• Hired with tenure Associate Professor

• Teleos Research (2 years)

• Microsoft Research (6 years) Industry

• LIFIA – Grenoble, France (1 year) Postdoc

• MIT – PhD (4+ years) Graduate school

• Aerospace company (3 years)

• R&D in robotics/vision Industry

• CMU – MS (2 years) Graduate school

• Virginia Tech (VPI&SU)

• Electrical Engineering College (university)

• Grades 10-12 (Virginia) High school

• Grades 7-9 (Virginia) Junior high school

• 3 different cities in Virginia Elementary school

• In Connecticut Kindergarten

My path

4

France

My Academic Institutions

Virginia Tech BS 4 years

University of Leicester (UK) undergraduate 1 month

Carnegie Mellon University MS 2 years

MIT PhD 4.5 years

University of Grenoble (France) Postdoc 1 year

Stanford University Lecturer 1 term

UC Santa Barbara Professor 12 years

EPFL (Switzerland) Visiting professor 2 months

Finland (Tampere, Oulu) Visiting professor 3 months

Mobility

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High school in the US

• Grades 9-12 or 10-12

– Students graduate high school at age 18 (or 17)

– 25-30% private schools

• Types:

– General

– Vocational (trade school)

– Magnet – specialized curricula, may draw from a large region

– College preparatory

– Special/alternative

– Homeschooling (~3%)

• Decentralized: public schools run (and most standards set)

by state and local governments and school districts

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High school in the US

• Core curricula

– English (4 years)

– Science (3-4)

– Social studies (3)

– Mathematics (3-4)

– Physical education (2)

• Typical electives

– Foreign languages

– Visual arts

– Performing arts

– Vocational education

– Computer science / media

technologies

– Journalism

– Business and economics

+ sports, clubs, job,

volunteer work, etc.,

etc.

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Typical high-achieving high school student

• Honors and Advanced Placement (AP) courses

– Best students, college-level material

• Sports

– Football, baseball, basketball, soccer, gymnastics,

track, water polo, swimming, …

– School teams + club teams (optional)

• Clubs and activities

– Local service, special interests, social, cultural, math

and science, alternative areas of study, religious,

academic competitions, etc….

• Volunteer work

– Required to graduate

• Part-time and summer jobs

Team player,

persistent

Smart

Well-rounded,

leader

People-

oriented

Industrious

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E.g., Clubs/Activities at San Marcos High School (Santa Barbara)

Travel Club Drama Club Earth Club

Friday Night Live Gay-Straight Alliance Hiking Club

Health Occupations

Club IDEAS Club Jewelry Club

Leo’s Club MESA

(Math/Engr/Sci) Model UN

Mujercitas Red Cross Royal University

Writer’s Society Kids Helping Kids Mock Trial

Yearbook Royal Report Virtual Enterprise

Marquettes

College entrance exams

• SAT (or ACT)

– Writing

– Mathematics

– Critical thinking

• SAT Subject Tests (optional, typically 1-3)

– Literature, US history, world history, math level 1, math level 2,

biology, chemistry, physics, foreign languages

• May take these several times

– Typically take SAT twice

• However, colleges are generally reducing or eliminating

their use of these exams in admissions

– Concerns of cultural bias, income level disparity, unclear

correlation with success in college

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College admissions

• Based on

– High school grades

– Recommendation letters (3)

– Written essay(s) (different for each college)

– Extracurricular activities (clubs, sports, work, etc.)

– Entrance exam scores

– Requested major

• Colleges often looking for “the right fit”

– Intangibles – well rounded, leadership qualities, overcoming

obstacles, etc.

– Diversity

• “Legacy” sometimes a factor at private universities

– Did you parents go there?

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Choices

• Community (junior) college

– 2 year programs, transfer to university for years 3+4

• College/University (over 4400 in the US)

– Liberal arts college – emphasizes undergraduate study in the liberal

arts and sciences; broad knowledge, general intellectual capacities

– University – comprehensive undergraduate and graduate education

• Public or private

– Public: average $20-25,000/year for tuition, room, and board

• Out-of-state students $15-20,000 more

– Private: average $40-45,000/year

• Up to $65,000/year

• Specialty

– Men only, women only, religious affiliation, focus on

art/design/music/science/etc., ….

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Choices

• Size:

– Large (20,000-60,000 students),

– Medium (5000-15,000 students)

– Small (500-3000 students)

• Setting

– Urban

– Suburban

– Rural

• Location

– Hometown (less common)

– In state (1-6 hours drive)

– Out of state, across country (fly)

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College marketing

• It’s big business, and colleges know students have many

choices

– Many HS students apply to 10-15 schools!

• So colleges spend lots of money on marketing

– Mail

– Print/television/web/etc. advertising

• Visits and tours

– Show off the great food, social activities, living conditions, etc.

• And

– Sports teams

– Social scene (e.g., fraternities and sororities)

– Nobel prize winners

– *** RANKINGS ***

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The college experience

• The social experience

– College is a passage to adulthood – living away from home

– Students expect to make lifelong friends in college

– Social activities are a significant focus for many

• College as community

– The college campus is like a small city, with all the expected

services

• Shopping, restaurants

• Health services

• Concerts and performances

• Athletic facilities

• Etc. etc.

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Academics

• BS or BA – 4 years

• Selection of major (subject area)

– Students typically list a desired major when applying, but often do

not have to formally declare until 2nd year

– Typically not difficult to change, especially in humanties and

social sciences

– More difficult to change into areas such as engineering and

architecture

• International opportunities

– Junior year abroad is common

• Engineering co-op programs

– Five years – graduate with one year of work experience

• Summer jobs/internships

– Many students take summer courses in order to graduate on time

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Undergraduate to graduate school (PhD)

• Typical: apply to 5-10 graduate schools

– Often “N highest ranked” independent of location (mobility!)

• Take GRE standardized test, optional subject test

– Verbal reasoning, quantitative reasoning, analytical writing

• For highly-ranked PhD program:

– Excellent grades

– Excellent letters of reference (from professors)

– Excellent GRE scores

– Some evidence of substantial project work beyond courses…

• Typical in CS – admit to PhD directly from BS

– May be awarded MS along the way (optional)

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Aside: Master’s degrees

• In the US, a BS degree (in Computer Science) is sufficient

for a good job

– E.g., Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Amazon, many others…

– Companies expect on-the-job training

• Master’s degree options:

– BS/MS joint degree – 5 year program

– BS then MS (same or different university)

– MS/PhD student – receive MS while doing PhD

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PhD admissions and recruiting

• Undergraduate vs. graduate admissions

– Undergraduate is centralized, handled by the university

– Graduate is done by the department, approved by central Graduate

Division

• UCSB CS graduate admissions

– Committee surveys faculty about number of new students desired

by each professor (typically 0-3)

– Committee goes through several hundred applications, divided by

region (domestic, Europe, China, India, etc.)

– “Above threshold” applicants are forwarded to specific faculty for

feedback

– Separately, faculty may request specific individuals to be admitted

– Negotiations… then final decisions

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PhD admissions and recruiting

• Once students have been admitted, we begin a significant

recruitment process

– Emails, phone calls, love letters, flowers, candy…

• Admitted Students Day

– Students are invited to visit the department for an organized 1-2

day event

• Tours, group meetings, individual meetings with faculty,

meetings with graduate students, meals…

– Then more emails, phone calls, flowers, etc.

• We’re competing with Stanford, Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD,

USC… MIT, CMU, Georgia Tech…

– Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose

– Our personal attention makes a big difference

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The PhD experience

• At UCSB CS, PhD students are admitted to the

department, not to a specific group or professor

– ~75% of the students already have a tentative match

• Most of our PhD students make the match during Year 1

– Typically funded by a TA during that time

– Typically funded by an RA once the match is made

• Funding

– Five years of “guaranteed funding”

– TA, RA, fellowship

• Typically $2000-2500/month + tuition/fees + health insurance

• 9 or 12 months

• Sometimes it doesn’t work out…

– “Can’t find an advisor to fund me”

– Will often leave with MS 21

The PhD experience

• PhD requirements

– Courses (currently 10, soon ~6) – in theory, systems, applications

– Major Area Exam (similar to PhD qualifying exam)

– PhD proposal

– PhD thesis defense and dissertation accepted

• Very informal compared with Finland!

• Typically 4-5 years

– 1-2 years courses and projects, 2-3 years focused dissertation

– Graduate Division exerts pressure to finish in a timely manner

– Final decision is almost exclusively by the committee (3-4 faculty)

• The role of graduate students

– Considered primarily as students, not employees

– But they receive limited employee benefits when employed as a

TA, RA, etc. (Note: 49% employment)

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Faculty positions

• The process of allocating faculty positions

– Bottom-up and top-down

• Departments, deans, committees, provost/EVC

• Not a fixed number, “wait for the big guy to die” scenario

– Constraints: budgets, growth areas, retirements, student numbers,

success

• Faculty search process (UCSB CS)

– International, hundreds of applicants

– May be targeted (e.g., computer security) or general

– Committee selects ~4-6 to invite for 1-2 day interview

• Seminar, individual meetings with dean, various faculty, group

meeting with graduate students

– Then: emails, phone calls, love letters, flowers, candy…

– We’re again competing with MIT, CMU, Stanford, Berkeley, etc.

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The assistant professor

• Sink or swim situation

– Teaching (one course per term – must do well)

– Research (high-impact publications)

– Funding (must show ability to get research funds)

– Professional service (involvement in your professional community)

– Build your reputation

• Put the department “on the map” in your area

• New professors negotiate a startup package

– Research funds: postdocs, students, equipment, furniture, travel…

– Lab space

– Reduced teaching in first year(s)

– Salary, move allowance, position for spouse, new car, etc.

• Get tenure!

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Getting tenure

• Qualifications for tenure vary

– From university to university and from department to department

• Written: almost identical

• Practice: much variation

• Tenure rates vary

– Can be very deceiving, almost useless

– At instructions with high standards, many or most leave before the

decision is made

• Pre-tenure review

– Typically after three years

• Tenure case

– Typically after six years (from 5 to 9)

– Critical: external letters

– Evaluations by department, dean, university personnel committee,

“ad hoc” committee, provost for academic personnel, provost 25

What tenure means

• Usually “tenured” ≡ “associate professor”

– Not everywhere: e.g., CMU, MIT, Georgia Tech

• Lifetime job: you cannot be fired

– Almost – but you can be fired for serious offenses or not

performing duties adequately

– Budget issues could necessitate eliminating a department

• You can relax and start enjoying life

– Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!

• You are now one of the senior faculty members

– More is expected of you!

• Your peers will be happy for you (and maybe jealous)

• Your family will be impressed

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Promotion to full professor

• After six years as assistant professor and six years as

associate professor…

– Sometimes more, sometimes less

• …you become a full professor

– Again, external letters are critical

– Teaching, research, funding, university and professional service

• IMPACT

• REPUTATION

– Keynote talks, journal editorships, etc.

• Now… even higher expectations!

– Everything else, and run the university in your spare time

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The professor experience

• Academic freedom

– Well, sort of…. I can do whatever I want, as long as I continue to

excel at all the typical measures

• Including impact, funding, international visibility, etc.

• Salaries

– Lower than industry, also a shorter tail

– Typical 9-month salaries

• What about the other 3 months (summer)?

– 0-3 months from grants

– Typical salaries at good universities (partly from cra.org):

• Assistant professor: $90-95,000/year

• Associate professor: $100-110,000

• Full professor: $130,000 and up

– Note: UC salaries are lower than peer institutions!

– CS departments at non-PhD granting institutions are much lower 28

Some pros and cons of the tenure system

PROS CONS

Academic freedom Well… must still publish, get

funding, graduate PhD students,

and satisfy the existing disciplinary

norms

Long-term view, can focus on

important topics/problems

But many short-term incentives for

advancement (esp. funding)

Major stakeholder in the

university system

But mobility erodes this

significantly

Job security is compensation for

lower salary than industry

True for some areas

The tenure process encourages

hard work and excellence

After tenure is granted, there is

much less incentive, mostly (1)

salary advancement and (2) peer

pressure

The people

• Undergraduate students

– The raison d’etre of the university

– Their parents pay tuition

– The state funds UC because of them

– They have a political voice

• Student Union – advocacy, but little power

• Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Dean of Students

• Graduate students

– Are considered students, not employees

– They have some political voice, especially the TA union

• Graduate Division, Dean of Graduate Division

– But they are mostly invisible to the university stakeholders

(taxpayers, parents, etc.)

• Many are not California citizens

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The people

• Postdocs, visiting researchers, research staff, etc.

– Part-time or full-time, paid by various sources (university, grant,

fellowship, home country or institution, etc.)

– Rights as employees (increasing for postdocs)

– Little political voice

• Staff (office staff, technical staff, fire/safety/security staff,

etc.)

– Many rights, significant political voice in limited areas

– Little political voice in academic/departmental matters

• Lecturers

– Part-time, full-time, year-to-year, continuous (2)

– Some rights, but limited political voice

– Exception: “Academic lecturers” (LSOE/LPSOE at UC) are

considered to be faculty

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The people

• Faculty

– Faculty = Professors at all levels

• Should include the “academic” lecturers (LSOE, LPSOE)

– Faculty are members of the Academic Senate

– Faculty are generally considered the main stakeholders in the

university and have the principal responsibility in matters relating

to the university’s mission (teaching, research, public service)

– Shared governance is largely focused on the Academic Senate

• In general, there is little hierarchy among the faculty

– Varies from department to department

– No particular advantage to being at a higher level

• Typically (somewhat) higher salary and (somewhat) higher

expectations

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UCSB Computer Science

• Faculty members (32)

– Professors

• Emeritus (5), Full (23), Associate (6), Assistant (1)

– Academic lecturers (LPSOE, LSOE) (2)

• Lecturers (2)

• Adjunct professors (7)

– Mostly from UCSB – a.k.a. “courtesy appointments”

• Students (~375)

– PhD (130), MS (60), BS (~200?)

• Staff (14)

– office/finance (9), technical/IT (5)

• Postdocs, visitors, research staff, etc. (unknown)

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The University of California (UC)

• Ten campuses + three national labs

– Lawrence Berkeley National

Laboratory

– Lawrence Livermore National

Laboratory

– Los Alamos National Laboratory

• Size (2011)

– 236,691 students

– 18,896 faculty

– 189,116 staff members

– over 1,600,000 living alumni

Campus Founded Enrollment

Berkeley 1868 36,142

Davis 1908 32,653

Irvine 1965 27,889

Los Angeles 1919 40,675

Merced 2005 5,198

Riverside 1954 20,955

San Diego 1960 29,324

San Francisco 1873 4,716

Santa Barbara 1909 21,685

Santa Cruz 1965 17,454

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The University of California (UC)

Not USC!

35

California State University (CSU) system

23 campuses

427,000 students

44,000 faculty and staff

Undergraduate and Master’s

programs

36

UC Faculty

• As of 2002:

– 254 Members of the National Academy of Sciences

– 389 Members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences

– 106 Members of the Institute of Medicine

– 91 Members of the National Academy of Engineering

– 25 MacArthur Fellows

– 19 Fulbright Scholars

– 13 National Medal of Science Laureates

– 5 Fields Medal recipients

– 57 Nobel Laureates

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UC organization

Board of Regents

UC President

UCSB UC

Berkeley UC Davis UC Irvine UCLA

UC Merced

UC Riverside

UC San Diego

UC San Francisco

UC Santa Cruz

California voters

California governor

Board of Regents: 26 members

– 18 appointed by Governor to 12-year terms

– 1 student appointed by Regents to 1-year term

– 7 ex-officio members (Governor, Alumni Association president, UC presidents, etc.)

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UC organization

Board of Regents

UC President

UCSB

Chancellor

Research Budget Student Affairs

Executive Vice

Chancellor

Academic Personnel

Undergraduate Education

Graduate Education

Institutes Library Deans

Engineering

Computer Science

Humanities and Fine Arts

Mathematics, Life & Physical

Sciences Social Sciences

Graduate Division

School of Education

School of Environmental

Science

College of Creative Studies

Services Development Athletics

UC Berkeley

UC Davis UC Irvine UCLA UC

Merced UC

Riverside UC San Diego

UC San Francisco

UC Santa Cruz

California voters

California governor

Department Chair

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Self-governance

• The Academic Senate is at the core of the UC system

– System-wide Academic Senate

– 10 campus Academic Senates

• Membership: faculty and main university administration

– To guide the academic and administrative affairs of the University

• Formal responsibilities: – Authorize, approve, and supervise all courses (except those of certain graduate

professional schools).

– Determine the conditions of admissions, certificates and degrees.

– Recommend the hiring and promotion of faculty members.

– Approve the publication of manuscripts by the University of California Press.

– Advise on the administration of the UC libraries.

– Assist in the searches for deans, chancellors, and presidents.

– Advise the University President and the Chancellors on budget and administrative

matters under the rules of "Shared Governance."

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UCSB CS strategies for excellence

• Faculty hiring

– Very selective

– Thorough process, involving everyone

– Aggressive recruitment of first choice candidate

– Hire with high likelihood for tenure

– Build on strength, not primarily on needs

• Graduate admissions

– Very selective

– Aggressive recruitment of admitted students

• Leverage our strengths

– Interdisciplinary connections at UCSB

– Size

– Collegiality

– Including location!

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Challenges to academia

• Declining public financing of public universities

– Limited resources, services, infrastructure

– Rising costs

• University as a business?

– Especially in times of scarce funding, the pressure to run the

university as a business is increasing

– Recent examples of conflict: Rensselaer (RPI), University of

Virginia

• Incentives for short-term “work for hire”

– Businesses outsourcing development work to universities

• How to measure impact?

– Short-term vs. long-term

– Quantitative bottom line

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Challenges to academia (cont.)

• Online education and digital scholarship

– The options are beginning to proliferate

– Cost vs. quality?

• Pre-university preparation of students

– Core knowledge and skills

– Initiative and creativity

• International politics, immigration concerns, etc.

– Increased restriction on foreign students – incl. inconveniences

– Limited green card opportunities for researchers and faculty

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Questions, discussion…

Slides posted temporarily at http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/~mturk/Oulu

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