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Future Faculty Seminar
CS 400
Spring 2007
When:Tuesdays, 4:15pm - 5:30pm, April 10th- June 5th
Where: 380-380C
Announcements:  Sign up for the mailing list on the mailman page.
Coordinators:  Adam Beberg and Jeff Klingner (Both are "last_name"@stanford.edu)

NOTICE: CS400 will not be held in Spring 2008, but will be held in an expanded form in Fall 2008 as CTL 400.

This is a weekly seminar for students who are considering an academic career. Its scope includes all the stuff that faculty do besides research. Ph.D. students generally get plenty of opportunity to learn about research: choosing problems, doing the work, publishing it, and presenting it, but they often get little chance to learn about tenure, grant writing, teaching, service, and other non-research aspects of the profession. This seminar is meant to fill that gap in order to (a) give students thinking about an academic career a better understanding of what professors do, and (b) help those who do choose to be professors to be good ones.

DateTopicSpeakerSlides
April 10 The Faculty Hiring Process
(the hiring committee's perspective)		 Hector Garcia-Molina
Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering		 -
April 17 Preparing Now for a Future Academic Career Richard Reis
Author, Tomorrow's Professor «- go here for the mailing list		 PPT
April 24 CLASS CANCELED --
May 1 Tenure Jim Plummer
Dean, School of Engineering		 -
May 8 The Faculty Hiring Process
(the applicants' perspective)		 Panel of new faculty:
Marc Levenston, Jack Baker, and Ellen Kuhl 		-
May 15 The Two Body Problem &
Balanacing Life, Family, and Acadmia		 Alex Aiken and Jennifer Widom
Married w/children.		 -
May 22 Intellectual Property in Academia Katharine Ku,
Director, Office of Technology Licensing		 -
May 29 Teaching and Mentoring Mark Applebaum,
Assistant Professor of Composition and Theory		 -
June 5 Grant Writing Panelists -

The future faculty seminar is held every spring quarter. It consists of some core topics that are covered every year plus some chosen from a rotating set. That means the seminar content changes from year to year. (2005 schedule, 2006 schedule)

core topicsrotating topics
  • tenure (what it is, how it works)
  • the faculty hiring process (job search advice)
  • research funding (sources, process, ethics, ...)
  • intellectual property issues: copyright,  licensing, starting companies
  • the service role of faculty (service to department, university, society)
  • grant writing
  • balancing family & professional life
  • ethical issues in academia
  • planning a new course
  • preparing and giving a lecture
  • time management for new faculty
  • establishing a research program (getting students, using start-up funds wisely, ...)
  • mentoring & the advisor role
  • preparing for an academic job while in grad school
  • politics in academia (department, university, funding, ...)

Enrolling for Credit

Engineering students may earn credit for attending the seminar by enrolling in CS400, a one unit S/NC course. In order to receive credit, a student must not miss more than two talks. Canceled talks do not count toward attendance.

Everybody is welcome to attend the seminar, but formal enrollment is restricted to engineering Ph.D. students.