This document serves as a supplement to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Faculty Standards of Competence and Performance to provide additional expectations appropriate to the department’s discipline. It serves to clarify how the collegiate standards can be applied and evaluated within the department.

Department values statement

The faculty of the Department of Physics and Astronomy are expected to make ongoing contributions to extending humanity’s knowledge of the physical world, to educating the next generation of scientists, and to elevating the status of the department, college, university, and profession through meaningful service. Relevant to their particular track and rank, faculty members will develop and maintain a research program in their area of expertise, communicate their findings to the scientific community and the general public, deliver rigorous classroom instruction, train undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdoctoral researchers to conduct research effectively and ethically, and provide mentorship to research staff and faculty of lower rank. Faculty at all levels are encouraged to strive continually to improve their skills and knowledge, with the aims to enhance the reputation of department both nationally and internationally and to launch our graduates and trainees onto successful future career paths.

Basic expectations for all faculty

All tracks and ranks

Teaching

  • Practice effective teaching, such that the typical student participating in the course gains an understanding of the content to be covered in the course. Course content is set by the department curriculum and articulated by the course description maintained by the Registrar. When a course is an element of a sequence, faculty are expected to provide sufficient coverage of the relevant topics to properly prepare students for the next course in the sequence.
  • Facilitate student evaluations of classroom teaching in every organized course. These evaluations are expected to indicate effective classroom teaching.
  • Undergo regular peer evaluation of teaching through examination of the syllabus and a classroom visit.
  • Teach appropriately sized classes, so long as departmental programmatic and collegiate curricular needs are met.

Service

  • Faculty are expected to participate in at least one departmental operational, review, or search committee each year.

Tenure-track faculty expectations

All tenure-track ranks

These standards apply to the unit norm of 40% teaching, 40% research, and 20% service. Should a faculty member’s effort allocation be different from this unit norm, these standards should be evaluated with respect to those distinct allocations.

Teaching

  • Serve on graduate thesis and dissertation committees, with greater participation at higher ranks and within reason to balance their service loads.

Research

  • Pursue vigorously sources of external funding. During periods where faculty have no active grants, faculty are expected to submit at least one external grant application per year.
  • Faculty are expected to publish in reputable, peer-reviewed journals or conference proceedings, with a threeyear average of at least one publication per year.
  • Faculty members are expected to communicate the results of their research, giving either a colloquium, seminar, or conference presentation at least once per year when averaged over three years.

Service

  • Perform at least one instance of professional peer review per year on average, in the form of manuscript or grant proposal reviews.

Assistant professor

Teaching

  • Effectively mentor graduate students and guide them toward the completion of their PhD in a timely manner.
    • Note that the department does not expect assistant professors to have overseen a completed PhD before the promotion-and-tenure year.

Associate professor

Teaching

  • Participate in curriculum development and assessment activities to ensure continuous program improvement through committee work and/or individual course design.
  • Effectively mentor graduate students and guide them toward the completion of their PhD in a timely manner.
  • Vary their teaching portfolio strategically to meet departmental needs and reduce burdens on early-career faculty.

Research

  • Publish routinely in journals relevant to their discipline, maintaining a three-year average of at least one peer-reviewed paper or published conference proceedings per year. Mentees, in the form of students, postdoctoral fellows, or assistant professors, are expected to feature as co-authors or, where appropriate, lead authors.
  • Demonstrate success in securing external funding for their research.
  • Achieve a high degree of visibility in their scientific communities. Such recognition may arise in many different forms, including:
    1. receiving an award or other honor from a professional organization or society,
    2. receiving an externally invited talk, seminar, and/or colloquium,
    3. organizing a conference or chairing a conference session, or
    4. editing a special issue for a reputable journal.

Service

  • Serve on at least two departmental operational, review, or search committees on average over a three-year period.
  • Perform at least two instances of professional service per year on average, including peer review of manuscripts or grant proposals, panel service, editing journals or holding an office in a professional organization.
  • Participate in at least one instance of collegiate/university service over a three-year period.

Full professor

Teaching

  • Participate in curriculum development and assessment activities to ensure continuous program improvement through committee work and/or individual course design.
  • Effectively mentor graduate students and guide them toward the completion of their PhD in a timely manner.

Research

  • Publish routinely in journals relevant to their discipline, maintaining a three-year average of at least two peer-reviewed paper or published conference proceedings per year. Mentees, in the form of students, postdoctoral fellows, or assistant professors, are expected to feature as co-authors or, where appropriate, lead authors.
  • Achieve and sustain a high level of visibility in their scientific communities. Such recognition may arise in many different forms, including:
    1. receiving an award or other honor from a professional organization or society
    2. receiving an externally invited talk, seminar, and/or colloquium
    3. organizing a conference or chairing a conference session, or
    4. editing a special issue for a reputable journal.
  • Demonstrate sustained success in securing external funding for their research, maintaining an average of at least one significant grant every five years, where what constitutes a “significant” grant is understood to be specific to the faculty member’s subdiscipline, such as a three-year grant as PI.

Service

  • Participate in at least two departmental operational, review, or search committee on average over a threeyear period, including leadership such as serving as the chair of a promotion and tenure committee. These could include serving as a director or at-large member of the Executive Committee, or otherwise leading an ad hoc effort in the department.
  • Provide leadership within the department, either through leadership roles, performing at least two instances of professional service per year on average, including peer review of manuscripts or grant proposals, panel service, editing journals or holding an office in a professional organization.
  • Participate in at least one instance of collegiate/university service over a three-year period.

Instructional-track faculty expectations

Assistant professor of instruction/practice

No additional unique expectations beyond the basic expectations for all faculty and those for all instructional-track faculty ranks.

Associate professor of instruction/practice

Teaching

  • Regularly update existing courses and develop new courses when appropriate.
  • Serve on graduate thesis and dissertation committees, with greater participation at higher ranks and within reason to balance their service loads.

Service

  • Serve on at least two departmental operational, review, or search committees on average over a three-year period.
  • Participate in at least one collegiate/university committee or group over a three-year period.

Full professor of instruction/practice

Teaching

  • Regularly update existing courses and develop new courses when appropriate.
  • Serve on graduate thesis and dissertation committees, with greater participation at higher ranks and within reason to balance their service loads

Service

  • Participate in at least two departmental operational, review, or search committee on average over a three-year period.
  • Participate in at least one collegiate/university committee or group over a three-year period.