Summary of the Faculty Issues and Research Resources Workshop

Mission

• To attract, nurture, and retain faculty of the highest quality

• To provide a responsive infrastructure to encourage and facilitate scholarship and teaching of the highest quality.

Goals

To attract excellent faculty and provide an infrastructure that supports those faculty, we must:

1. Develop effective incentives and compensation for desired faculty efforts
   • Provide clear information to junior faculty on the basis for promotion/tenure

   • Provide mentors to junior faculty

   • Examine the criteria for teaching evaluation in different departments/divisions to ensure equitable comparisons and application of uniform guidelines

2. Provide a supportive environment for effective teaching in the sciences
   • Examine the teaching loads in departments with large freshman and sophomore classes and determine whether cooperative efforts within sciences and with engineering to generate a broader distribution of responsibilities for introductory courses across the "sciences and engineering" would be more effective for the students (more creativity) and more equitable for the faculty.

   • Expand "professional" staff support to aid in labs, lectures, and recitation classes (MIT example)

   • Utilize Instructor and Fellow positions to enhance teaching faculty

   • Establish fully equipped electronic classrooms for both Rice classes and for use in outreach efforts

   • Establish program for faculty from other universities to visit Rice on sabbatical and participate in teaching to share classroom ideas and expertise

   • Evaluate our curricula realistically and simultaneously explore other avenues, including new technologies, what other institutions do, think of better ways to provide effective and creative teaching (Get out of our insularity!)

   • Establish workshops for teaching effectiveness and new teaching methodologies

   • Explore integrative curricular efforts

3. Generate a supportive environment for effective research in the sciences
   • Undertake efforts to expand funding for research activities by cooperative action between division and Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Research to:
     • Provide "guaranteed" funding for graduate students (in part perhaps by return of graduate student fringe benefit funds to Departments)
     • Provide appropriate support for graduate students who are serving as Teaching Assistants. **Note that G. Glass indicated we may wish to reassess this recommendation in the face of information that Rice pays a very significant number of fellowships compared to any other institution - more information on this point might be helpful.
     • Make connections with Texas Medical Center, industry, NASA, et al.

   • Coordinate recruiting of graduate students (Web pages, visits, Graduate Fairs, etc.)

   • Improve staffing (numbers) and training of staff (reallocation?) in departments, including provision of technical staff support and facilities (machine shop, glass shop, electronics repair & design, equipment repair, computer facility/staff, technical illustrator, storeroom, oversight of facilities/utilities)

   • Improve library service, hours (especially summer! implies we are only an undergraduate institution), copier facilities and increase allocation for journals

   • Provide support perform for Web development and periodic software and hardware upgrades to faculty

   • Provide local support for writing grants and for identifying new/novel sources of funding

   • Generate funding for maintenance of equipment and for purchase of small equipment (>$25,000) and other discretionary expenses for departments.

   **Also noted as "Infrastructure Issues": (1) Greater autonomy for divisions and departments was also noted as desirable. (2) Information on where indirect costs are spent was requested. (3) Improvement of morale was needed. (4) More effective methods for requests for matching funds.

4. Enhance the stature of Wiess School by attaining world class status in both research and teaching (be a "community of learners") by focusing on substance (vs ratings)
   • Recruit and promote high quality faculty to generate the "best faculty in the world"
     • Requires increased endowment
     • Target appointments across departments and divisions with real cooperation (Eliminate Science/Engineering distinction: no reason for barriers. Related question: Do we need/should we have Departments?)
     • Use incentives for retirement to increase turnover and maintain active faculty
     • Hire a few excellent senior faculty and hire and nurture excellent junior faculty
     • Exploit local advantages (TMC, NASA, etc.)

   • Build in areas of strength that can be used to enhance related weaker areas to form bridges within division and institution (cross-disciplinary positions)
     • Cooperative faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate student recruitment
     • Joint degree programs

   • Enhance outside perception of our faculty by broader dissemination of Rice accomplishments not only in scientific publications but in other venues (TV, scientific talks, newspaper, org. publications, brochures, etc.)
     • Strong placement of our graduates
     • Recruiting good graduate students and postdocs
     • Recognize US News as well as NRC ratings as important to Rice, but ratings per se are less important than attention to quality of faculty, research, & teaching

   • Establish strong and effective leadership for Departments with incentives for effective leadership (positions, summer salaries, research support)

   • Utilize creatively the tension between research and teaching and change our corporate myth to reflect that reality

Faculty Issues and Research Resources Subcommittee Home Page

Strategic Planning Home Page

Strategic Plan

Updated by Rachel Miller (rmiller@rice.edu)
09-Jun-97