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Guide for UTCS New Faculty
Personal
Tenure Requirements
- If
you're hoping to stay here for a while, it's probably a good idea to
learn what will eventually be expected of you when you come up for
tenure.
- The
chairman's office (ask Kathy) can give you an example of a
successful tenure package.
- But
ultimately you will only succeed in this job if you enjoy it, so
strike a balance between what's "expected" of you, and
what really keeps you excited about your work.
- Learn
to say "no". There are far more tasks you'll be asked to
do than you have time for, regardless of how hard you work, so
choose carefully.
Home & Office
- The
university has a "Faculty Computer Initiative" that gives
you a computer for use at home. You get to choose between a laptop
and a desktop. If you already have an adequate home and/or portable
setup, use this free machine for your office or a lab. One of us
used the "free" flat panel display at home, and then put
the "free" CPU in a lab, with an old monitor. Patti will
send you the info about the FCI program.
- If
you don't have a home printer already, use some of your startup
money to buy one. HP makes some nice combo printer/fax/scanner
devices that are good for this purpose.
- You
can set up cable modem service at home and have everything direct
billed through the department. Or, you can set up cable modem or
DSL service yourself and get reimbursed.
- Equipment
that's worth more than a certain amount (usually $500) must be
tagged for inventory purposes. If you keep such equipment at home,
you need to fill out a form, available from the UTCS purchasing
staff in TAY 139. If you neglect to do this you will probably be
hassled the next time the university's "inventory police"
make a pass thorough ACES and Taylor with their bar-code scanners
and can't find your equipment.
Personal Cell Phone Service
- Cell
phone service in Taylor and ACES can be marginal, particularly on
the lower floors and in the interior of the buildings. Some
providers are much better than others. Verizon is pretty good; Bill
and Peter recommend them. They have good service elsewhere in the
Austin area as well. Sprint has recently installed a tower and now may
be the best for both ACES and TAY. Your mileage may vary depending on where your
office is in a building.
Consulting
- The
usual rule for research universities applies: You may consult up to
about one day a week. But it's doubtful you'll have enough time
available for this limit to be an issue anyway.
- If
you're going to be doing any consulting, you need to fill out a
form. Download the form, the “Annual Request for Outside
Employment” from
http://www.utexas.edu/provost/policies/outside-employment/index.html.
Fill out the form and turn it in to the Chair’s office in
TAY 2.116.
- Ask
around to find out how much you should charge as an hourly rate for
consulting. It's probably more than you think.
- Exercise
care about potential conflicts of interest. Read the universities
policies on this if you're in doubt. See
http://www.utexas.edu.research/coi.