The University of Texas at Austin

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Department of Computer Sciences