This Week's Finds in Planning

Explore the Blog

Monthly Archive

This Week's Finds in Planning is the blog of Martin Krieger, Professor of Planning at the University of Southern California's School of Policy, Planning, and Development.

January 5, 2012

More on Promotion and Tenure: Moneyball and Kahneman's "Cognitive Illusion"

{I realize that I have said much the same in several earlier recent posts. I recently discovered a memo I wrote in 2003, based on examining the flows of candidates through the promotion processes, that also said the same things.}...

Continue reading…
Permalink

December 25, 2011

Tenure Bill of Rights...

A committee on campus proposed a tenure bill of rights. My responses are indicated. THE TENURE BILL OF RIGHTS 1) Right to know why one was denied tenure - full explanation in writing. Seems reasonable. The main problem is that...

Continue reading…
Permalink

December 22, 2011

What to do if you've been denied tenure. One answer.

1. There are people on your campus who know what your rights are in this case. Maybe your academic senate. Which documents they need to give you, etc. 2. The institution may stonewall, but that is not your problem....

Continue reading…
Permalink

Promotion: What You See Now IS What You'll Get in the Future; Dossiers are often "fishy"--Imagine a Sarbanes-Oxley where the dean had to sign off on a dossier and not only their dean memo! Finally, there is not enough room at the top.

I have of late reviewed the scholarly literature in higher education on promotion and tenure, of which there is remarkably little. 1. What you see is what you will get. In general, the best predictor of future performance of an...

Continue reading…
Permalink

December 20, 2011

Lessons from Six Years of Dossier Reading: Expectations are Rising, A Devil's Advocate is Needed, Proactive Mentoring for the Already-Tenured Faculty, Separate Excellence from Institutional Need

a. There are many good or terrific dossiers. And the number of strong ones has been growing, although this is just my impression. These set a standard, and so weaker dossiers stand out. I distinguish weak dossiers from fishy...

Continue reading…
Permalink

Academic Pathologies

While I have sometimes mentioned academic pathologies in this blog, I have not focused on them. Comparatively little on racial, gender, age discimination or preferences. Shenanigans in departments: votes not about the candidate but about freeing up tenure lines for...

Continue reading…
Permalink

December 16, 2011

Stupid Promotion Dossier Tricks. Your Credibility is On the Line.

The committee members and the provost who read dossiers have enough experience collectively to figure out when you have not been forthright or have been deceptive. They'll check the h-index claims, they'll find out if NSF gives out grants in...

Continue reading…
Permalink

December 15, 2011

Moneyball for better tenure decisions if what you want is a research strong university

As for Moneyball ideas for tenure, it would seem that behavior over the probationary period is the best predictor. If a candidate has done the research/publication as we expect in terms of contribution and quality, then ok. If not, no...

Continue reading…
Permalink

I don't teach anything that allows me to use an exam.

As a teacher, almost none of what I have taught in all my courses over the last 40 years is of the sort that most conventional courses in economics or physics teach. It's not seven causes of family dissolution,...

Continue reading…
Permalink

December 1, 2011

Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California

As of 29 November 2011, with a gift from the Price Family Foundation, we are now The Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. Price founded the Price Club and its successors, and his family...

Continue reading…
Permalink