A. Fundamentals
1 "I Can Do That!" 2 What Is Graduate Education For? 3 Getting [MK1] into Graduate School 4 Matching and Searching 5 Taking Advice 6 Students 7 Advice to New Doctoral Students 8 Why Get a PhD? Why Be a Professor? And Where? 9 For New Graduate Students 10 Excellent Work 11 Thinking Analytically While Reading a Paper or Listening to a Talk 12 Excuses 13 Getting Your Doctoral Degree in the Fabled Four Years 14 The Limits of What You Learned in College or High School 15 Graduate Student Ambitions 16 Advice to an Ambivalent but Strong Doctoral Student in a Practical Field 17 External Research Support in the Research University 18 Graduate Student Basics 19 Being Autonomous 20 Improving Your Work 21 Learning the Material 22 How to Write Grant or Fellowship Proposals: For Doctoral Students 23 Advice for New Students 24 Qualifying Exams 25 Writing It Down
B. Your Advisor and Committee
26 Why Does My Professor Ask Me to Write a Memo Before He Sees Me? 27 No Surprises for the Boss 28 Using Your Own Judgment 29 Delivering 30 On Choosing an Advisor and Building Your Studies 31 Choosing Your Committee 32 Firing Your Advisor 33 Memos to Your Committee 34 Success Is Not about Being Top-Ranked at a Top-Ranked School 35 Financial Support and the Subject of Your Research 36 Taking Your Mentors' Advice 37 How Responsible Should Advisors Be for Their Doctoral Students? 38 The Good Advisor 39 Basics for New Faculty and Advisors: Avoiding "Internalization of the Aggressor" and Being "Good Enough" 40 Advisors as Scholars
C. Sticky Situations
41 Envy 42 I Would Never Want What Happened to Me to Happen to My Students or to My Children 43 Competition 44 Laptop, Smartphone, Tablet Decorum 45 The Experienced Student, the Military Veteran 46 Judgment and Grades 47 Plagiarism 48 "Steal My Ideas!": Impact, Originality 49 Excuses 50 Toward the End of the Semester 51 Doing the Scut Work 52 The Future of Data and Methods--Concreteness: Computation, Cinematic Arts, Statistics and Economics, and Talking to Your Rats 53 Data 54 Incompletes: For a Class, for Tenure
Chapter 2. Writing (#55 -95)
A. Fundamentals
55 Writing and Progress 56 Writing a Dissertation Is Chopping Down a Forest, Tree by Tree 57 Dissertation Proposals and Papers 58 Forced Evolution 59 Setting the Agenda: Independence 60 Storytelling and Focus 61 Using Design Skills to Write Research Papers 62 Draw a Target around Where Your Arrow Hits 63 Writing Advice 64 The Writing Path 65 More Writing Advice 66 The Basics 67 Style Manuals 68 PowerPoint vs. Analytical Writing 69 Rewriting 70 Writing So Your Work Is Accepted for Publication 71 Editing Your Book Manuscript 72 Fixing Your Book Manuscript 73 What Is This Paper About? 74 The Big Idea, Lessons, Lists
B. Bottom Line Up Front
75 Bottom Line Up Front = BLUF[MK2] 76 If You Can't Say It in Three Sentences, You Do Not Know What Your Script Is About 77 The First Sentence Should Give Away the Whole Story; If Not, Do It by the Second 78 The Takeaway 79 "The Layout Was Hard on the Eyes" 80 Why Papers Are Immediately Returned and Rejected by Journals
C. Research
81 Reviewing the Research Literature 82 Boring Work 83 Craftsmanship and Film Editing 84 Rereading Is Illuminating
D. Publishing
85 Grammar-Checking 86 Publishing Your Dissertation Work 87 Collaboration 88 Substantial Contributions 89 Reviewers' Reports, Appropriate Journals, and Colleagues' Pre-Reviews 90 Writing a Good Second Draft: Take Charge of What You Are Saying 91 Anxiety: Negative Reviews, Coauthoring 92 If You Write a Paper, Get It Published! 93 Why Do People Write Books? 94 Books or Articles 95 Rankings
Chapter 3. Getting Done (#96 -112)
A. Fundamentals
96 Moses and the Promised Land 97 Brilliant Ideas Are Already in What You Have Drafted 98 Working Hard 99 Catching Up and Getting Down to Writing 100 Taking Notes: Reading Is an Active Process
B. Finishing
101 Finishing a Project 102 Getting Done 103 "My Professors Keep Asking for Revisions of My Dissertation Draft" 104 Have You Spent Too Long a Time in Graduate School? 105 It Takes Twice As Long As You Planned 106 Focusing on Getting Done 107 Do It Now: Displacement 108 Projects: Doing Better without More Work; Exemplary Faculty 109 Scut Work and Publicizing Your Research 110 Moving to Assistant Professorship
C. Reference Letters
111 Asking for Reference Letters 112 Writing Academic Reference Letters
Chapter 4. Getting the First Job (#113 -150)
A. Fundamentals
113 Now That You Have Your Doctorate 114 What Do I Do with My Degree? 115 Visibility in Graduate School 116 Job Talks 117 Giving a Talk at a Conference 118 Speaking, Moderating, Commenting 119 Job Talk Advice 120 The Content of Your Talk 121 Job Search 122 Job Hunting 123 Getting That Job Interview 124 Looking for a Job 125 The Academic Labor Market 126 Finding a Job in a Particular Locale 127 A Market? 128 Being on the Job Market 129 Being in the Job Market, Always 130 Job Search Advice 131 Seeking a Job at a Meeting 132 Application Letter for a Job
B. Job Talks and Seminar Presentations
133 Compelling Presentations 134 What Makes a Terrific Job Talk? 135 Giving Your Best Talks and Oral Presentations 136 Brief Presentation at a Scholarly Meeting 137 Ways of Surviving a Job Interview 138 Preparing for the Job Search 139 Job Interviews 140 Interviewing for a Job, or in Fieldwork
C. No Offers?
141 You Did Not Get a Job Offer . . . 142 No Job This Year? 143 The Day Job
D. You Have an Offer
144 The Job Market: Counteroffers and Market Signaling 145 Bargaining for Jobs and Fellowships 146 Jobs: Negotiating for a Position
E. Hiring
147 Mistakes in Hiring 148 Hiring the Strongest in AnyField 149 Quality: One A is Better Than Two Bs, unless You Have a C Average 150 Hire Smart, Keep Smart, Tenure Smart
Chapter 5. Junior and Probationary Faculty (#151 -174)
A. Fundamentals
151 Doing Your Best in a Bureaucracy 152 Focus and Direction in Your First Job 153 An Informal Guide for New Faculty Members 154 Justifying Your Work 155 Your Personal Best 156 Assistant Professors: How to Survive 157 Increasing Quality at Tenure Time 158 We Want You to Succeed 159 Junior Faculty Advice 160 Mentoring and Junior Faculty Leaves 161 By Year 2<1/2> 162 Subpar Performance 163 Brief Guide for New Assistant Professors 164 Teaching Concerns 165 When Things Get Rocky in Your Department 166 Keeping Your Ears Open about Jobs Elsewhere 167 Getting Job Offers from Other Places Is Good for Your Home Institution 168 Taking Control of Your Career
B. Promotion and Tenure
169 You, the Candidate, Are in Charge 170 What Do I Have to Do to Get Tenure? 171 How Did X Get Tenure, Five Years Ago, When I Did Much More Than X Did?
C. Denial
172 When You've Been Denied Tenure 173 If You Are Denied Tenure, Promotion, or Appointment--Unfairness 174 I Did Not Get Promoted
Chapter 6. Grants, Fellowships, and Other Pecuniary Resources (#175 -183)
175 Incentivizing Research 176 Applying for Grants, Fellowships 177 Raising Grant Monies to Do Your Work 178 Getting Grants 179 Do Not Do These in Your Grant Application 180 Preparing a Research Proposal 181 Grant-Getting 182 External Research Support Does Not Corrupt 183 Low-Overhead Research Dollars from Fellowships or Foundation Grants
Chapter 7. Your Career (#184 -219)
A. Fundamentals
184 You Are in Control of Your Career, Your Grades, Your Promotion 185 Probationary Times 186 Building Depth in Your Portfolio
B. Awards
187 Recognition, Awards, External Offers 188 Awards, Grants, and Honorifics 189 Too Much Pressure Here? 190 Recognition, Academic Seriousness 191 Campaign for Recognition and Awards 192 Recognition--Awards
C. Impact and Influence of Your Work
193 Impact and Influence 194 Impact Factors, Genuine Impact, Contribution 195 Increasing Your Impact: Limited Room at the Top 196 Unrecognition 197 Journal Rankings: What Counts Is Your Contribution to Scholarship 198 Productivity in Academia 199 The Contributions Made by Your Research Work 200 The Value of Annual Reviews of Our Work 201 Writing for Wider-Circulation Discipline-Wide Journals 202 Book Chapters
D. Multi-Authored Work
203 Why Do So Many Papers in Some Fields Have So Many Authors? They Do Not Seem to Be Much Stronger Than Papers in That Same Field with One or Two Authors 204 Counting Papers and Books and Citations--Compared to What? 205 Teams and Interdisciplinary Work 206 Multiple Authorship, Order of Names, Contribution 207 Collaborative and Team Work: The CV 208 Multiple Authorship: How to Count Work 209 Individual vs. Collective Research Efforts
E. Your CV
210 Evaluating Your Contributions and CV 211 De-Fluffing Your CV 212 Your CV, for Those Who Are Just Getting Started 213 Stupid Résumé Tricks 214 Fluff in the CV 215 Curriculum Vitae--Format
F. Changing Jobs
216 Should You Change Universities? Yes! 217 Leaving Your University Position: Living Well Is the Best Revenge 218 Reinventing the Faculty 219 Why Do Faculty Leave?
Chapter 8. Tenure and Promotion (#220 -290)
A. Fundamentals
220 What Tenure Means (for Lay Persons) 221 Lessons Drawn from Reading Hundreds of Dossiers 222 Encouraging an Even Stronger Faculty in the Future 223 Promotion/Tenure/Appointment: Very Brief Advice for All Involved 224 Getting Tenured 225 Avoiding Turndowns, for Tenure or Full Professor 226 The Rising Tide: Your Personal Best Has to Be Superior, Not Marginal 227 Promotion Guidelines 228 Professional Competence and Trust 229 Thinking about Your Promotion 230 Do What You Must Do 231 Promotion: WYSIWYG 232 Tenure Judgments: If You Have Any Doubt, Vote No 233 Avoiding Tenure Mistakes 234 Making Multi-Million-Dollar Long-Term Capital Investments: Tenure, Promotion 235 From a Member of the University Promotion Committee 236 Quality Judgments and Letters of Reference 237 "If I Did So Little I Would Be Ashamed of Myself" 238 Marginal Is Not Good Enough 239 Your Department's Credibility Is on the Line 240 Statistical Prediction for Better Tenure Decisions? Moneyball and Kahneman's "Cognitive Illusion" 241 Would You Want This Professor and Candidate for Promotion or Tenure Teaching Your Child? 242 From Members of the University Promotion Committee 243 Being Conned When Reading Promotion and Hiring Letters and Dossiers 244 Tenure for Clinicians, Practitioners, and Teachers 245 Judging Work beyond My Ken 246 Doggie Comes Up for Tenure 247 Hiring Grisha Perelman with Tenure 248 Ethos of Promotion and Tenure in a Strengthening Institution 249 Tenure Decision Errors 250 Tenure Traps
B. The Dossier
251 If You Are Chair of a Promotion or Tenure Committee 252 An Ideal Dossier 253 Tell Us What Is Going On 254 More Stuff from Reading Tenure Dossiers 255 Rhetoric of Promotion Committee Reports 256 Playing Chicken with the Provost and the University Promotion and Tenure Committee 257 Alt-A and Subprime Appointments and Promotions: Meltdown 258 Avoiding Getting Stuck with a Lemon 259 What Makes a Strong Tenure or Promotion Case? 260 Dossiers: Avoiding Disaster 261 Peer Institutions 262 Preparing Promotion Dossiers 263 Do Not Embarrass the Football Coach 264 Real Professors' Performance 265 Blowing Your Own Horn 266 Making Your Case for Promotion or Tenure 267 Personal Statements at Tenure and Promotion Time 268 The Promotion Bubble 269 Expectations for Tenure: Is There Enough Room at the Top? 270 Time in Rank 271 What Counts for Tenure and Promotion 272 Dossier Illusions 273 An Epitome of Concerns re Tenure and Promotion 274 Promotion Dossiers as Excuses 275 Benchmarking, Reviews, Citations, and the Disciplines 276 Preparing Promotion Dossier Materials 277 What Is the Contribution? 278 Writing Your Personal Statement 279 Promotion Dossier Checklist for Preparers 280 A Credible Dossier 281 Ringer Letters, Weak Trajectory, Uncollegial Behavior, Early Full Professorship 282 Promotion Dossiers Can Self-Destruct 283 Dossier Phenomenology 284 Problems with Promotion Dossiers 285 Excuses You Really Do Not Want to Employ 286 Might Departments or Schools Be Allowed to Make Their Own Tenure Decisions?
C. More on Denial
287 Unfairness 288 You Don't Want Your Colleagues to Write This Sort of Letter to the Provost 289 Tenure Due Processes 290 What to Do If You've Been Denied Tenure
Chapter 9. After Tenure--Associate and Full Professorship (#291 -307)
291 What Did You Do This Summer? 292 You've Just Been Promoted by the Skin of Your Teeth 293 You've Just Been Promoted or Tenured 294 For Associate Professors: Grants, PIship, Fellowships 295 Bureaucratic Drag 296 Laying Golden Eggs: Long-Time-in-Rank Associate Professors 297 Getting Sandbagged and Slowed Down 298 Getting to Full Professor--Stoking the Fire in the Belly 299 Becoming a Full Professor 300 Promotion to Full: Your Personal Statement 301 Social Promotion 302 Promotion to Full Professor 303 What to Say to Senior Faculty When the University Is on the Make 304 No Faculty Member Is beyond Redemption 305 Retirement: Moving to Another Role Elsewhere 306 Appointing Star Professors and Those with Unconventional Careers 307 Senior Faculty Visibility
Chapter 10. Scholarly and Academic Ethos (#308 -391)
A. Fundamentals
308 No One Ever Does It on Their Own 309 <SC>send<\>and Die 310 Trapped in a Seminar 311 Feynman on Conference Disasters 312 What You Should Have Learned in Graduate School 313 Sabbatical Means Always Having to Say No 314 Taking One's Own Advice 315 Machiavellian Advice 316 Human Tragedy and Compassion 317 Resilience, Focus, Direction, Perseverance 318 Patience, Resilience, Courage 319 Is There a Substitute for Brains? 320 Untreated Illness and Work 321 Failure and Bouncing Back 322 Creativity 323 Whatever You Need Is in the Room. Do Not Go Home without Testing Out Your Ideas 324 Pronto Prototyping 325 Basics for Getting the Work Done 326 E-mail and Your Reputation 327 We Get Paid to Show Up 328 A Deeper Career 329 Judgment and Maturity 330 Doing What You Are Supposed to Do 331 Awkward Letters and Memoranda
B. Excellence
332 Excellence and Politics: Playing in the Big Leagues 333 The Rules of the Game 334 Reputation: You Have Only One Chance 335 Goldman Sachs Described 336 They're Judging You All the Time 337 The Impression You Make on Others 338 Your Reputation Is on the Line Each Time You Make an Appearance 339 Work That Matters 340 Academic Assets, Reliability 341 Fairness and Rewards 342 Pushing for Excellence and Preeminence 343 Excellence--How to Make the Football Team Proud of the University 344 For Faculty Who Want to Do Well 345 Playing at an Extremely High Level 346 Bonuses 347 Global Warming of the Quality Temperature 348 Your Comparative Advantage 349 Fame Too Late 350 Whether the Work Is Any Good at All 351 Craftsmanship 352 Annual Reviews 353 No Complaints 354 Thanking Everyone
C. On Time
355 How to Be on Time 356 Nobody Procrastinates Their Way to the Top 357 On Time vs. Late
D. Overloaded?
358 Focus 359 Overloaded? 360 When the Task or Work (the Dissertation, the Book) Is Too Much 361 May, June, July, and August 362 Time 363 Time Management 364 Scholarship and Community
E. The Research Enterprise
365 Success in This Life 366 Scholarship and Opinions 367 Scholarship Is a Competitive, Resource-Driven ($, Time) Enterprise 368 Politics: When You Have No Influence 369 Academic Tantrums 370 The Cost of Gaming the System 371 High-Concept Titles of Papers and Books 372 Strategy 373 Scholarship 374 The Scholarly Bottom Line 375 Focused Work 376 Reliability 377 Recognition: (Specialization <RARROW> Productivity) <TIMES> Visibility = Compensation 378 Grade Inflation? 379 Rejection and Recovery 380 Taking Charge in Group Work 381 What Counts in Scholarship 382 Scholarship: Scholia, Advances 383 Do We Read What Is Published in the Journals and Presses We Publish In? 384 The Research Literature 385 Rereading the Hard Parts of a Source
F. Controversy
386 Bureaucratic Survival 387 Reviews of Your Book or Article 388 Accusations and Innocence 389 You're 42, a Postdoc: What to Do Next? 390 If English Is Not Your Native Work Language 391 Finding Out about the World in a Reliable Way: Fishing for What's Going On
Chapter 11. Stronger Faculties and Stronger Institutions (#392 -420)
A. Fundamentals
392 College Admissions 393 Attracting Strong Graduate Students 394 Market Signaling 395 You Want a Faculty That's Hard to Keep 396 Ranking Departments 397 Tenure Markets 398 The Ones That Got Away 399 Propinquity Learning 400 Showing Up 401 Learning to Think 402 The Resistance of the Entrenched and Preserving the Institution's Heritage 403 Surviving and Thriving in the Research University of ~2025 404 Standards and Thriving 405 Late Bloomers 406 Why I Should Not Attend Most Seminars 407 Awarding Chairs and Honorary Professorships 408 What Do Deans Do? 409 FICO Scores for Deans/Departments: Trust in Practice 410 When a University Gets Stronger 411 Family Friendliness 412 Campus Life 413 Do You Wear Knife-Proof Undergarments? Academic Contest and Dialectic
B. A Different University
414 A Low-Cost, Low-Overhead University 415 Authority
C. Mentoring
416 Mentoring and Dementoring 417 Faculty Mentoring Faculty 418 Coaching Professors 419 Mentoring 420 Tormentoring
Index