Successful Applicant for Promotion to Level C and D

Dr Arlie Loughnan, Associate Professor

Sydney Law School

2014Academic Promotions Applicant Information Session

Deciding to Apply

› Ask yourself ‘is now the right time?’/‘what have I done since my last promotion?’:

- If yes, can you make a case for ‘excellence’ in teaching and/or research?

- If not, what do you need to do to be in a position to apply next year?

› Start the decision-making process early:

- Preliminary consultation with HOD/Dean;

- Consult with (select) colleagues (senior colleagues and peers).

› Be realistic: critically assess strengths and weaknesses:

- Draft CV/summary of application and consult again;

- Review the timeline for the application process (esp. date for 1 pg update);

- Think forward to 1 January next year: where will you be at that point?; what do you want to be able to do from that point onwards?

Deciding to Apply

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Planning the Application

› Consider the application as a whole:

- Save space by avoiding repetition;

- Avoid ‘double-dipping’ (although there is some flexibility about where certain activities belong eg HDR supervision).

› Referees:

- Referees should add to what you can say for yourself & address the criteria;

- Think laterally (ie beyond supervisors, examiners) & ‘Double-up’ where possible.

› Supplementary material:

- Allow time for collection and organisation of material (eg citations).

› Completing the application form online: double the time you think you will need (the ‘end matter’).

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The Application

› Convince the Committee of the merits of your case on the basis of this section alone;

› Lead with a short punchy summary paragraph;

› Demonstrate an upward trajectory in your teaching/research/service;

› Provide an individualised account of strengths/achievements;

› Make the strongest possible case across teaching, research and service;

› Use evidence judiciously – avoid re-using the same evidence;

› Do not double dip (although you can split activities that cross over different sections eg administrative roles);

› Be detailed/descriptive but do so as succinctly as possible (eg ‘In addition’, ‘At the same time as...’, ‘Concurrently...’).

Summary of Application

› Demonstrate superior competency/skill and level of self-reflection about teaching.

› What kind of teacher are you? What is ‘excellence in teaching’ to you?

› Develop a narrative (eg leadership in teaching, scholarship in teaching)

› Outline what you do differently/consistently and its pedagogical value

› Explain what is involved in teaching in Faculty/School (eg class sizes, coordinating tutors, curriculum renewal/development, lectures or seminars)

› Support all aspects of this section with evidence (USEs, emails, invitations to teach, above load teaching, report from colleague/co-teacher)

› Supervision of HDR students, completions (student success)

› Don’t forget: informal/formal mentoring of junior colleagues, teaching conferences/colloquia, guest classes, and training.

Teaching Case

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The Application

› Demonstrate that you have a research agenda that you prosecute actively and that results in high quality research outputs.

› What is your ‘hook’? (eg monograph, grants, impact, public engagement)

› Explain to a non-specialist what is significant about your research

› Benchmark yourself (‘Relative to what would be expected at Level X, ...’)

› Dissemination:

- Include national and international outputs

- Provide detail about discipline-specific aspects of ‘excellence’

- Demonstrate reflection about the readership/scholarly community

› Recognition for research (eg by professional community)

› Research leadership (journal editorships, edited collections etc)

Research Case

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The Application

Service Case

›Demonstrate good citizenship of scholarly/other communities

›Provide detail about what your service involved (meetings, reports);

- ‘Over and above my role as member, ....’

- ‘Biweekly meetings covering everything involved in hosting a major conference...’

›Indicate length of service commitment (consistency counts);

›Take into account the role of others (I/We/The Committee...);

›Remember: media commentary, writing for a popular audience, guest presentations, University consultancies, extra-curricular activities, activities with USyd student community and alumni.

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General Points

• Answer the selection criteria: articulate why you deserve promotion (ie avoid leaving it to the Committee to work it out);

• Say what you have done and why it is important – give the committee concrete reasons to promote you;

• Don’t assume even your closest colleagues really know what you do or have done – spell it out for the selection committee members, many of whom will not be in your discipline; 

• Don’t assume even your closest colleagues know who the experts or best journals are in your field – again, be succinct and, without being patronising, spell it out;

• Back up every statement with evidence'

• And, most importantly, remember that there is no single type of successful application.

General Points

Good luck!

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