*Concerns of Young Mathematicians* Volume 2, Issue 36 9 November, 1994 An electronically distributed digest for discussions of the issues of concern to mathematicians at the beginning of their careers. PLEASE FORWARD TO ANY POTENTIALLY INTERESTED INDIVIDUALS Please, direct submissions and questions to Frank Sottile sottile@math.toronto.edu , editor for the month of November. Next issue: Wednesday, 16 November. Editor for October: Frank Arlinghaus frank@math.ysu.edu Editor for November: Frank Sottile sottile@math.toronto.edu Editor for December: Steve Kennedy skennedy@mathcs.carleton.edu To subscribe: Send mail to Charles Yeomans at cyeomans@s.ms.uky.edu Back issues and other information are available via anonymous FTP to ftp.ms.uky.edu, in pub3/mailing.lists/ymn-list. The views represented here do not necessarily represent those of the administrative board or membership of the Young Mathematicians Network. In fact it is their policy to have no policy, save perhaps the dissemination of information relevant to the concerns of young mathematicians. Table of Contents Item # Title ------ ----- 1 Editor's notes 2 Participation in the MAA Ken Ross 3 Social Gathering for GLB Mathematicians Ron Buckmire 4 Search Ethics Kevin Charlwood 5 My Answers to the Survey Questions Heidi Burgiel 6 Applying for Academic Jobs: The Application Package Sarah Witherspoon 7 Closing Credits _______________________________________________________________________ Item #1 Editor's notes: Thanks to our energetic contributors, this week we have a nice selection to offer you, our readers for your reading enjoyment. We begin with Ken Ross (President-elect of the MAA) who has responded to our query for information about involvement of young mathematicians in the MAA. This should be a complement to last week's article by Jean Taylor (A VP for the AMS). It is a very positive sign that some senior mathematicians are interested in the concerns of the younger crowd. Ron Buckmire has sent us an announcement as well as further information about a reception for gay, lesbian, and bisexual mathematicians and their friends at the San Fransisco meeting. Kevin Charlwood is continuing his series of articles. This week, he has a discussion of search ethics. Our survey of the candidates provoked one reader to let us know where she stands on the issues. Heidi Burgiel has sent in her responses. Since `tis the season to apply for jobs, we solicited an article from someone fresh off the market discussing the content and types of materials that one may include as part of their application. I would pay particular heed to her comments concerning clarity, brevity and form. A question has come up as to where the Concerns may be available through a gopher node. Back issues are available via e-math. Specifically, try: gopher://e-math.ams.org/11/genInfo/cym Lastly, I want to solicit comments from you, our readers. What do you feel about the content of this journal? What are your concerns as a young mathematician? Where do you think this network should go? Also, don't be bashful in writing to any contributors to this journal, after all, we are trying to foster a Network of Young mathematicians, not just weekly consumers of this journal. Have a good week. _______________________________________________________________________ Item #2 Participation in the MAA As with the AMS, there are many ways for people to participate in the MAA. At the national level, there are over one hundred committees. A list can be found in the Mathematical Sciences Professional Directory or on gopher at gopher.maa.org. Some of the committees have specialized tasks, but many others involve various aspects of education or professional development for which young mathematicians would be very appropriate members. One of the strengths of the MAA is the very broad participation of its members, and new participants are essential to maintain its vitality. Therefore volunteers are encouraged, though the MAA Committee on Committees is not able to appoint them all because many constraints need to be taken into account. Interested persons should contact the MAA Secretary (Gerald L. Alexanderson at galexanderso@scuacc.scu.edu) indicating their interests and any relevant special skills or experience. The MAA is much more than a national organization. There are twenty-nine semi-autonomous, lively sections that are defined geographically and cover the United States and Canada. The sections vary, of course, but all of them welcome new participants. All of them have officers with various tasks, including public information officers, contest coordinators and coordinators of student chapters. Some of the sections also have their own committees that deal with issues at the local level. Contact the section secretary to find out how you can get involved in the section. The list of section officers is also available in the Mathematical Sciences Professional Directory and on gopher. Ken Ross ross@math.uoregon.edu _______________________________________________________________________ Item #3 Reception for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Mathematicians and their friends. There will be a reception for lesbians, gays, and bisexuals (and their friends) attending the 1995 joint mathematics meetings of the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America in San Francisco. The reception will take place on Friday, January 6, 1995, from 5:00 to 7:00 pm, at The Iron Horse, 19 Maiden Lane, near Union Square, a short walk from the conference headquarters hotel. This will be a "no host" reception. A volunteer committee has organized the reception in the wake of the decision by the AMS and MAA governing bodies to relocate the 1995 meetings from Denver after the antigay Amendment 2 was adopted in Colorado in 1992. The organizers share the belief that this is an appropriate time for gay, lesbian, and bisexual mathematicians to establish a visible presence within the profession. The steering committee which has organized the reception consists of Robert Bryant (Duke University), Don Goldberg (Occidental College), Concha Gomez (University of California Berkeley), Steven Hillion (University of California Berkeley), Jim Humphreys (University of Massachusetts at Amherst), Nadine Kowalsky (Institute for Advanced Study), Janet Ray (Seattle Central Community College), and Sandra Rhoades (Smith College). For further information on the reception, please send e-mail to "sf.reception@oxy.edu" RON BUCKMIRE buckmire@oxy.edu _____________________________________________________________________ Item #4 Search Ethics In this piece I want to consider matters of importance to all of us in academic life. Last year, CoYM addressed ethical issues regarding employment in the mathematical sciences, and I would like to examine this issue again as the search for a position is upon many of us. The purpose here is to (hopefully) stimulate meaningful discussion, and perhaps provoke necessary changes in employment practices. I will include anecdotal evidence from my search last year, along with two references to unethical practices which I believe are important enough to merit discussion. I realize that I am stating the obvious when I say that money truly is the root of all evil, but some of the evils which arise in our profession are indeed subtle. First, let us consider "truth in advertising." Oftentimes, schools put out ads which are unclear for a variety of reasons. The phrase "or a related field" is annoying to me because essentially all subareas within our discipline are related in some fashion. Also, some schools may make more of a distinction between "preferred" and "required" as well. In my case, I felt that of the nine schools that contacted me last spring and summer, four did not strike me initially as a "good fit", which left me a bit confused as to what the search committees were attempting to find. For example, the one-year position which I now hold at Bradley called for someone in "statistics or combinatorics or a related field." My major field is algebra (quantum groups), but I thought, why not apply? And here I am! Second, consider "phantom positions." While it is true that schools do not have the budget money in hand to do their hiring at the time they send out their ads, schools have, in the past, been guilty of going on "fishing expeditions." As a case in point, Appalachian State University in North Carolina sent me a rejection letter last April, indicating they had interviewed three candidates and failed to find a "good match." They also allowed as how they would take up a new search, in an effort to obtain the ideal candidate. To me, this behavior is unethical in the sense that the candidates who were on the "final list" last spring who thought they had a legitimate opportunity for a full- time tenure-track position must have been most upset by receiving this news. Personally, I did not feel well-suited for their position, which ostensibly was in math education, but I really do feel that the time and money spent on their search and on the part of the candidates was wasted. Next, let us examine the salary issue. As we are all painfully aware, opportunities for unethical practices with regard to salaries abound. As I mentioned in the article "Temporary Blues" recently, I make $29K here at Bradley for this academic year. Since I was hired late (officially, the first of July), the administration had the ability to obtain my services at such a modest price, as they were aware of my plight on the job market. From information others have sent me, I know I am definitely not alone. Additionally, we also know these practices will continue as long as the ratio of candidates to the number of positions is poor. The issue of benefits necessarily ties in with the salary issue, too, though benefit packages vary widely from institution to institution. As the market is expected to be poor again this year, a reminder to all: Keep in mind that your starting salary now greatly affects future salaries, perhaps throughout your entire career! Many other money-related issues also arise during discussions of unethical practices; I will outline a few which I have some personal experience with, and invite comments from readers about their experiences which I have not included. One which angers me is who pays for the cost of on-site interviews. As a case in point, Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina arranged to interview me for half a day on June 2 of this year. Ten candidates were scheduled for interviews, and two of those were to be hired. However, the University would only pay for interview expenses for the two successful candidates, and none for the unsuccessful ones. As the cost for me would have exceeded $500, I eschewed the opportunity as I believed from the conversations I had with the Dean there on the phone that my chances were something less than two out of ten from the outset. Another item I find particularly irksome is when a school converts an originally advertised tenure-track position to a one or two-year job. Granted, there exist financial circumstances which warrant this many times; however, my personal feeling is this happens far too often to be coincidence. For instance, a search committee member from St. Mary's College of California e-mailed me May 10th to inquire if I would be interested in a one-year position there. He interviewed me in his hotel room in Cincinnati last January, and at that time, the position was advertised as tenure-track. It was to replace an algebraist who was leaving the mathematics profession altogether. I replied that I was still interested in a temporary position, and asked why the alteration in the position. He responded, in frustration, indicating their plight. Of course, the difficulty centered on funding, or lack thereof!! Presumably several candidates were interviewed before all this happened, as the closing deadline for applicants was February 15th. Just how unethical this practice might be is a matter of opinion; at the very least, it is an annoyance to those of us who originally applied who felt qualified, and perhaps devastating to those who had the fortune of having an on-site interview at St. Mary's. Frank Arlinghaus' piece (18 May 1994 #4) regarding a candidate who accepted a position at a school in Pennsylvania and then never sent back a signed contract was truly an eye-opener. Normally we hear horror stories about the questionable practices of employers, but seldom do we hear of an individual's unethical behavior. In May, many talented mathematicians struggled mightily to obtain a position, and then we read of someone rejecting something we all covet, and waiting two months to do so!! I admittedly felt sorry for the search committee, as their budget for interviews had been depleted, and the "high caliber" talent present in March had disappeared. I believe this example shows us something extremely important: Get all the details in writing, whether you are a candidate or an institution!! I close with an anecdote which exhibits (in my opinion) the height of unethical practice. The Kevin Madigan saga (16 March, 1994 # 3) really shocked me. He was "laid off" from Lamar University in Texas in his first year of a tenure-track position last March. He was given no official reason for his dismissal from the dean responsible for the action, but budgetary problems had been indicated on an unofficial level. What went on behind the scenes politically, one can only guess. I really feel for him, as he has had his career temporarily short-circuited. Having to start searching for a new post in March when many of the better positions are gone is an abomination to say the least! My personal feeling is that such instances are scarce, on the other hand, it behooves us all to be wary. In a recent e-mail note to me, Kevin indicated (I'm attempting to quote him precisely) that "some administrators at universities are every bit as ruthless as those found in the corporate world." Solutions? I consider myself a "fledgling" in this profession, and so I don't believe I am the one to ask. My main hope in putting this article together is to provoke meaningful discussion and perhaps this will stimulate needed changes. As the YMN grows in stature and has a more powerful voice in the mathematics community, maybe some resolutions will be adopted to put an end to some of the aforementioned nonsense. Any comments from our readers are most certainly welcome. Feel free to e-mail me any time!! Respectfully yours, Kevin Charlwood, Bradley University e-mail: kec1@bradley.bradley.edu _______________________________________________________________ Item #5 My answers to the survey questions I'm a fifth year graduate student at the University of Washington. I'm young and have no dependents, so I can afford to have an idealistic attitude toward the job crisis. Having read the YMN survey of the AMS candidates, (in the 19 October issue) I felt that everyone, not just candidates for office, should think about them. We should remember that there's more to life than jobs, though. My thoughts on the questions addressed to the candidates are as follows: [The questions have been paraphrased, to make the reading easier --ed.] [#1: In 93-94 1202 Ph.D.'s awarded, 721 obtained domestic employment. Do you believe Ph.D.'s are being overproduced? Should the AMS do any thing, if so, what?] 1) I believe that Ph.D.'s are either being overproduced or underutilized. It may be possible to expand the market for Ph.D.'s by improving the teaching ability or usefulness to industry of graduates. I think the AMS should make mathematicians and mathematics departments aware of the problems of overproduction (or whatever else they decide is wrong). They should issue recommendations and reports on successful strategies, but they shouldn't try to force departments to change [#2: As fewer than 60% of new Ph.D.'s obtain academic employment, are young mathematicians getting the proper training? Should graduate training be changed to reflect this?] 2) I think that the number of young mathematicians who can't make "successful" use of their training indicates that we're not getting the support and training we need. Yes, graduate education should be changed to meet the needs of all graduates, not just the 60% who are (by a questionable definition) "successful". These changes should either take the form of producing 35% fewer Ph.D.'s (by miraculously weeding out most of the ones who won't go into academia) or of preparing Ph.D.'s to work in industry. (This might not be so hard; most Ph.D. students have access to courses in other departments. We would *only* need to change the prevailing attitude that taking a job in industry is admitting "failure".) [#3 What are your comments on flat-rate NSF funding? How about diverting resources towards young mathematicians?] 3) I don't know enough about funding and grants to recommend flat-rate funding. I would be skeptical of any move by the NSF or the YMN to create extra funding for young mathematicians. Such a move might merely postpone the unemployment problem, or, worse yet, create a large pool of unnecessary mathematicians living on government subsidy. (How do we know how necessary mathematicians are? I don't know.) [#4 What is your opinion of the following? i) An AMS-administered matching system for postdocs. ii) Standard format for jobs on e-math, and asking employers to provide updates. iii) The present format of the Employment Registry.] 4) i) The matching system sounds good, as long as I don't have to move to the south. Would it be as capable of matching me with specific mathematicians in my field as the current system? (E.g. I'd like to work with Schulte at Northeastern, I don't much want to work in a Boston area college that has no ties with Northeastern, but I'd rather do that than move to Georgia...) ii) Periodic updates is a good idea. A standard format should exist at least for standard, crucial details about a job. (College name and location and level of position should be easy to find, but two year community colleges should have different overall formats than big universities.) iii) Based on what I've heard, I won't attend the Employment Register when I'm at the joint meetings this winter. I'm not yet ready to take a job at a four year college (I'm unprepared for a teaching position). [#5 What is your opinion about the employment situation? Can you suggest any other methods to resolve these difficulties?] 5) The employment situation stinks. I'd like to know why it's bad and if its badness is a trend. If jobs are going away because universities are finding it cheaper to hire "temporary" teachers, we should go on strike or something. If jobs are going away because universities and colleges are hiring teachers and not researchers, we should appeal to the NSF to support some number of "necessary" research mathematicians. If jobs are going away because of a temporary downturn in the economy, I think we should use this as a good opportunity to improve hiring practices, but not panic. If jobs aren't going away at all, we should change the production of Ph.D.'s so that we don't have too many applicants for the jobs. My two cents, Heidi Burgiel burgiel@math.washington.edu _______________________________________________________________ Item #6 Applying for Academic Jobs: The Application Package I have put together a list of the basic ingredients for an application package for academic jobs. This is a compilation of my own experience from last year (my first year on the job market) as well as advice I received from many sources. Last year I appreciated all the people who took the time to write helpful articles or otherwise give advice. I hope that in turn the information I have collected will help others. I invite comments, criticisms, and further discussion on any of the following. DEADLINES. There are a great variety of deadlines. Some institutions have a deadline of December 1 (or late November) for receiving applications, and many are January 1, in which case you need to mail out application materials before Christmas. However, other institutions will not yet have advertised by this time. Ads continue to appear through February and March, and a few even later in the year. LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION. You will need 3 or 4 letters, at least one detailing your teaching experience and abilities. Your recommenders may want to look at some written work (see item (4) below), so it is a good idea to write a description of your research early. It may also help recommenders (and you) to give them a folder containing other information they may need to know, such as your C.V. and teaching evaluations. THE APPLICATION PACKAGE. This is the first impression potential employers have of you (and usually the only impression). It is only one of possibly 600 to 1000+ others, so faculty members will be overwhelmed and looking for a reason to throw your application out. Your readership, and hence your employability, is a "monotone decreasing function of line number" in the documents in the package. It is important to keep this in mind, and write clearly and concisely, with all information well-organized (especially in the cover letter and C.V.). The package should consist of several items: (1) Cover sheet from AMS Notices or e-math. The cover sheet is new this year, and is an attempt by the Joint Committee on Employment Opportunities to help increase efficiency in processing applications. (2) Cover letter. This should be a brief (1 page if possible) informative letter to introduce yourself. Explain who you are (educational background and employment history), how good a teacher you are, your professional interests (include 2-digit MR numbers for research interests--see the back of the cover sheet (1) in the AMS Notices), who is writing letters of recommendation and whether they're being sent as well, and what you're enclosing in the package. Also make sure your name, office phone, home phone, department fax number, address, and e-mail address are in the letter, and state clearly which position or positions you are applying for. If you have any personal connections to or interests in the place, put them here. If you will be at the AMS-MAA-SIAM Joint Meetings in January, say so. (In addition to the Employment Register (ER), you may be asked for informal meetings with representatives of potential employers outside of the ER. I know of many people who were contacted informally in this way. Thus the meetings may well be worth the cost of attending.) Some people tailor each letter to the institution; others send out a form letter. At the very least, if you are applying to more than one type of institution (say liberal arts colleges and research universities), it is advisable to write different letters for each type. (3) C.V. Information should be displayed so that important items can be found at a glance. Accordingly, some people prefer a one-page C.V. As with the cover letter, you may want to tailor this to each type of institution. Your C.V. should include: name, address, office phone, home phone, department fax number, e-mail address, educational background and employment history in detail, title of thesis and name of thesis advisor, areas of research interest (include MR numbers), teaching experience, list of publications or preprints (if any), other professional experience or interests (e.g. workshops, teaching projects, talks given), and list of references (with institutional affiliations, e-mail addresses and/or phone numbers). (4) Description of research (or thesis abstract) and future research plans. This may be one or two documents. Keep the audience in mind when writing these. Your average reader will have no time and will not be familiar with your area of expertise. Thus it is very important to include essential information early in such a document. Write a clear and concise introductory paragraph for a general audience, followed by a more precise description of your work, something like an abstract. Then you can detail your methods and state your theorems more carefully. Say what you have done, how it fits into a broader context, why it's important or interesting, and what you plan to do next (such as an idea coming out of your thesis which you could work on). Don't claim you're going to prove the Riemann hypothesis. (5) Teaching statement. Virtually all institutions are interested in your teaching ability (except the top 5 or so research institutions). Write a page or two detailing teaching experience, ability, and philosophy, and what you think about teaching. You can include results from teaching evaluations: raw data and/or your own interpretations. You'll also want to include any experience using computers in teaching, or other innovative methods. (6) Transcripts. I included photocopies (not originals, which cost more) only for those institutions specifically requesting them. (7) Preprints. I included only for those institutions specifically requesting them. However, I worked very hard to get a preliminary version (in journal article format) of part of my thesis done by the January meetings, which I then gave to anyone who asked and sent to a few people in my field whose institutions I had applied to. This may be a good way to introduce yourself to people at other institutions--send a preprint with a brief handwritten note. (8) Other. Some institutions require other materials, such as an essay on why you're the right person for the job, or their own application form. Check the ad carefully. (This item can add up to a lot of time.) ADDRESSES. You'll want to send your applications to the correct addresses. If you are using a list of addresses passed on from the previous generation, you'll want to update them. The best source is of course the ad, but an occasional ad will not give an address. Two good sources for current addresses are: the AMS-MAA-SIAM Combined Membership List and the Mathematical Sciences Professional Directory (which has lots of information in addition to addresses). ORGANIZATION. Being organized may help you feel on top of this otherwise chaotic process. I kept a notebook (actually, two) sectioned alphabetically by state and country. For each place applied to, I kept a photocopy or print-out of the original ad, a record of when I sent in an application, and precisely what I sent in the package. If I later sent a preprint, I recorded that information as well. Having a copy of the original ad was useful: as I sent each application out, I made sure I fulfilled the specific requirements of each ad (which varied widely). I also recorded other information: Anyone I knew or knew of who was in my field there, and anything interesting about the institution I may have found out from someone. As rejection letters came in, I filed them as well, so I would have an idea of which applications were still active. Others used a similar method of organization, but kept the information on-line. Sarah Witherspoon sjw@math.toronto.edu _____________________________________________________________ Item #7 Closing Credits The Young Mathematicians' Network is administered by: Charles Yeomans cyeomans@s.ms.uky.edu Mark Winstead mwwinst@gcr.com Frank Sottile sottile@math.toronto.edu Vic Perera vperera@silver.ucs.indiana.edu Franklin Mendivil mendivil@math.gatech.edu Kevin Madigan madigan@math.nwu.edu Steve Kennedy skennedy@mathcs.carleton.edu Matt Hudelson hudelson@math.washington.edu Bob Dobrow dobrow@cam.nist.gov Lyle Cochran address change pending Neil Calkin calkin@math.gatech.edu Wendy Brunzie brunzie@turing.ucdavis.edu Curtis Bennett cbennet@andy.bgsu.edu Frank Arlinghaus frank@math.ysu.edu Edward Aboufadel aboufade@scus1.ctstateu.edu _______________________________________________________________ End of Journal -- Next week: The Discussion Continues