This step is for you if:

You are wondering what the different categories of academic institutions are in the U.S., what their tenure requirements are for biomedical tenure-track faculty, and how you can find out the category of a given institution.

RESEARCH-INTENSIVE INSTITUTIONS (R)

The environment will generally contain:

• Access to graduate students and postdoctoral scholars
• Access to high research budget, state-of-the-art facilities and equipment
• Peers who are often renowned scientists, with significant institutional prestige
• Low teaching load (but not zero!)

To get tenure, you will typically need:

• Large grants
• Regular publications in high-impact journals
• National international recognition and collaborations

Research-intensive institutions make up approximately 2.5% of higher education institutions in the U.S.

RESEARCH- AND TEACHING-FOCUSED INSTITUTIONS (RT)

The environment will generally contain:

• Access primarily to undergraduates
• Research projects seen as learning experiences for students
• Significant teaching load and emphasis on teaching quality
• A diverse student body (to an extent that varies widely across RT institutions)

To get tenure, you will typically need:

• Balancing research with a significant teaching load
• Publication and funding expectations that are very specific to each institution
• Successful research with a startup budget that varies according to the resources available at the institution
• A track-record of excellent teaching and mentoring

Research- and Teaching-focused institutions make up approximately 41.9% of higher education institutions in the U.S.

TEACHING-ONLY INSTITUTIONS (T)

The environment will generally contain:

• No research at all, except for students, through internship experiences
• Very high teaching load for the faculty
• An extremely diverse student body

To get tenure, you will typically need:

• An excellent track-record of teaching effectiveness, support of diverse student needs, and collegiality
• NB: Tenure can end up more of a formality (selection happens at the hiring level)

Teaching-only institutions make up approximately 23.9% of higher education institutions in the U.S.

This step is for you if:

You can differentiate between different types of institutions in the U.S. based on their tenure requirements, but can't list the qualifications hiring committees really look at when making hiring decisions.

Different institutions have different hiring priorities! Visit career.ucsf.edu/ACRA to download the Academic Career Readiness Assessment and identify what faculty in your chosen type of institution are looking for across 14 dimensions:

• Teaching Practices
• Teaching Experience
• Commitment and Ability to Serve a Diverse Student Population
• Inclusion of Undergraduates in Research Experiences and Research Plan
• Experience Conducting Research with Students
• Research Feasibility
• Verbal Communication of Research
• Publications
• Research Vision and Strategy
• Funding Plan
• Research Independence
• Recommendations
• Collegiality
• Fit

This step is for you if:

You can differentiate between different types of institutions in the U.S. based on their tenure requirements and can list the qualifications hiring committees really look at when making hiring decisions, but haven't identified skills and experiences you will need to be competitive for a faculty position.

Starting with the 14 ACRA dimensions, assess your level of readiness to be competitive for the positions you are applying for. Then, develop a training plan to target areas of needed growth.

For example, on reflection you might rate yourself:

• Teaching Experience at a 4 with an ACRA target of 3, 
• Publications as a 2 with an ACRA target of 2, but
• Teaching Practices at 1 with an ACRA target of 3 – “candidate demonstrates that they can use active learning strategies effectively in the classroom.” 

You might want to seek out additional reading and training in active learning strategies, followed by identifying an opportunity to put that training into practice to improve your competitive position for a faculty role.

This step is for you if:

You can differentiate between different types of institutions in the U.S. based on their requirements for tenure, can list the qualifications hiring committees look at when making hiring decisions, have identified skills and experiences you will need to be competitive for a faculty position, and have conducted a self-assessment for your strengths and areas of improvement, but haven't developed a training plan you can use in a career conversation with your advisor.

Your training plan will be easiest to pursue with the support and input of your research advisor. Start by setting up a meeting- an example email request would be-

“Hi Carole, I was thinking it would be helpful to set-up a meeting to talk about my career goals, and the best way to achieve these goals. Would you have some time in the next 2-3 weeks for a one-hour meeting?”

Then, ask them to share their assessment of your readiness. For example, you might say-

“Thanks for taking the time to meet. I wanted to have this conversation with you to go over my goals for the next [X] year(s). I am still considering a faculty position, so I’d like to get your thoughts on how to best position myself for this goal. 
To help with our discussion, I wrote out this Training Plan, which I was hoping to review with you today. To develop it, I used the Academic Career Readiness Assessment - I brought you a copy. 
Could we start by going over it together? I’d really appreciate to hear how you would assess my skills on these scales.”