Identifying Effects of Institutional Resources and Support on Computing Faculty Research Productivity, Tenure, and Promotion

As previous research has shown, increasing research productivity in postsecondary institutions provides direct benefits to those institutions, departments, and individual faculty, and this research productivity is often dependent on institutional support. Understanding this relationship is important for doctoral students, as many enter academia after completing their studies, and their success as faculty can be highly dependent on their success in establishing a strong research program. The authors conducted a study to determine if individual computer science faculty receive institutional resources and support congruent with research requirements set forth in tenure and promotion guidelines. The results identify hidden requirements for tenure and promotion, including an emphasis on research collaboration, and find that the level of support in the 2009-10 academic year remained stagnant from the previous year. Results indicate that faculty are not satisfied with their level of institutional support and that the three areas in which additional support would enable them to increase their research productivity include staff support, release time, and funding for attending conferences. Results also indicate that untenured faculty receive less staff support, less funding for summer salaries and workshops and training, and less funding for improvements to office space or facilities than their tenured colleagues.