Last updated Tue Mar 11 21:46:28 HST 2003
Brigham Young University Hawaii
School of Computing, Department of Computer Science
Faculty Positions
Brigham Young University Hawaii invites faculty applications at all
levels for one permanent position in Computer Science in its School of
Computing. Position begins August 2003. Applicants must have
demonstrated commitment to excellence in teaching with competency to
teach in a reasonable number of computer science subject areas, and
demonstrated ability to pursue a research program. A Ph.D. in field
is preferred, but an MS or ABD with relevant experience will also be
considered. Temporary (visiting) appointments will also be
considered.
BYUH is consistently ranked in the top tier of Western Liberal Arts
Colleges by U.S. News. It is located on the beautiful north shore of
the island of Oahu, 35 miles from Honolulu. BYUH is a multi-cultural
campus with approximately 2300 students from over 60 countries and a
high representation from Asian-Pacific countries.
BYUH (AA/EOE) is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints and requires observance of Church standards. Hiring preference
is given to members of the sponsoring church. Women and minorities
are encouraged to apply. Compensation is competitive and depends on
experience and qualifications. Review of applications is ongoing and
will continue until all positions are filled.
Contact Address
To make inquiry or to submit application materials, the following
methods may be used.
Email
Don Colton (don@cs.byuh.edu).
Email attachments are welcome and encouraged.
Telephone
(808) 293-3478 (Hawaii time is GMT-1000)
Facsimile
(808) 293-3467, to the attention of Don Colton.
USPS / FedEx / UPS
Don Colton, Chairman
CS Dept, BYUH 1854
55-220 Kulanui St
Laie, HI 96762
Applicant Pool Evaluation Strategy
We are very much interested in each application and communication we
receive. Major universities might get hundreds of applications for
any CS faculty position. We are not expecting hundreds of
applications. Because of the requirement to live a life in harmony
with the teachings of the church, and because of the small size of the
department, and because we are an undergraduate institution, and
because our first priority is teaching rather than research, many
potential candidates will simply not apply.
We are expecting maybe ten to fifteen serious applicants. We intend
to carefully examine, discuss, and consider each one. You will not be
ruled out for some trivial thing. We are most interested in the
people we believe can best help us build this department for the long
term. We will be most interested in the following factors, not
necessarily in this order.
Credentials
We have a strong preference to hire a PhD in CS, but we will look at
other alternatives. Do you have your PhD in hand, or are you ABD (all
but dissertation), or do you hold just a masters degree? Is it in CS?
If not, how closely is the degree (or your skills) related to CS?
Your credentials affect our work toward becoming an accredited CS
department, and the esteem in which we are held by others, including
prospective students and their parents. At a bare minimum, you must
have a masters degree in CS or a closely related field.
Teaching
Do you have teaching experience, preferably at a university, or at a
four-year or community college, but alternately as a bishop or youth
leader? What do your students and colleagues and leaders say about
your teaching? Have formal "teaching evaluations" been done on you,
either by students (by survey) or other faculty or both? Are you a
good teacher? Do your students learn? Do your students become
excited about the course material you present? Are you able to teach
all levels of student, from raw beginners to graduating seniors?
Skills and Interests
We would prefer to assign each faculty member those teaching
opportunities that lie closest to their heart, because excitement and
enthusiasm are contagious, and we want to excite and motivate our
students. But at the same time, not everyone can teach Algorithms or
Formal Languages or whatever, which we currently teach once per year.
Hopefully not everyone wants to. Do your skills and interests help us
cover an area of CS where we would otherwise be weak?
Research
We are not heavily into research. We do expect some ongoing
research (intellectual contribution), and we require it for promotion.
The normal curriculum gives the students and faculty breadth, but it
is wonderful when we can achieve some depth in an exciting area,
because most real-world work is depth work. Research gives students
the opportunity to collaborate in doing something with some depth and
substance.
Personality
How well will you fit in with the other members of the School of
Computing team?
Your Own Goals
We don't believe that a person can be "overqualified." When someone
is said to be overqualified, what is actually meant is that they will
not stay for very long. They really want to do something else. This
is just a temporary gig. Part of our goal will be to predict whether
you would be happy here, based on your goals as best we can discover
them.
Application Procedures
To apply, send the following materials to the contact address given
above. However, before you invest the considerable effort required to
apply, you are encouraged to contact Don Colton to verbally explore
the opportunities here. You are invited to send email with your
telephone numbers and the best times to try to call (and what time
zone). Or just send email and I will reply.
Please see the section "Timeline" below for further information about
the application procedure.
Application Procedures Part One
Before we get involved in the formal paperwork, we can become somewhat
acquainted so you decide whether to pursue this opportunity. The
materials in this phase can be composed into email (plain text is
best) for fast delivery. If you choose to send this information by
regular postal channels, please be aware that mainland to Hawaii can
easily take a week. Accordingly, email or fax are the strongly
favored methods of sending this material, with regular mail as a
backup or a follow-up.
1. Letter of Interest
Please submit a letter announcing your interest in teaching in the
Computer Science department at Brigham Young University Hawaii. This
can be done by email or paper.
2. Vitae
Please submit a Curriculum Vitae. Typically this lists your name,
contact information, academic degrees and dates, and relevant
experiences from your past. It also identifies your research and
other publications. Typically it is about four pages long, but longer
or shorter is fine. It should be formatted to print out nicely. It
will be the main document that represents you. Microsoft Office,
WordPerfect, LaTeX, and PDF are all acceptable.
For comparison and illustration, you may review my own Vitae from 1997 (sorry I have not
updated it).
3. Tests and Certifications
If not given in your vitae, please list all relevant standardized
tests and certifications you have completed. Particularly list the
GRE subject test in Computer Science, if taken, and your score.
4. Courses Taken
If not given in your vitae, please submit a list of all the relevant
courses you have taken, including undergraduate, grouped by date and
institution, specifying the course number, course name, credits
earned, and grade earned. Relevant courses would be anything in
Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Mathematics, Information
Systems, and maybe others at your discretion that indicate your
strength for teaching Computer Science.
The purpose of this information is to help us assess your classroom
exposure to various CS courses.
5. Courses Taught
If not given in your vitae, please submit a list of all the courses
you have taught at a college level (or higher). Specify institution,
date, course number, course title, and approximate enrollment.
6. Statement of Teaching Interests
The BYUH Computer Science department is relatively small (three FTE).
There is a strong focus on teaching, and only limited manpower to
cover the courses. It is helpful in our evaluation for us to know
where your strengths and interests are, so we can better visualize
your potential contribution to the department.
Please submit your response to the teaching
strengths and interests questionnaire.
The CS department attempts to follow CS accreditation guidelines. See
www.abet.org for relevant
information.
The CS department attempts to follow Computing Curricula
2001, Computer Science, Final Report (December 15, 2001), the
recommended CS curriculum developed under the joint direction of IEEE-CS and the ACM.
7. Statement of Research Interests
BYUH is primarily a teaching school, but it is clear that some active
involvement in research is helpful to create excitement and research
opportunities for students, and to provide intellectual stimulation to
faculty members. The CS department is attempting to create a common
research focus, possibly in connection with linguistics (considered
broadly), but this focus has not yet been established.
Please tell about your current or intended research. Do you see any
ways that your research could benefit a multi-cultural campus such as
BYUH?
Research responsibilities include teaching one introductory class,
usually at a junior (300) or senior (400) level, per year in an area
of your research expertise, conducting research, and involving
students in your research to the extent you can. Additionally you may
guide and mentor undergraduate CS research students in areas of their
own interest.
Promotion to Associate Professor currently requires demonstrated
ability to carry out research recognized at a national level.
Promotion to Full Professor currently requires the establishment of a
successful ongoing program of research (intellectual contribution)
recognized at a national or international level.
Application Procedures Part Two
After we are somewhat acquainted, if you decide to pursue this
opportunity, we will need formal paperwork.
The application and eccr/endorsement are in Adobe Portable Document
Format (PDF). To view them directly, you need the Adobe Acrobat
Reader plug-in installed on your computer. To view them indirectly,
you can download them to your computer (save to disk) and then view
them using Acrobat Reader (non plug-in). The Reader can be downloaded
at no cost from here
or here at Adobe's site on the
World Wide Web. It is available for Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, and
various flavors of Unix.
1. Application For Employment
Here is a link to a PDF version of the official BYU-Hawaii Application
For Employment. You are strongly urged to use this PDF form.
However, if you cannot work with PDF, you can also get a copy of the
form by FAX or postal mail from BYUH Human Resource Services, by
calling (808) 293-3713. Remember that postal mail is slow due in part
to the anthrax scare, and faxes tend to be blurry.
Please complete this form and submit it. Where questions are asked
and the information is already contained elsewhere in your application
packet, you are welcome to simply make reference to that information
by filling the blank with something like "See Vitae." For other
information that proves too large or inconvenient to fit in the blank
provided, you are welcome to use a separate sheet and make appropriate
reference to it on the application.
2. Employment Commitment and Confidential Report
Here is a link to a PDF version of the official BYU-Hawaii Employment
Commitment and Confidential Report, also called the Ecclesiastical
Endorsement. You are strongly urged to use this PDF form. However,
if you cannot work with PDF, you can also get a copy of the form by
FAX or postal mail from BYUH Human Resource Services, by calling (808)
293-3713. Remember that postal mail is slow due in part to the
anthrax scare, and faxes tend to be blurry.
Please work with your ecclesiastical leader to complete side 1 of this
form and submit it. If you are a bishop, have your stake president
complete the form with you. Then fax and/or mail this form to us.
After receiving this form, we must seek and receive clearance from
Church Headquarters on a per-individual basis before we can invite you
out for an interview.
3. Three Letters of Recommendation
When you decide that this looks like a good enough opportunity, submit
three letters of recommendation written specifically for this
position. These would typically be sent under separate cover.
Because mailing delays can be substantial, it is recommended that the
letter be both faxed and mailed.
Also submit a list of the letters that we should expect, including
names, email addresses, postal addresses, and telephone numbers of the
individuals making the recommendations.
4. Transcripts
Submit a current official transcript from the institution where your
highest degree was received. This may be sent under separate
cover.
If you are completing a higher degree, also submit a current official
transcript from the institution where it will be received. This may
be sent under separate cover.
If you have credits from other institutions, you can either ignore
them or send us unofficial transcripts at your discretion, but see
"courses taken" in connection with vitae above.
Timeline
A typical sequence of events starts with your visit to this web page.
It may then proceed as follows:
1. Email Contact
You might choose to send an email message to Don Colton introducing yourself and
briefly sketching your background and interest in the position.
2. Phone Contact
If you provide a telephone number, you may receive a call and engage
in a brief, exploratory chat. Or we may exchange several email
messages.
3. Application: First Round
We interview the most promising candidates and their spouses by flying
them to BYU Hawaii. Before we can do this, we must receive "clearance
to invite for an interview." This requires that we have, in hand,
your application, your ecclesiastical endorsement, and your vitae, at
a minimum. Since Sep 11, 2001, mail delivery has ranged from three
days to almost three weeks, with an average around one week. Because
of the delay introduced by US mail, it is recommended that when time
is of the essence, you should transmit your materials by fax and/or
email attachment as well as US mail.
After we receive some or all of your first-round application
materials, we will try to make a preliminary assessment of the
strength of your application. We may know that your application is a
strong one that we wish you to pursue, or we may know that your
application is unlikely to meet our present needs.
4. Application: Second Round
I always hate filling out forms and lining up letters of reference
until I have a pretty good feeling that it will be worth the effort.
After we review your first round of application materials, you should
be able to decide whether it will be worth your effort to provide the
rest of the materials.
5. Dates
Review and interviews are ongoing until the position is filled.