The below job was initially advertised as being restricted to only "Australian/NZ Residents". This mistake has now been rectified. The position is open to all world citizens! Cheers, Yusuf -- A/Professor Yusuf Pisan Games Studio Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology University of Technology, Sydney http://staff.it.uts.edu.au/~ypisan/ http://games.it.uts.edu.au/ Skype: ypisan On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 7:27 AM, Yusuf Pisan <yusuf.pisan@uts.edu.au> wrote:
JOB: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer* for Games at The University of Technology, Sydney
http://www.jobs.uts.edu.au/job/job_details.cfm?id=398945&from=direct Closing Date: 9 October 2009
[ Below information has a lot of my personal comments and observations, please make sure you read the key selection criteria from the above web page carefully when putting together your application ]
This is a permanent position at the School of Software in the University of Technology, Sydney**
UTS is based close to Central train station in Sydney and Sydney is the world's best city***.
The School of Software undertakes pioneering teaching and research essential for Australia’s futures ranging from developing prototype games for education, training and social issues, to examining and understanding virtual worlds and how they can be used.
The School is seeking to appoint a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer. You will join an active, vibrant and friendly School with a track record in cutting-edge research and teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The School has developed valuable research, built consulting and commercial links with leading organisations and industries in Australia and is connected to two major University Research Centres.
The successful candidate will hold a PhD or equivalent in a relevant field as well as a strong background in computer games, interactive entertainment or 3D animation. The successful applicant/s will also be supervising higher degree research students as well as making a contribution to the teaching activities of the Faculty.
Essential qualification: PhD in a related field. Since this position is in the Faculty of Engineering and IT (FEIT), people from technical fields would be preferred.
Essential Knowledge:
- Demonstrated knowledge in one or more of the school’s disciplines including computer games, interactive entertainment, animation and related industries. - Demonstrated knowledge of recent advances in one or more of the school’s disciplines - An appreciation of computing and software practice - Demonstrated depth of knowledge in innovation and in new modes of practice
Relevant Research Groups:
- Games Studio: http://games.it.uts.edu.au/ -- Yes, the web page needs updating, email me if you have questions - Human Centred Technology Design: http://www.research.uts.edu.au/strengths/hctd/overview.html - Interaction Design and Work Practice Laboratory: http://research.it.uts.edu.au/idwop/about.html - Creativity and Cognition Studios: http://research.it.uts.edu.au/creative
Relevant Courses (Undergraduate and Postgraduate Degrees)
- Bachelor of Science in Games Development: http://www.handbook.uts.edu.au/it/ug/index.html -- Small number of students (intentionally!), but the subjects that make up the course would be most relevant for people who are applying for this position - Graphics & Animation Submajor: http://www.handbook.uts.edu.au/directory/smj02066.html -- This is one of the specializations for students studying Bachelor of Science in Information Technology - Master of Animation: http://www.handbook.uts.edu.au/courses/c04212.html and http://www.dab.uts.edu.au/design/graduate-show/masters.html -- This is a cross-faculty course (Faculty of Design and Architecture and Built Environment, Faculty of Engineering and IT, and Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)
UTS has over 32,000 students and 2525 staff members (831 academic, 1163 support and 530 designated as research/support/academic staff). Additional facts can be found at http://www.uts.edu.au/about/vcw.html
Some facts about Faculty of Engineering and IT (based on march 2008 figures)
Total Faculty Budget: $40M Full time and fractional academic staff: 157.5 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) Part time casual academic staff: 40 FTE Support Staff: 107 FTE
2007 Undergraduate Students: 4146 2007 Postgraduate Students: 2258
Research Income: 6.6M
The official job announcement is located at http://www.jobs.uts.edu.au/job/job_details.cfm?id=398945&from=direct Please contact Richard Raban Richard.Raban@uts.edu.au for official enquiries and me (yusuf.pisan@uts.edu.au) for unofficial enquiries about this position.
(*)How does Lecturer/Senior Lecturer translate to the titles in USA? In USA, the usual titles are Assistant Professor is used for people that are pre-tenure, Associate Professor for people who have tenure and Professor for people who have been around, and contributed, for a long time. In Australia (and UK and some other countries), the titles are slightly different. The titles are not related to tenure since there is no tenure. The number of full-professors is much smaller than USA and there is often a quota on how many full-professors there can be at the university or faculty level. People who join university post-Phd are usually appointed as a lecturer. There are 6 steps in lecturer and you usually go up a step each year although occasionally it is possible to skip steps. Once you reach step-5 or step-6, you are expected to apply for the next position. Senior lecturer similarly has 6 steps which is followed by associate professor position. From associate professor to professor is only 4 steps, but is expected to take a longer time and is dependent on university levels quotas and such. The salary scales for UTS is available at http://www.hru.uts.edu.au/manual/2ea/academic/schedule1.html Faculties will occasionally have "salary loading" schemes to attract and keep exceptionally qualified academics. In most cases, all academics who are at Lecturer B step-2 across the university will get the same salary. Faculty of Engineering and IT (the faculty where this job is located) currently does not have a salary loading scheme. Going back to how titles translate. Lecturer is usually equivalent to Assistant Professor. Early years of Senior Lecturer correspond better to Assistant Professor while later stages correspond better to Associate Professor in USA.
(**)What does "permanent position" mean? In USA, after 7 years, you get tenure which confirms that the university wants to keep you forever and provides a high degree of job security. In Australia (and UK and some other countries), there is no tenure. Instead, you are hired into a permanent position. You are on probation for the first 2-3 years and in 99% of the cases, you become "permanent staff" at the end of that period. While it is not called tenure, being permanent staff does provide the similar high degree of job security. Once you are permanent staff, you remain permanent staff and do not have any further probationary periods as you get promoted from lecturer to senior lecturer to associate professor to professor.
(***) Sydney is the world's best city. This is more than my personal opinion, see http://www.cnn.com/2005/TRAVEL/07/12/australia.bestcity/index.html http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,,23306132-2702,00.html http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE55G0RM20090617 http://www.theage.com.au/travel/travel-news/best-city-sydney-loses-out-to-me... http://www.askdeb.com/personal-finance/world/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_Most_Livable_Cities
Cheers,
Yusuf
-- A/Professor Yusuf Pisan Games Studio Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology University of Technology, Sydney http://staff.it.uts.edu.au/~ypisan/ http://games.it.uts.edu.au/ Skype: ypisan