[Air-L] JOB: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer* for Games at The University of Technology, Sydney

Wed Sep 9 14:27:33 PDT 2009

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 at uts.edu.au for official
enquiries and me (yusuf.pisan at 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-melbourne-20090609-c16x.html
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