[game_edu] JOB: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer for Games at The University of Technology, Sydney

[Yusuf Pisan]

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 Sun, Sep 6, 2009 at 8:46 AM, Yusuf Pisan <yusuf.pisan at 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 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

>