Duke University, Department of Physics
Chair's Web Page

This page contains information that should be useful for faculty in the department with regards to support, promotion, teaching, the administration, and planning.

Faculty Support

All faculty are encouraged to approach the chair for financial support for special project, matching money for grants, and bridge money between grants. Support is automatically earmarked for the following two areas, effective until further notice:

Meeting Support: Up to $500 per fiscal year (July 1 - June 30) will be provided for a regular-rank faculty member to attend a meeting that cannot be supported by a grant. Examples include: attending an organizational meeting whose sole purpose to organize a scientific meeting and the organizational meeting has not scientific component that could justify grant expenditures; attending a funding workshop that has a high probability of leading toward future externally-funded research; attending a workshop in a new area of research that is not yet funded. Please see the Departmental Administrative Manager to approve any expenses before you attend a meeting.
Sabbatical Support: Any faculty member on sabbatical can request funds of $2,000 per semester (July 1 - December 31 or January 1 - June 30) for support of the sabbatical project. Allowable expenses include: travel and living expenses at a place of research away from Duke, and attending a conference or workshop related to your sabbatical project. Funds cannot be spent to support students or post-docs in your group. Please see the Departmental Administrative Manager to approve any expenses before they are incurred.

Faculty research and travel is also supported by the Arts & Sciences Committee on Faculty Research. You can obtain up to $1,000 per year for travel to conferences where you are giving a presentation as long as you do not have an active research fund or startup finds (for the 10/11 academic year). In the past, you could apply for up to $5,000 per year if you are organizing a conference at Duke, and up to $5,000 per year for new research initiatives, but these are not available in the 10/11 academic year until the economic situation changes.

Faculty Lunches

Faculty gather approximately once per month to share lunch and to hear about the research activities of a colleague in an informal setting. An archive of current and past presenters is available.

Faculty Committee Assignments

Faculty undertake service to the Department and University. An archive of current and past committee assignments is available.

Faculty Promotion

The official guide for Advancement, Promotion, and Tenure is contained in the handbook on the Provost's web site. See also the information on the Arts & Sciences Faculty Affairs web site. Strict adherence to the procedures and policies in this handbook is imperative, both for candidates and for review committees.

The deadlines for submitting the required review materials to the Department are (effective March 7, 2008):

For reviews involving tenured faculty	Date candidate's materials due to the Department
Promotion to Assoc. Prof. with tenure (academic-year review) complete dossier due to the Dean by December 1	June 15
Promotion to Assoc. Prof. with tenure (calendar-year review) complete dossier due to the Dean by September 1	April 1
Promotion to Full Professor complete dossier due to the Dean by November 1	May 15
For all regular-rank reviews not involving tenure (POP, Research Prof., Lecturer, reappointment of tenure-track Asst. Prof.)	Date candidate's materials due to the Department
Appointment ends June 30 complete dossier due to the Dean by March 1	September 15
Appointment ends July 31 complete dossier due to the Dean by April 1	October 15
Appointment ends August 31 complete dossier due to the Dean by May 1	November 15
Appointment ends December 31 complete dossier due to the Dean by September 1	March 15

Teaching

Opting in to on-line publication of student course evaluations for your course

Instructions: Opting in or out for on-line publication is now done each semester when you fill in the Instructor part of the course evaluations (in the packet you receive near the end of the semester with the student course evaluation forms). If you would like to see your evaluations or retroactively change your opt-in/-out selection for a course, see the A&S Assessment site. Follow the link to 'Course Evaluations.'