Plenty of applicants for Aalto University’s new Tenure Track – first appointments made
11.04.2011
The first tenure track positions at Aalto University have been open since May 2010. These positions attracted a large number of high-quality applicants from Finnish and international scientific communities.
A total of 41 positions have been open, and the highest number of applicants for a single position was 193.
Invitational recruitment process is also possible if the candidate unquestionably fulfills the requirements of the tenure track position. Tenure track offers researchers a clear and well-supported career path towards professor-level tasks. The principle of the system is to have both the university and the individual commit to an academic career. Clear expectations and incentives combined with support for personal, professional and academic growth are essential elements in the system. The person selected for an open position is placed in one of three tenure track levels: Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Full Professor.
− Tenure track is a key strategic development target for us and our system has been built according to the best international practices, says Heikki Mannila, Vice President of Aalto University. For example, the large number of applications submitted for the three information and computer science professorships surprised the chair of department’s recruiting committee.
− We received 161 applications, 70% of which came from outside Finland. The quality of the applications was very high and included a large number of top researchers, states Pekka Orponen, Professor of Information and Computer Science.
− We had one tenure track professorship open in Computational Science (Complex Systems) – and we received 41 applications from 19 different countries. We also considered the overall quality of applicants to be outstanding, comments Kimmo Kaski, Professor of Computational Science.
The first Tenure Track appointments
The President of Aalto University has announced the first three tenure track appointments.
Matti Liski, D. Sc., has been appointed by invitation to the position of full professor in economics at Aalto University School of Economics. Liski’s research area is energy and environmental economics. Karolin Kirschenmann has been appointed assistant professor in finance. She specializes in bank research.
Docent Sampsa Hyysalo, Ph.D., has been appointed associate professor in design at the School of Art and Design. The professorship focuses on research and teaching in the areas of joint design and design cooperation.
− We are very satisfied to have recruited the first professors to the tenure system. Tenure track opens up opportunities for systematic recruiting and provides the prerequisites for research and teaching,” states Heikki Mannila.
The next 33 tenure track professorships will be opened for application later this year.
Further information:
http://www.aalto.fi/fi/about/careers/tenure_track/
Heikki Mannila, Vice President, Aalto University, tel. +358 50 511 2913
