Faculty Development: A non-traditional career pathway in academia
Non-Traditional Pathways in Academia
This talk intends to share a non-traditional career pathway to help fresh PhD students, faculty who consider changing their tracks, or professionals outside academia who are interested in a position in academia. In this talk, I will share a non-traditional career pathway in academia in USA I have been through. In the past twelve years, I always have dual appointments as a faculty member and an admin either in academia or at a federal agency. By choice, I started working as a tenure-track Assistant Professor and the Director of Engineering Programs later the Founding Department Chair just after I received my PhD. Eight years later, I was selected as a Program Director at the National Science Foundation (NSF) for about three years. I gave up my tenure after I rotated out of the NSF and joined Northeastern University in Arlington, VA as a Full Teaching Professor and Campus Director on behalf of Khoury College of Computer Sciences.
Several key points in this talk:
- the pros and cons of having a dual appointment in academia at three faculty rankings— assistant, associate and full;
- reflections on working experiences at a federal grant agency leading STEM education and STEM education research;
- observations as an officer/board member/volunteer of various professional societies— IEEE Educational Activities Board, IEEE Education Society, ABET, ACM and ASEE.
This talk intends to plant some seeds for those who want to change but still hesitate to change with concerns, those who do not know what others have been doing on a non-tenure track, and those who have not thought out of the box.
Date and Time
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- Starts 13 September 2026 02:09 PM UTC
- Ends 06 October 2026 04:00 AM UTC
- No Admission Charge
Speakers
HuiHui Wang of Northeastern University
Faculty Development: A non-traditional career pathway in academia
Biography:
Huihui Wang is a teaching professor and director of computing programs in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University, based in Arlington.
In her teaching, Wang teaches computing foundations courses and enjoys helping students without undergraduate CS degrees thrive at the graduate level. As an administrator, she recruits and supervises faculty for master’s programs in Arlington. In her research, she examines challenges and opportunities for computing education in the third wave of artificial intelligence, as well as how to build and strengthen pathways into computing fields.
Prior to joining Khoury College in 2024, Wang was a program director within the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for STEM Education and Directorate for Technology Innovation and Partnerships. She was also an associate professor of cybersecurity at St. Bonaventure University and the founding chair of the Department of Engineering at Jacksonville University.
Outside of academia, she enjoys dance and tennis.
Agenda
8:00 Virtual Doors open, introductions
8:10 pm Start of Distinguished Lecture
9:00 pm End of Lecture; Start of Q7A
9:10 pm End session and vote of thanks to the speaker
An IEEE Southeastern Michigan Section event. All are welcome. Consider becoming an IEEE member if such similar events are of professional/academic interest to you/
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