While faculty members do not act as agents for firms they, nevertheless, can have an impact on the firm's image on campus. ITK faculty use examples from industry in classes; they invite speakers to their classes; and they mentor students. In each of these cases the faculty member seeks to help the students, not any particular firm. But, the more familiar a faculty member is with a firm the more likely they are to use an example from that firm and the more intelligently they can advise a student. Identify faculty that are teaching in an area and/or are doing research that is particularly relevant to your firm and help to support the faculty member. Or, identify faculty that are particularly good teachers and then find ways to support them. Possible ways to support a faculty member include providing funding for their research or professional development; providing a contact in your firm that can act as a resource person on a particular topic of interest to the professor; providing a summer faculty internship; and hiring the professor as a consultant.
Contributions to the department for faculty recruitment and development are also always welcomed. It is not always easy to get new faculty positions authorized but once obtained; a department is given very little funding for recruiting faculty. For example, the funding provided to the ITK Department specifically for recruiting covers less than a quarter of the costs of recruiting a faculty member. Then once a faculty member is hired, additional funding is needed to assist the faculty member in remaining current in the IT field.
