I am happy to let you know that the Board of Trustees passed the revised Promotion and Tenure policy last night. The policy will become effective on May 1, 2011. I thanked the board for their confidence in us and for their support of the notions of tenure and academic freedom in an environment where these concepts are under pressure. Of course, I expressed faculty's gratitude to Vice Provost Kathy Walsh and President Nivine Megahed for working so hard to create an agreed-upon policy to present to the board.
The board was very impressed with the process that faculty followed to build a policy that is clearly superior to its predecessor. They were also impressed with the policy itself. The board particularly liked the enhanced focus on research, the better articulation of excellence in teaching, the improved clarity, the emphasis on regular evaluation of faculty, and the clear differentiation of tenured/tenure track and non-tenured, which makes neither second-class citizens.
I would again like to thank everyone involved in developing this policy, including the Task Force, Senate, and all faculty who participated in meetings and/or research into the policy.
The BOT also began to engage with the budget challenges we are facing. They received a complete report on the university's finances, and in their executive session saw an overview of the ideas the administration is contemplating to balance the budget. Right now, no decisions have been made. I let the board know that we are working with administration to insure that there is faculty have opportunities to give advice and recommendations as the budget is developed, as well as ways to communicate with faculty leaders and faculty about the budget.
The BOT also made decisions about sabbatical applications. The board will act on promotion and tenure decisions at its June meeting.
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