Inside Iowa State
October 23, 1998
Faculty Senate approves revised P&T document
by Linda Charles
A slightly revised promotion and tenure policy received approval from the Faculty Senate at the Oct. 13 meeting. The policy must be approved by President Martin Jischke and the State Board of Regents before it goes into effect.
The new promotion and tenure policy was approved by a full faculty vote last spring. Provost John Kozak reviewed the policy over the summer, asked the deans to review it and held a workshop for DEOs to obtain input on the policy. The provost then recommended several changes, most of them minor edits or changes to make the policy consistent with other policies.
Senate President-elect Dean Ulrichson, chair of a committee that met with representatives from the Provost Office to work out details on suggested changes, said there were only two significant changes to the policy that the senate approved.
The first concerns a section that allows a faculty member who has been turned down for tenure to request a second review. The original wording said: In all cases, a faculty member is entitled to a second review, whether in the seventh year or earlier upon the faculty member's request.
The revised section now reads: A faculty member may request an additional review during the final year of the probationary period if there has been a substantial change in the record.
Currently, the decision on tenure routinely is made in the sixth year, but officials were concerned the original wording might lead to the decision being made in the seventh year.
Another concern was that some faculty might request first reviews a year or two earlier just to test the system, knowing they could have follow-up reviews.
The second significant change in the promotion and tenure policy involves the composition of the college promotion and tenure advisory committee. The votes and recommendations of this committee are forwarded to the college dean.
The original policy called for members to be elected by the college's faculty or appointed from a list of names voted upon by the college's faculty. The new wording says: Selection procedures for committee membership are defined in the college promotion and tenure document. Selection procedures will incorporate input from the faculty or their elected representatives.
Some deans had pointed out that their faculty already had faculty-approved methods for selecting promotion and tenure committees. The senate agreed to let the colleges dictate how committees are formed, as long as faculty have input.
The next senate meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in 260 Scheman. Jischke will attend the meeting and has been asked to talk about the promotion and tenure policy.
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