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Creating Flexibility In Tenure-Track Faculty Careers Focus Of New Report From American Council On Education

Washington, DC (March 22, 2005)—Higher education leaders urgently need to examine and proactively address the institutional climate that governs the entire career cycle of faculty-from entry-level to tenure-track positions to retirement, according to the findings of a new report from a national panel of university presidents and chancellors and the American Council on Education (ACE).

In An Agenda for Excellence: Creating Flexibility in Tenure-Track Faculty Careers, ACE and the national panel of presidents and chancellors outline an ambitious agenda to reform and enhance the academic career path for tenured and tenure-track faculty.

"Colleges and universities face a compelling need for change in the current rigid structure of the traditional academic career path," said David Ward, president of ACE. "In order for American higher education to sustain its leading role in a diverse and changing environment, we need to create greater flexibility in the tenure-track career path. Flexibility is central to recruiting and retaining the most talented scholars and critical to preserving excellence in teaching and innovative research."

The report is the first product of a grant to ACE from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to fund the project: Creating Options: Models for Flexible Tenure-Track Career Pathways. Through the project, ACE and the national panel are striving to: raise awareness of faculty work-life issues, spark a national dialogue to encourage change in the career cycles of tenured and tenure-track faculty, and to generate thoughtful, tested approaches to assist campuses in adapting promising practices to address faculty work-life issues.

"The critical work-life dilemmas detailed in this report indicate an urgent need for higher education leaders to examine and proactively address the institutional climate that governs the entire career cycle of faculty-from entry into tenure-track positions to retirement,"said Claire Van Ummersen, vice president and director of the Office of Women in Higher Education at ACE. "This is necessary to attract and retain those who are most talented in order to maintain excellence in teaching and cutting-edge research and to provide incentives for older faculty to retire with satisfaction and financial security, thereby accommodating the next generation of scholars and teachers."

"The Foundation is convinced that higher education can achieve workplace excellence by providing flexible career paths that meet the needs of both the institution and the faculty," said Kathleen Christensen, program director for Workplace, Workforce and Working Families at The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Members of the National Panel of Presidents and Chancellors are: Lawrence Bacow, president of Tufts University (MA); Molly C. Broad, president of The University of North Carolina System; Nancy Cantor, chancellor of Syracuse University (NY); Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan; and France A. Cordova, president of the University of California, Riverside. Also serving are Gordon Gee, chancellor of Vanderbilt University (TN); Kermit Hall, president University of Albany, SUNY; Karen A. Holbrook, president of Ohio State University; William E. Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland; and Graham Spanier, president of Pennsylvania State University.

The National Panel found that an increasing number of new Ph.D.s are leaving academia or opting for careers outside the traditional tenure-track path. Many are forced to do so because of the tightening academic job market in a wide range of disciplines. Others, especially women, find themselves in adjunct and non-tenure-track positions-despite low pay, minimal or no benefits, and lack of potential job security-for a better balance between personal / family life and professional life. Such positions provide them with the time and flexibility they seek to place family as their priority at particular stages of their lives and careers.

The panel concluded that institutional leaders must act immediately to attract the best faculty to the tenure-track professorate at research universities. As student enrollments of women and people of color continue to grow-both at the undergraduate and graduate levels-these demographic groups will represent a substantial proportion of the pipeline to the professorate. However, current data show that women tend to be less likely to pursue tenure-track faculty positions at research universities after earning doctorates, and anecdotal evidence suggests the same is true for Ph.D.s of color.

In certain disciplines, namely science and technology, U.S. higher education cannot afford to lose any of its potential intellectual workforce and desperately needs the best talent in research and teaching. Talented scholars are necessary for innovative research and development to contribute to economic development of the country and to keep U.S. higher education in a competitive position worldwide, as well as for the country’s security.

The National Panel of Presidents and Chancellors advocates creating flexible tenure-track faculty career paths at higher education institutions nationwide. The panel strongly recommends changing the current rigid structure of traditional tenure-track faculty career paths. To be effective, institutional leaders must document their commitment to this effort by providing financial resources to:

• Create hospitable environments that welcome and support a diverse faculty in meeting changing needs throughout their careers.
• Develop policies and programs that encourage flexible career paths to help faculty balance work-life issues, avoid stagnation and burnout, and remain productive.

The National Panel also recommends that presidents and chancellors take steps to:

• Allow colleges, schools, and departments within a university to establish their own agreed upon guidelines for interpreting criteria for promotion and tenure, taking into account heavy teaching loads, professional service activities, student advising, and the four distinct functions of scholarship, as outlined by Ernest Boyer in Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professorate.
• Create flexibility in the probationary period for tenure review without altering the standards or criteria. Longer probationary periods should not be required for all faculty, but flexible time frames of up to 10 years with reviews at set intervals should be offered. This option could benefit faculty who may need to be compensated for lost time or given additional time to prepare because of unanticipated professional or personal circumstances.
• Examine and proactively address the work-life issues and professional climate of faculty members throughout the entire career cycle.

The National Panel plans to investigate financial models for various scenarios of flexible faculty career pathways. But poses a key question to institutional leaders: "Can we afford not to invest in the future of our institutions by not investing in our faculty?"The panel argues that by spending money to establish flexible faculty career pathways, institutional leaders are investing in a more diverse, more satisfied, and more productive faculty, especially among those who are hardest to attract and hold. Such an investment in tenure-track faculty members will bring a handsome return in terms of loyalty and productivity and will expand the pool of potential faculty members through supportive and friendly policies, programs, and environments. In this way, institutions will be better able to attract and keep the best talent available.

The National Panel is convinced that effective and strategic implementation of the policies, programs, and practices set forth in this report will ensure the preservation and nourishment of American colleges and universities’ most valuable asset: faculties of bright, talented, committed and diverse individuals, whose scholarship, research and teaching will build on the excellence that is our institutions’ hallmark and retain the nation’s position as having the finest system of higher education in the world.

Founded in 1918, ACE is the nation’s largest higher education association, representing more than 1,600 college and university presidents, and more than 200 related associations, nationwide. It seeks to provide leadership and a unifying voice on key higher education issues and influence public policy through advocacy, research, and program initiatives.

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic nonprofit institution, supporting the needs of the Workplace, Workforce and Working Families.

Recommendations of the National Panel of Presidents and Chancellors

Enhance Recruitment Efforts

• Uncover and eliminate the preventable causes of talented Ph.D.s opting out of tenure-track faculty positions.
• Create re-entry opportunities (e.g., postdoctoral fellowships) for Ph.D.s who seek tenure-track faculty careers later in life after having decided to stop out of academia or work part time in order to manage career and family responsibilities.
• Abolish penalties in the hiring process for documented dependent care-related résumé gaps.
• Provide assistance to new faculty hires with spousal/partner employment needs and other family-related relocation issues.
• Allow couples employed by the same institution to select from a cafeteria-style health-care and dependent-care benefits plan (e.g., the family might be covered under the wife’s plan for health care and the husband might use his health-care allotment toward the cost of dependent care).

Improve Career Satisfaction, Retention, and Advancement

• Create incentives for faculty to develop more collegial environments, in which all ranks are encouraged and rewarded for collaborating with, guiding, and mentoring their colleagues.
• Provide training to evaluators to put in place clear and consistently applied promotion and tenure guidelines that are (and are seen as) fair, non-discriminatory, and consonant with alternative career path policies the institution has adopted.
• Allow colleges, schools, and departments within a university to establish their own agreed upon guidelines for interpreting criteria for promotion and tenure, taking into account heavy teaching loads, professional service activities, student advising, and the four distinct functions of scholarship, as outlined by Ernest Boyer in Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professorate.
• Develop opportunities throughout the career cycle for tenured and tenure-track faculty members to opt for part-time positions that can be used for a specified period (up to five years) as personal needs arise.
• Establish guidelines for faculty to have the option of multiple-year leaves for personal or professional reasons.
• Create flexibility in the probationary period for tenure review without altering the standards or criteria. Longer probationary periods should not be required for all faculty, but flexible time frames of up to 10 years with reviews at set intervals should be offered. This option could benefit faculty who may need to compensate for lost time or be given additional time to prepare because of unanticipated professional or personal circumstances.
• Provide quality, affordable childcare to tenured and tenure-track faculty, particularly new hires (or information about available services); establish or provide information for childcare programs for emergency back up, evening and overnight care, and school and summer breaks.

Improve the Climate for All

• Create a professional climate in which the use of family-friendly and work-life policies is acceptable and not penalized.
• Examine and proactively address the work-life issues and professional climate of faculty members throughout the entire career cycle.
• Assess the degree to which campus environments are amenable to and supportive of the achievements of their faculty.
• Allow units to determine how best to meet their productivity goals and objectives and provide block grants to colleges, schools, and departments to help them do so. This will help curtail the level of competition among colleagues within a given unit.

Develop Incentives for Faculty Retirement

• Provide phased retirement plans under which senior, retirement-age professors may continue teaching or conducting research, or both, part time for a limited number of years.
• Offer partial or full coverage for health insurance to faculty for a set number of years after retirement, or implement retirement health savings programs.
• Provide space on campus where faculty retirees can convene to share intellectual ideas, presentations, and so forth with each other and the campus community. Find appropriate ways to continue to engage retired faculty.

Founded in 1918, ACE is the major coordinating body for all the nation's higher education institutions, representing more than 1,600 college and university presidents, and more than 200 related associations, nationwide. It seeks to provide leadership and a unifying voice on key higher education issues and influence public policy through advocacy, research, and program initiatives.

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