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Six Institutions Awarded $200,000 Grants to Implement Innovative Faculty Career Flexibility Initiatives

Washington, DC (Jan. 29, 2008)—Boise State University (ID), Canisius College (NY), Santa Clara University (CA), San Jose State University (CA), Simmons College (MA), and the University of Baltimore (MD) have been named recipients of the 2007 Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Faculty Career Flexibility.

Each accelerator award of $200,000 will enable the institutions to expand and enhance flexible career paths for faculty. The Alfred P. Sloan Awards for Faculty Career Flexibility recognize master’s colleges and universities for their leadership and accomplishments in implementing groundbreaking policies and practices supporting career flexibility for tenured and tenure-track faculty. The awards program is sponsored by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and conducted by the American Council on Education (ACE) with support from the Families and Work Institute.

In addition, Benedictine University (IL) and Plymouth State University (NH) will receive $25,000 awards in recognition of innovative practices in career flexibility.

“Flexible career paths not only meet the needs of faculty, but can also advance institutional goals such as recruitment and retention of faculty at colleges and universities of all types and sizes,” said Kathleen Christensen, program director for Workplace, Workforce and Working Families at The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “Winning institutions demonstrated the ability to accelerate existing programs, quickly implement creative new approaches and model best practices in faculty career management.”

“Colleges and universities have a unique opportunity to further embrace diversity in their workforce by offering career flexibility options to their tenured and tenure-track faculty, men and women who seek a positive work-life balance. The programs selected for recognition this year are part of a growing national trend and will assist in the recruitment and retention of valued faculty,” said Claire Van Ummersen, ACE vice president, Center for Effective Leadership.

The awards program was open to the 325 master’s institutions as defined in the 2005 Carnegie Classifications. In all, 56 institutions participated in the first round survey and 26 institutions advanced to the second round of competition.

Boise State University plans to develop mentoring programs for faculty to address the work-life balance issues inherent in all career stages; create policies and processes that allow for part-time tenure-track and tenured appointments for faculty at all stages of their careers; and educate promotion and tenure committee members and faculty regarding policies and procedures that speak to career flexibility, thereby ensuring consistency in opportunities and decision-making across the university.

Canisius College will implement several new policies and practices: instituting a second extension of the probationary period; establishing a half-time or part-time appointment with proportional salary; allowing faculty to count summer teaching as part of their annual course load; providing employment assistance to faculty spouses as well as use of the employee assistance program; and creating an emergency family travel loan in the event of a distant family emergency such as a death, accident, or sickness.

San Jose State University has proposed an academic career life cycle approach for early, middle, and late career faculty. An example of one of the proposed initiatives is the development of a special retreat for tenured faculty members who are evaluated in the post-tenure review process. The retreat will focus on a “development option,” to reinforce the importance of reflection on past achievements and to plan for future academic accomplishments.

Santa Clara University will implement initiatives in several areas, one of which will include the development of a pedagogy for change by offering undergraduate courses focusing on work-life balance for both female and male students. The courses will include both cognitive and experiential approaches to helping students develop the knowledge base and the skills needed to navigate issues associated with work-life. Students will also engage in simulated work-life decision-making exercises, requiring them to make and explain their choices in career planning, budgeting, partnership or marriage, child care, scheduling, and housekeeping. All advances made at Santa Clara University will be shared with the 28 members of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities.

Simmons College will implement a training program for department chairs, deans, and search, tenure, and promotion committees to help them understand and advance existing flexibility options on their campus. Simmons will encourage scholarship excellence without creating additional workload by systematically reducing faculty loads from three-three to three-two and by creating a fund to hire temporary replacement faculty for those faculty members who are on leave. Finally, Simmons will implement an innovative succession planning program for mid- and senior-level faculty interested in academic administration.

The University of Baltimore will address the needs of “Generation X” faculty by developing a new hire transition package, including dual-career support. They university also will facilitate and formalize a program of career mentoring by peers. Additionally, the University of Baltimore will define, formalize and communicate a liberal policy of phased-in retirement for faculty. All best practices developed will be share with their sister institutions in the University System of Maryland.

Benedictine University will commence an Appreciative Inquiry Summit on Academic Career Flexibility using the internal expertise of their Ph.D. program faculty in Organizational Development. They will develop a compendium of career flexibility best practices from focus groups of key experts to be selected from more than 150 alumni and current doctoral students. By establishing action projects around the institution’s academic priorities from the Summit, Benedictine will incorporate those projects into their existing Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) strategic plan.

Plymouth State University has effectively used, on an ad hoc basis, paid leave for extenuating faculty health and family reasons; the university will work in conjunction with the University System of New Hampshire to determine if, and how, this practice can be formalized into policy.

Applicants were evaluated in a two-part process. During the first round, an institutional survey about career flexibility offered to tenured and tenure-track faculty (excluding medical schools) was completed. The second round included a faculty survey and an institution-wide accelerator plan for the development and use of career flexibility programs among faculty. Among the issues considered were faculty recruitment and retention; strengthening faculty commitment, engagement, and morale; achieving institutional excellence; and maintaining academic competitiveness in a global market.

A blue ribbon panel of recently retired college and university presidents and chancellors reviewed and rated the plans, including Charles I. Bunting, former chancellor of Vermont State Colleges; Anne L. Deming, president emerita of Notre Dame College (OH); Gladys Styles Johnston, chancellor emerita of the University of Nebraska at Kearney; Dale Rogers Marshall, president emerita of Wheaton College (MA); and Bob H. Suzuki, president emeritus of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

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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