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Creating Flexibility In Tenure-Track Faculty Careers Focus Of New Report From ACE

February 11, 2005 1:02 PM

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 a 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 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 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 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.

To view a pdf of the 12-page executive summary, click: here.