Transcript Document

Faculty Policies, Resources and
Development at Ohio State
Susan S. Williams
Vice Provost for Academic Policy and
Faculty Resources
September 8, 2009
Faculty at Ohio State
• 18 Colleges
• 110 TIUs (Tenure Initiating Units)
• Joint appointments
• Centers and Institutes
Multiple Tracks
• See Faculty Rank Title Codes (Handbook Tab 7)
• Regular Faculty
• Tenure Track
• Clinical Track
• Research Track
• Auxiliary Faculty
• Lecturers, visiting, adjunct
Regular Tenure Track Faculty
• Professor: 1,164
• Associate Professor: 964
• Assistant Professor: 815
• Instructor: 19
• Total: 2,962
(Statistics via Faculty Analytics)
Regular Clinical Track
• Approved in 11 colleges
• Professor: 67
• Associate Professor: 150
• Assistant Professor: 327
• Instructor: 7
• Total: 551
Clinical Track
• Track must be approved by the University Senate
(see list on Handbook pp. 47-48)
• Hired for 3 – 5 years for specific duties
• Department must have criteria for appointment,
reappointment, and promotion
• Can be promoted through the ranks
• No time limit of time in rank
• May switch from tenure track or give up tenure to
be promoted in clinical track
• Reviewed during penultimate year
Regular Research Track Faculty
• Approved in 10 colleges
• Professor: 4
• Associate Professor: 4
• Assistant Professor: 58
• Total: 66
Research Track
• Contract for 1 – 5 years
• Salary must be supported from non-general funds
• Department must have criteria for appointment,
reappointment, and promotion
• Reviewed during penultimate year
Leadership Role
• Chair vs DEO (Department Executive Officer)
• Manager
• Leader
• Facilitator
• Agents for quality work: “convene faculty
conversations that, precisely because they raise
tough questions, evoke meaningful answers
defining the nature of their community’s work”
(Departments That Work, 126)
Transitioning to a New Role
• Shift your thinking from individual success to
collective success. The criteria for success as an
individual faculty member are not the same criteria
for success as a department chair/dean.
• Get into a learning and listening mode. Map out
what you need to learn and identify from whom
you can learn it. Develop relationships with those
who have information/resources you need.
• Identify opportunities to build personal credibility.
Shadow of the Leader
(Senn-Delaney)
Shadow of the Leader
Departments that work have chairs who
• Are good listeners
• Introduce difficult conversations
• Frame issues clearly, delineate options, and lay
out consequences of those options
• Create settings for quality work and remove
barriers to such work
• Create ways for the department to think critically
about its work as a unit (Wergin, 138)
Develop Trusting, Credible Relationships
• Relationships are made up of conversations
• As a leader, you will survive or fail one conversation at a time.
(See Seattle Post-Intelligencer article)
• Each conversation you have with another, enhances the
relationship, flat-lines the person, or takes the person down.
• The manner in which you have a conversation is
more important than the content of the
conversation.
• Enter into conversations with a listening, inquiring
approach. Be present in the conversation.
• Be real; be authentic; be respectful.
Professional Development as a Leader
• CIC Department Executive Officers Seminar
• CIC Academic Leadership Program
• Academic Leaders Series
• Coaching
• NSF ADVANCE Project CEOS at Ohio State
• College programs (e.g. MED, FAES Leadership
Institute)
Professional Development Beyond OSU
• American Council on Education (ACE) workshop
for chairs and deans
http://www.acenet.edu//AM/Template.cfm?Section=chairs_workshop
• Professional organization programs
• Magna Publications: http://www.magnapubs.com/
(Academic Leader newsletter)
• The Department Chair (e-journal in OSU Libraries)
Characteristics of a high quality department
• What are the criteria by which academic programs
are evaluated?
• What are the criteria by which you wish academic
programs were evaluated?
• How does this list compare to Wergin’s list on pp.
120 and 125?
Social Contract
Institutional Mission
Value added
to institution
Criteria for
department choices
Departmental Work
Value added
to department
Criteria for
faculty choices
Individual faculty work
“Framing”
“Focusing”
Discipline/profession
“Differentiating”
“Integrating”
The Engaged Department: Centrality of Faculty to Academic
Mission
• Inside-out approach
• Beginning with the work faculty are doing and
linking it to collective expectations (p. 21)
• Examine what the individual pieces add up to
• Ask the collective:
• How does the collective whole add value
• How are we more than just an aggregate of individual faculty
activity?
• What is it about our collective strengths, interests and
experiences that makes our group unique?
• How might we best contribute to the good of our students,
Ohio State and our discipline?
The Engaged Department
• Patterns of Administration
• Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure Documents
• Mission statements
• Hiring
The Engaged Department
Semester conversion as an example of Wergin’s
“Disorienting Dilemma” (p. 20)
• Relation to University Steering Committee
• Workload issues
• On duty/off duty issues (Task Force on Nine
Month Appointments)
• Curriculum issues
The Engaged Department
• Program Review
• See http://oaa.osu.edu/irp/programreview_intro.php
• On a six-year cycle determined by OAA and deans
• Program review consists of
• Data-informed self-review
• Visit and report by external team
• Goals and initiatives that emerge from internal and external
reviews are integrated with department and college strategic
plans
Program Reviews
• Ritual of “apparent compliance” or opportunity for
critical reflection and integration with the work of
the faculty? (p. 29)
• “Culture of evidence”
• Office of Institutional Research
• OSU:pro
The Engaged Department Invites
Strategic Conversations
• Create opportunities for faculty to engage in
critical reflection and have open discussion
• Set aside specific time for critical reflection.
Formats might include:
• Half-day retreats
• Extended faculty meetings where business is suspended
• Consider the use of a facilitator to structure and
facilitate discussion
Supporting Faculty:
Questions for Discussion
• What characteristics describe a valued colleague
in your unit? (p. 43)
• How do you support autonomy while also
supporting other institutional goals?
• How is autonomy related to academic freedom?
(p. 15)
• How are faculty valued and supported within a
“high performance academic culture”?
Supporting Faculty:
Annual Reviews
• Look at accomplishments as well as future plans
• Include planning for leaves (FPLs) and other
professional development
• Niche vs rut (Departments that Work, 21)
• Opportunity for goal setting and reflection
“A department chair can treat post-tenure review as one more
externally imposed rule and find ways of complying that will not
disturb or disrupt the status quo. Or a department chair can decide
to seize on the policy, misguided as it may be, as an opportunity to
address larger issues about teaching and scholarship”
(Departments that Work, x).
Supporting Faculty:
Promotion and Tenure
• Discuss procedures and criteria with new faculty
• Roles of P&T committee chair and chair in review
process
• OSU:pro
• Fairness in process is key
• “Eligible faculty” for P&T review
• Quorum
Extending the Tenure Clock
• Three ways to extend tenure clock:
• Birth/adoption of child (guaranteed but must
notify OAA)
• Adverse events beyond one’s control—
requires approval of P&T committee, dean,
OAA
• Part-Time (currently 47 faculty take this option)
Supporting Faculty
• Provide clear deadlines and schedule for the
academic year
• Pay attention to orientation and mentoring
opportunities for new faculty
OAA New Faculty Toolkit at
http://oaa.osu.edu/faculty_staff.php
MentorNet http://www.mentornet.net/
Supporting Faculty:
Nominations and Awards
• OSU awards
• Be proactive re national academies and other
national awards
• Develop and/or support departmental or college
awards committee
• Get the word out
Supporting Faculty:
Compensation
See Handbook Tab 1, Chapter 5 (begins p. 65)
Annual Merit Compensation Process
http://hr.osu.edu/comp/
Office of Academic Affairs Programs
• Counter offers (p. 69)
• Dual Career Hiring Program (p. 61)
Supporting Faculty:
Compensation as Recognition
“Faculty need evidence that someone’s paying
attention. That’s why so mahy salary disputes in
higher education seem so symbolic: Money, even in
miniscule increments, symbolizes recognition….
Other symbols of recognition, while simple are
surprisingly powerful….Recognition is public
validation, and it’s exceedingly powerful: hearing
unsolicited compliments from students or
colleagues, getting quoted in a research article;
fielding requests for assistance in an area of
professional expertise” (Departments that Work, 17)
Supporting Faculty:
Managing Conflict
• Respond to conflicts quickly; don’t let them fester
• Use your best listening skills…the more you
understand the problem, the better you will be
able to help
• Gather the facts; remember that each person
involved will have a new/different perspective
• Invite those in conflict to talk directly to each other,
and/or to talk with you together
• If those in conflict cannot resolve their issue, then
resolve it for them and be clear in your
expectations for moving beyond the conflict
Supporting Faculty:
Compliance
• Balance between individual entrepreneurship and
institutional risk
• Conflict of Interest forms must be submitted
annually
• Conflict of Commitment policy
• Leave forms
Create a Positive + Collegial Environment
• Set and maintain expectations for civil discourse
and rules of engagement.
• Address inappropriate behavior.
• Set guidelines for meetings; reduce the stress
associated with faculty meetings.
• Always refer cases of workplace violence, sexual
harassment, and discrimination to the Office of
Human Resources (2-2800)
Supporting Faculty:
Leadership Development
• CIC Academic Leadership Program
• President’s and Provost’s Leadership Institute
• Higher Education Resource Services (HERS)
Bryn Mawr Summer Institute
More information at
http://oaa.osu.edu/LeadershipDevelopment.php
Leadership Partners
• Organization and Human Resources Consulting (2-2800)
• Office of Legal Affairs (2-0661)
• Office of Academic Affairs (2-5881)
• Council of Deans, monthly
• Quarterly chairs meetings
• Chairs collaborating with chairs
• Office of Student Life
• The Women’s Place (2-3960)
• Graduate School (2-6031)
• UCAT