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Award encourages career flexibility for faculty
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Boise State was recently awarded $200,000 from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and American Council on Education in order to implement plans that encourage flexibility in faculty careers. BSU was one of six colleges and universities to receive the 2007-2008 Alfred P. Sloan Award for Faculty Career Flexibility, which was open to 325 competitors.
BSU Vice President and Provost for Academic Affairs Sona Andrews said the grant is significant in several ways.
“First, it provides recognition, through a national competition, for the leading edge programs and support that we are already providing to enhance the quality of our faculty.
Second, it provides monetary support to accelerate our plans for improving career flexibility for our faculty,” Andrews said.
According to the winning award proposal submitted by the university, career flexibility will involve making more part-time positions available for tenured and tenure-track faculty.
“A tenure-track position is when a faculty member has been hired for a tenure-eligible position, but will work a few years at the institution before a formal decision is made on whether tenure will be granted,” BSU Director of Communications and Marketing Frank Zang said.
As it stands now, there is no comprehensive university-wide policy for part-time faculty appointments. With the grant, BSU will educate the Promotion and Tenure Committee members on part-time options available, while spreading the word to faculty members as well.
There are 451 tenured and tenure-track faculty members employed at the university, making up about 75 percent of the total faculty.
The award proposal outlined the importance of career flexibility for attracting and keeping quality professors.
“Early-career faculty may desire this flexibility to care for families. Mid-career faculty may choose to broaden their professional experiences by taking on administrative roles . or by working in community-based business, industry, educational systems or agencies. Mid-career and late-career faculty may also have dependent care responsibilities or wish to explore retirement options,” the proposal read.
The university gave out a climate survey in 2006 to measure what faculty thought of career flexibility options.
It plans to re-administer the survey in order to determine which areas still need work.
BSU also plans to begin a mentoring program for all faculty that will provide guidance in balancing work with other life responsibilities. The program will be headed by a committee and will strive to make the mentoring procedure comparable in all departments.
“[T]he need for wise and friendly counsel does not stop when tenure or promotion is achieved,” the proposal noted. It stated that instead of targeting only junior faculty members, mentoring will be available to professors at every stage of their careers.
A mentoring pilot program will begin in the fall of 2008 with a small number of participants and will gradually increase to cover all faculty members who desire to be included. The program will be advertised via announcements and Website updates.
According to the award proposal, providing job satisfaction for faculty members is a crucial part of BSU’s goal of recognition as a major metropolitan research university of distinction.
“It is Boise State University’s goal to be recognized as a university that is a great place for students to learn and for faculty and staff to work,” the proposal stated.
JENNIFER SAWMILLER
News Writer