The Faculty Senate recently passed a proposal that will allow professors to stay at AU after their first five years of teaching without gaining tenure. Faculty under the new system will be called Professors of the Practice. After their first five years of teaching, they will be offered renewable contracts ranging from two to five years.
Under the current system, faculty contracts are renewed each year for the first five years. After the fifth year, they are either offered tenure or are fired. To maintain tenure, professors must continue to teach, publish a certain number of articles per year and serve the community in some way. In the past four years, only 27 professors at AU have entered tenured positions.
Although the proposal appears to have wide support among faculty (it was approved by a 3-to-1 ratio), it raises some important questions.
The program seems most applicable for departments that rely more on applied skills, like journalism and applied political science. The new program gives faculty who work in the real world the option to continue teaching without the normal obligations of maintaining tenure, which can be a full-time job in itself. Though this will undoubtedly retain some oustanding new professors in applied fields to AU, it also may keep the overall pool of professors stagnant as fewer temporary teaching positions open.
On the other hand, some of the most rewarding professors are those who have spent their lives practicing what they teach. These profs, especially in communication fields, are more likely to be at the cutting edge of their field and to have relevant lessons for their students.
Students should stay tuned to what the Faculty Senate plans, as it could redefine the way our profs do their jobs.
