Tenure-Track Line Requests

October 2007
To: Members of the Faculty

From: Joan Cocks, Chair, Academic Priorities Committee - Donal O’Shea, Dean of Faculty 

Re: Requests for new tenure-track lines:  Deadline February 13

The APC serves as the faculty’s representative voice in the process of allocating tenure-track lines.  As such, it serves as a resource to departments considering tenure-track hires and advises the Dean on the relative priority of submitted proposals.

Departments, programs, or groups of faculty seeking a new tenure-track line should submit a proposal to the APC (c/o the Dean of Faculty’s office) by Wednesday, February 13.  The first paragraph should be an abstract or summary of the proposal for a general audience.  We will lift that paragraph and put it in the March or April faculty meeting agenda material.  The body of the proposal should be an argument for how the proposed position would strengthen the academic program of the College, and why we ought to invest in such a position.  We ask for a letter of two to three pages, with any appendices you think would help make your case.

The APC asks that all requests for positions address the following core question: 

What is the curricular and intellectual justification for the position?

In answering this question, please attend to both the teaching and the scholarly roles that will be fulfilled by the new hire, describing (1) the teaching work that the department or program needs to accomplish, and how the requested position will contribute; and (2) the role the new position will play within the department or program, in the context of the intellectual evolution of the discipline. 

In addition to these core issues, requests should address the following questions, as appropriate:

a.  Will the proposed position contribute to College-wide, Five College, and/or other curriculum-wide initiatives? 

b.  What is the age structure of your department or program?  Are there anticipated retirements?

c.  Is there consensus within your department about the need for a new position and about how the position should be defined?  If there are minority views in the department, please summarize them briefly.

d.  Have you discussed the position with other, potentially interested departments or programs on campus or in the Five Colleges?  Is there any possibility of a shared or joint appointment?  Does the position build any bridges to other parts of the curriculum?

e.  How is the case for the position strengthened by the numbers (e.g., enrollments, numbers of majors graduating each year, and students/FTE in your department)?

February 13 - Requests due to APC (send to Dean of Faculty)

March 3 - Requests returned to chairs for revision, as necessary

March 12 - Revisions due to APC (send to Dean of Faculty)

March/April - Abstracts published in Faculty Meeting agenda

By end of April APC submits recommendations to Dean of Faculty

As early in the spring as possible, the Dean of Faculty will announce how many new tenure-track searches we are likely to be able to approve. 

Don and Joanne will make the final decisions about which tenure-track positions to approve, taking into account the APC recommendations.  Don expects to report those decisions in May.