The Faculty Senate will play a larger role this year in the promotion and tenure process with the creation of a new committee comprised of Senate members.
The committee plans to encourage a stronger emphasis on evaluating Web-based research and a greater consideration for faculty members with children, said Gene Block, University vice president and provost.
"We've recognized portions of the promotion and tenure process that need to be looked at from time to time," Block said.
Block proposed the formation of the committee to address faculty concerns with the promotion and tenure process. Block said the committee, comprised of Faculty Senate members, will ensure the promotion and tenure processes are current and similar to procedures at comparable schools.
The committee will grant faculty members a greater leadership role in the promotion and tenure process, Block added, and faculty members will take responsibility for creating policies that affect University faculty members.
"This is absolutely a faculty effort," Vice Provost for Academic Programs J. Milton Adams said.
Adams said the committee will make changes to the promotion and tenure process to reflect the changing face of scholarship. More faculty members are publishing their work online and through other information technology venues, which requires a new way of evaluating faculty research, he added.
The committee also will consider changing the promotion and tenure timetable, Adams said. Under the current system, typically faculty members are on a seven-year track to be promoted and granted tenure.
"Faculty fathering and mothering children, adopting children and raising children asks us, 'Does it make sense to extend that period of time?'" Adams said.
Increasing faculty participation in the promotion and tenure process will positively impact faculty members, Adams said.
"The ultimate goal is to make sure the faculty are successful," Adams said. "We want to ask the right questions and make the right judgments."
The makeup of the committee still is under consideration, Block said. Most of the work will begin next semester.
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