DISCUSSION DRAFT (May 2017)
Creating Teaching Intensive Career Path Leading to Permanency for Academic Faculty
University at Albany, SUNY
Preamble
One of the recommendations of the “blue-ribbon” Panel on contingent faculty at UAlbany is to
“create career ladders and pathways for progression to permanence for contingent faculty and
professional staff.” The Panel also offered additional commentary and a notional framework for
a Pathway to Permanence (see Appendix D of the Panel Report). In the 18 months since the
Panel’s review, several institutions in the U.S. and Canada have installed new titles, procedures,
and terms of employment to recognize the long-term value and importance of contingent or
teaching-intensive academic faculty. This proposal is based on a review of those initiatives and
seeks to establish a similar framework that makes sense for the needs, constraints, and
opportunities at UAlbany.
While the SUNY Trustees’ Policies do not currently provide a fully-formed teaching intensive
title series for academic faculty, we propose a campus-based program that is connected to the
currently available tenure-track budget title of Instructor. Thus, faculty appointed to a teaching
intensive campus title would also be appointed to the Instructor budget title. This program would
maintain the availability and use of the Lecturer budget title, a non-tenure track title, though it
may potentially apply to individuals who are currently appointed as full-time Lecturers.
The proposed teaching intensive title series would constitute, in effect, a new tenure-track
pathway for academic faculty at UAlbany. The vision is that these faculty members would be
fully integrated, voting members of the academic faculty in the academic unit of appointment
(i.e., department, school, college).
Candidates for appointment to teaching intensive faculty positions would be authorized and
recruited for in the same manner as candidates for faculty appointment in the unqualified
academic ranks. Searches would be authorized by the Provost, on behalf of the President, based
on recommendations from the school/college deans. Recommendations would be based on
programmatic needs, both current and future, and would specify the job description, including
the proposed qualifications, compensation, start date, and initial duration of appointment.
Individuals currently appointed as Lecturers would not automatically be eligible for conversion
to Instructors and the teaching intensive career pathway. Neither are they ineligible to be
considered should an academic unit propose them for conversion. Recognizing that a number of
the University’s current full-time contingent academic faculty have served the institution for
many years, we also propose that the guidelines include a provision for Lecturers to petition their
department for conversion after ten years of continuous service.
Teaching Intensive Title Series
The teaching intensive title series would parallel the currently available unqualified tenure-track
academic titles.
Teaching Assistant Professor, terms appointments for a six year probationary
appointment culminating in a review for continuing appointment
Teaching Associate Professor (with continuing appointment)
Teaching Professor (with continuing appointment)
Insofar as possible, the obligations, rights, and privileges for faculty appointed to teaching
intensive titles would parallel those currently available to faculty members appointed to full-time
unqualified academic ranks. This would include a full-time obligation across the three traditional
aspects of the academic obligation (teaching, service, and scholarship); full voting rights in the
academic unit of appointment and throughout the University; and eligibility for leaves, small
grants, and other resources available for professional development. The definition of the
“teaching intensive” obligation will be determined within the professional context of the
applicable academic.
Criteria and Process for Review for Promotion and Continuing Appointment
The process for review for promotion and continuing appointment would follow the University’s
established process for tenure-track academic and library faculty as described in the campus’s
Administrative Procedures. The criteria for evaluation, however, would be weighted in favor of
teaching and service. The specific standards and related details for each criterion would be
developed by individual departments and schools. The following articulation is offered as a start
for discussion purposes:
I.
In the review process, primary emphasis will be placed upon the major areas of teaching,
service, and scholarship. For this purpose teaching is broadly defined as mastery of the
traditional modes of instruction – e.g., lecture, seminar, independent study – in university
level education. This may include participation in the delivery of core curricula,
specialized curricula, and innovative pedagogies. The contribution may also include
participation in individual student mentoring, applied education (e.g., supervising
internships), curriculum development, and assessment.
II.
Recommendations shall be based primarily upon a careful deliberation concerning the
effectiveness of the candidate within each of the three following categories as appropriate
to the position of the candidate within the University.
A.
Teaching as documented by such evidence as student and peer evaluations,
development of teaching materials or new courses, student advisement, thesis
supervision, and evidence of lasting contribution to students' intellectual growth.
B.
Service appropriate to the rank as demonstrated by participation in departmental,
college, and university duties and governance.
C.
Scholarly engagement sufficient to keep current in the candidate’s field, as
documented in course syllabi, by professional presentation and publication, by
development of educational and research materials or software, or by creative
contributions in the arts. Also included is mastery of subject matter as
demonstrated by advanced degrees, licenses, honors, small grants, awards,
reputation in the field, and continuing professional growth.
III.
Candidates for promotion are expected to demonstrate excellence primarily in teaching
and service, together with evidence of engagement in scholarship.
For promotion to teaching associate professor, candidates are expected to have
demonstrated a strong commitment to the educational mission of the university together
with a capacity for developing productive relationships with students and performing at
high levels of effectiveness and impact as teachers and mentors. In addition, candidates
are expected to engage successfully in institutional service and to be active scholars as
required to be informed professional members of their discipline.
For promotion to teaching professor, candidates are expected to present evidence that
they have made continued major contributions in effective teaching, mentoring and
institutional service, including in leadership roles related to the curriculum, pedagogy,
and the mentoring of junior instructors. This is also an opportunity to recognize
participation in the national development of the teaching intensive profession,
particularly as in the context of public research universities.
As with the current tenure-track academic faculty, the academic year salary will be
increased by $4,000 on promotion to teaching associate professor, and by $5,000 on
promotion to teaching professor.
