By CHELSEA HUNT Staff Writer
To Maria Dantas-Whitney, professor of bilingual education and ESOL, tenure means recognition and duty. For Thomas Rand, professor of English literature, having
tenure creates an association between him and the university that he is proud of.
Even though some students have heard the term tenure, not all fully understand what it means and how it works. Tenure, essentially, brings job security. Teachers who have tenure cannot get fired unless they display inappropriate behavior or
poor teaching.
This security allows teachers the ability to take risks. As a prime example of this freedom, Rand cited Grover Krantz, who was a professor at Washington
State University. Because Krantz had tenure, he had the freedom to pursue cryptozoology in his research of Bigfoot, which would otherwise have been too risky a pursuit for a professor.
Faculty who have tenure have the title of associate professors and professors. Those who are on the tenure-track are often assistant professors.
Both tenure-track and tenured faculty receive salary increases along a regular salary step system.
Those seeking tenure go through a series of reviews by different levels of the university, from the division chair and their peers, to the dean, and finally to
the provost.
Dantas-Whitney, as chair of the teacher education division, plays an active role in reviewing other faculty members. She calls this “a very rewarding experience.”
In order to receive tenure, and after receiving tenure, professors must display good teaching, scholarship, and service.
According to Sue Monahan, dean of the college of liberal arts and sciences, “faculty who earn tenure are expected to be strong teachers and to maintain a scholarly presence in their academic field.”
Faculty are also expected to be active members of professional and local communities.
For faculty hired on the non-tenure track, these responsibilities are still relevant, even though they are not working toward receiving tenure.
Non-tenure-track faculty can also provide high quality teaching to students and research to their scholarly communities.
Debbi Brannan, who is a non-tenure-track assistant professor of psychology, brings her own experience to her department.
“Having conducted cross-cultural research and my applied research experience has been a nice addition to an already strong and diverse department,” Brannan wrote in an email.
Non-tenure-track faculty, depending on their level of education and their role at the university, are designated as lecturers, instructors, or adjunct professors.
Some, like Brannan, are assistant professors.
These faculty do not receive the same salary step increases as tenured and tenure-track faculty do.
They do receive some increases on top of their base salary, which is based on the highest degree they have received.
Tenure status can have some impact on students. Monahan wrote in an email that one example of this is how tenured faculty play a strong role in creating curriculum
and assessing students’ success.
Judy Vanderburg, director of human resources, said that hav- ing tenured faculty provides ac- cess to their discipline, but that all the faculty of different tenure statuses “Contribute to all of our students’ education.”
