FAMILY MATTERS

TENURE

MOST ACADEMICS today face family as well as career demands. That's particularly true of women, and it's a reason why they are underrepresented in full-time tenure positions. Women account for only 38 percent of full-time faculty positions, although they receive 51 percent of all doctorates. Now a panel of top American university officials is recommending an overhaul of the tenure system to accommodate the twin pressures of work and home. Its report, Agenda for Excellence: "Creating Flexibility in Tenure-Track Faculty Careers," warns that if U.S. schools want to attract and retain top teachers and researchers, they must "create more flexible career paths for the tenure-track professoriate to enter, thrive in, and retire from acaclemia." Too many talented Ph.D.'s are sidestepping the tenure track, it says, and it urges universities to find out why and eliminate the reasons.

Among its many recommendations: the creation of re-entry opportunities for doctorates who seek tenure-track posts late in their careers; allowing tenure-track faculty to work up to five years in a part-time position to accommodate personal needs; granting candidates multiyear personal leaves; and establishing longer, more-flexible probationary periods during the tenure review process. -TG

Copyright American Society for Engineering Education Summer 2005
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