Resolution 86: Support the Extension of the Tenure Clock for Johnson School Faculty Appointments

Passed: May 11, 2011
Sponsor: Emeritus Professor Jerry Hass, Johnson Graduate School of Management & AFPS Committee
Senate Discussions:

The Resolution

WHEREAS Article XVI(2)(c) of the Bylaws of Cornell University sets the maximum period of time in service for assistant professors before the university must grant tenure or terminate employment:

Assistant Professor – shall be appointed by the President for a term not to exceed four years. The maximum period of service for assistant professors with term appointment shall be six academic years of full-time equivalent service, continued only for reasons which, in the judgment of the President, are temporary.

WHEREAS the majority of the other business schools and universities with which the Johnson School competes for assistant professors have longer terms of service before the decision to grant tenure or terminate employment is made,

WHEREAS the Johnson School is significantly hampered in its recruitment and retention of promising assistant professors by being at a competitive disadvantage with regard to the maximum period of service before tenure decisions must be reached,

WHEREAS following discussions with deans from other Cornell units, the Provost supports the motion because it meets important and highly limiting criteria that make it unlikely that other units will seek a similar extension, namely

• Unusual circumstances particular to the unit that render the general time frame problematic,
• Demonstrable competitive disadvantage of the existing requirements,
• Problem related to the unit as a whole rather than a particular subset of the faculty, and
• Lack of other options.

WHEREAS the Johnson School’s tenured and untenured faculty unanimously support the motion,

WHEREAS the Committee on the Academic Freedom and Professional Status of the Faculty have reviewed the request and unanimously agreed to support the motion,

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that the Faculty Senate support a motion to be presented by the Provost to the University Trustees to amend the Bylaws of the University to incorporate an extension of the maximum appointment for assistant professors at the Johnson Graduate School of Management from six years to eight years of full-time equivalent service.

Committee on the Academic Freedom and Professional Status of the Faculty:

Joel Baines, Microbiology and Immunology, CVM
Nancy Chau, Applied Economics and Management, CALS
Jerry Cherney, Crop & Soil Sciences, CALS
Chekitan Singh Dev, School of Hotel Administration
Jerome Hass, Johnson School of Management
Carl Hopkins, Neurobiology and Behavior, CALS
Risa Lieberwitz, Industrial & Labor Relations
Peter Stein, Physics, Arts & Sciences
David Wilson, Molecular Biology and Genetics, Arts & Sciences

Johnson School Tenure Clock Proposal Faculty Senate UFC: 5/3/11

Motion: Johnson School use an eight-year tenure
clock.

– Move from 3/3 to 4/4
– Year 4: Reappointment at assistant professor
– Year 8: Promotion to associate professor with tenure
– Transition: Current assistant professors can use new or old clock.

Driven by competitive pressures.

Who supports this proposal?

  • Johnson School junior faculty (unanimous)
  • Johnson School senior faculty (unanimous)
  • 3 Deans from peer schools as part of AACSB accreditation
  • Provost, in consultation with other Cornell Deans

– Restrictive conditions:

• Unusual circumstances particular to the unit

• Demonstrable competitive disadvantage

• Problem relates to the unit as a whole

• Lack of other options

  • Cornell Faculty Senate’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Professional Status (unanimous)

Background

Proposal

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