Correction: In a previous version of this article, the American Council of Education was incorrectly credited with releasing the report.
Dive Brief:
- The TIAA Institute has released a new report outlining new pathways for faculty success and retention, which could lead to positive gains in faculty diversity and productivity.
- The report suggests shared faculty appointments between institutions, new specialized tenure tracks with focus on research, service or teaching as an individual area of expertise, and promoting greater flexibility for faculty in family planning and personal life changes.
- These changes, the report suggests, would create greater attractiveness to the profession and promote retention within departments and institutions.
Dive Insight:
As higher education attempts to rethink tenure and promotion and struggles with how to best foster equity for faculty members along racial and gender lines, institutions should consider how simple changes in scheduling and workload can make a difference. For many institutions, it could mean the difference between keeping and losing a high-profile, high-caliber researcher on campus.
College provosts should consider making incremental steps in some of these areas, with feedback and support from faculty advocacy organizations which regularly research and survey the attitudes of members on how to improve the academic enterprise.