A proposal for a new faculty rank called professors of practice has inspired a debate among SU faculty.

Vice Chancellor Deborah Freund wrote the proposal that went public at the last University Senate meeting. Though many deans support the proposal, Freund said she could not predict if the proposal would be approved.

Some faculty members, however, worry the implementation of POPs will lead to the destruction of the tenure system and threaten academic freedom. Dean John Palmer, of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and a tenured professor, disagrees.

‘There is not a risk of undermining tenure because the number of POPs would be limited in each college,’ Palmer said. ‘POPs would not be competing directly or displacing tenure faculty members.’

In Freund’s proposal, a POP is ‘an accomplished person whose distinction in the world of work is equivalent to that of someone in the academic life whom we would eagerly recruit for a full professorship at SU.’ Candidates would have substantial experience in their field — a 10-to-15 year minimum is suggested in the proposal — and a national reputation for excellence.

‘Many students learn better through real-world examples and experiences,’ Freund said. ‘Many faculty like having different faculty to engage with also. This is intended to bring a richer environment to SU.’

The reason many see POP as essential is because, as Freund stated in her proposal, there is an obvious need for real-world practitioners to be a part of a college curriculum.

Some academicians are beginning to recognize inventions and discoveries of professional people in various industries and deem them equal to those in scholarly fields, said Larry Elin, a tenured professor in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications who is working closely with Freund on the proposal. This recognition has instigated a strong desire to bring professionals into the world of academics to share their knowledge, he added.

This is where the idea for POP was born. It is also the heart of the debate: some tenured professors feel threatened that this new rank will gradually undermine the tenure system.

‘The university is saying that there are people we don’t think can meet our tenure requirements, but that we want on our campus,’ said Beth Barnes, the assistant dean for professional graduate studies and a tenured professor in Newhouse. ‘If this is the case, then the university should change the tenure process instead of creating a class of professors that become second-class citizens.’

Freund wrote that POPs should be assured protections equal to full-time professors and be just as accountable.

‘This should guarantee that POPs are first-class university citizens, both in how they are treated and in what they contribute,’ Freund wrote in the proposal.

They would come from the outside world as already accomplished and renowned persons, contribute to SU through their teaching and community involvement and then move on when their time is ready.

‘There are two kinds of relationships SU has with professors: marriage for life and a Las Vegas wedding,” Elin said.

At SU, professors are either tenured or on the tenure track, or they are non-tenured professors who are here on short-term contracts. According to the 2001-2002 faculty report, there are 830 full-time SU faculty, of which 63.4 percent are tenured. There are also 88 regular part-time faculty and 476 adjunct faculty members, according to the Fall 2000 faculty statistics report.

Tenure is a rank that is earned by a professor who has reached a certain level of accomplishment in the academic world — whether in discoveries, inventions, philosophies or new ideas. Tenure also provides security. It is a rank that cannot be taken away at SU except for extraordinary reasons. Essentially, it is an earned title that offers the professor a job for life and guarantees academic freedom.

The university’s policies for prospective tenured faculty include completion of seven years of credited full-time teaching service with faculty rank. The professors must be accomplished in their academic field, including earning degrees such as a master’s or doctorate. They are required to get involved in campus and community activities and to research, write and publish their work. They must exemplify excellence in teaching, scholarship and service. Once a professor fulfills the university’s tenure requirements, he or she is elevated to a special status almost beyond challenge.

The non-tenured professors, on the other hand, can only remain full-time faculty at SU for a maximum of six years.

‘These people represent a class of professors who do lots of really good work here,’ Elin said. ‘But they have an expiration date stamped on their heads.’

They also have little or no job security from one year to the next because there are no written rules, Elin said.

‘Basically, they’re living in a netherworld, whereas tenured professors know how the game is played,” said David Rubin, dean Newhouse.

The kind of people that the POP program would attract would unlikely take a job at SU with a series of one-to-two-year contracts and a six-year maximum unless they were tenured. Professors of practice would be appointed on a rolling contract of three to five years with an annual review. They would not receive a lifetime contract like tenured professors. They would, however, have the option of staying at the university longer than six years, as long as they had positive reviews.

Since the Academic Affairs Committee, of which Elin is the chairman, is still at work, neither Elin nor Freund could say whether current non-tenured SU faculty would be eligible for the POP rank. But Rubin, however, has a list of Newhouse faculty lined up already for the new rank, including Frank Currier, Richard Dubin and Steve Davis.

Colleges within the university already have hired POP-like faculty members under the guise of something else. Freund acknowledges that Newhouse and Maxwell have been involved in this.

‘Colleges have been hiring, essentially, unofficial POPs in a less-than-honest or clever way,’ Elin said. ‘We want to create an honest program with long-term contracts and legitimize people.’

Maxwell has a faculty of about 150, and Palmer said he could not see wanting more than six POP faculty members if the proposal passes.

Palmer suggested Melvyn Levitsky, a professor in the international relations department, as a good POP candidate. Before Levitsky’s teaching career, he had a distinguished professional career in international affairs and foreign service. He was the assistant secretary of the State Department in Washington, D.C., and is a retiree from the senior ambassadorial corp.

‘He brings dimensions to teaching that other faculty cannot,’ Palmer said. ‘He also serves a valuable function in bringing in speakers and connecting what we do here with the real world. He also became an important resource in the aftermath of 9/11.’

Barnes said he believes the solution lies not with a new rank, but with revamping the tenure process.

‘If these professors are willing to make that kind of commitment to the university, why can’t the university come up with a tenure promotion that fits them?’ Barnes said.

The proposal will be brought to USen at least two more times before there is a vote. Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw, along with the Board of Trustees, has the final decision. They can support or veto the decision reached by USen. If passed, the new rank could be legitimized by next fall.

‘I’m going to do this. The time has come, whether we call it POP, or clinical faculty, or any other name,’ Rubin said. ‘The students are the ones who suffer because they don’t get access to valuable professionals in the industry. We’re going to do this whether or not the Senate denies it.’

Published on February 26, 2002 at 12:00 pm