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Forty-nine faculty members were awarded tenure May 23 by the AlamoColleges board of trustees in a unanimous vote after District 9trustee James Rindfuss expressed concerns that the board has no official tenure policy. The policy was overlooked in 2002 when district updated otherpolicies. Since then, tenure has been treated as a procedure andvaries among the district s five colleges. I don t know how we define what tenure means if we have notenure policy, Rindfuss said. You re voting on something that you don t have anydefinition for. District 2 trustee Denver McClendon said he thought the board decided in May 2011 to grandfatherfaculty who were going through the tenure process and new facultywould not be eligible for tenure until the board defined theprocess. In the intervening year, no definition has been forthcoming. In defense of these people who are involved in this processalready, it would not be fair to them to pull the rug out fromunder them, McClendon said. Faculty hired beginning in fall 2011 are not on a tenure-track, Dr.Jessica Howard, vice president of academic affairs, said today. She said it s unclear if these faculty will be eligible for tenureif the board adopts a tenure policy. We don t know where they fit into the ongoing review anddecision, Howard said. At the Sept. 13 Policy and Long Range Planning Committee, McClendon said, "This committee needs to charge the chancellor to come backwith an evaluation system and alteration of the disciplinaryprocedures to make that procedure equitable across the board." Since the board discovered there is no official tenure policy,faculty have voiced concerns that the elimination of tenure wouldlimit academic freedom in the classroom and weaken the faculty. During a Faculty Senate panel discussion Sept. 20, psychology ChairThomas Billimek said tenure and academic freedom give professors the ability toproduce students who think critically rather than simply learnskills to use in the workforce. At the panel, Dr. Brian Stout, biology professor at Northwest VistaCollege, said tenure allows him to discuss issues such as thedebate between evolution and intelligent design. "It allows us the peace of mind to know we can talk about oursubject without fear of repercussions," Stout said. He said tenure attracts good faculty members, places higherexpectations on faculty and allows the college to evaluate facultymembers who may not be doing their job correctly. Also on the panel, philosophy Professor John Visintainer likened the possibility of abolishing tenure to changing how hegrades students midsemester . He compared tenure to the lifelong terms U.S. Supreme Courtjustices serve: Just as those terms allow justices to decipher thelaw without interference from the political process, tenureprotects academics from backlash for discussing controversialsubjects. Since the board would not take action on tenure until theadministration makes changes to faculty evaluations, a facultyevaluation team is working to create an updated job description. Dr. Dawn Elmore-McCrary, English professor and chair of thedistrict Super Senate, serves on the team with mortuary scienceProfessor Mary Mena; Darrell Stafford, English professor atNorthwest Vista College; Jessica Cooper, early childhood professorat St. Philip's College; Frank Maldonado, math chair at NortheastLakeview College; Dr. Jimmie Bruce, vice president of academicaffairs at Northwest Vista; Dr. Jo-Carol Fabianke, interim vicechancellor for academic success; Dr. Federico Zaragoza, vicechancellor of economic and workforce development; Dr. Ana "Cha"Guzman, president of Palo Alto College; and Chancellor BruceLeslie. In an interview Feb. 7 Leslie said the board is not in a rush andno time frame is set to make a decision on the faculty evaluationsystem or tenure. Current district policy requires an evaluation of tenured facultyevery other year and of tenure-track faculty annually. Tenure-track faculty must be observed in the classroom by thedepartment chair or designee during the fall semester and by amember of a peer review committee during the spring semester. Tenure-track faculty must complete a self-evaluation and beevaluated by the department chair and a peer review committee eachspring. Tenured faculty must be observed in the classroom during the fallsemester if the department chair or faculty member requests anobservation or if the faculty member is being considered forpromotion. After the sixth year of employment, tenured faculty must submit aself-evaluation every other year unless the department chair orfaculty member requests it more often. A peer review is required in the spring semester if the facultymember is submitting a fall application for promotion. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Powder Mixing Machine , China Screw Conveyor for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Powder Mixing Machine.
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