Transcript Document
Family/Work Policies and Practices: The UW Experience NSF ADVANCE Conference Georgia Tech University April 20, 2004 Kate Quinn, University of Washington [email protected] Background • Exploring part-time faculty options at UW • Policies exist, but no data on effectiveness – Part-time tenure track – Tenure clock extension, with or without leave – Medical and/or family leave • Identified 60 faculty who utilized policies* • Interviewed 12 faculty (all names changed) *Some UW Colleges and Schools were omitted from the study. Contact K. Quinn for details. Policy Details: Part-Time Tenure Track • • • • • • Permanent FTE reduction pre- or post-tenure No eligibility restrictions Formally pro-rates time to tenure review Provides full benefits to faculty >0.5 FTE Adopted through the Faculty Senate in 1998 Intended to “permit greater flexibility for individuals shaping their appointment to take account of professional and personal/familial realities” Policy Details: Tenure Clock Extension • The year in which >6 months of leave is taken does not count toward tenure review, if the chair/dean notifies the Provost • Faculty may request an extension even if no leave is taken, if personal health, childbirth, or other caregiving disrupts “regular dedication to teaching or scholarship” • Extensions must be requested prior to the mandatory year of review Policy Details: Medical and Family Leave • Full or partial leave – Permits temporary part-time status for up to two years after the birth of a child – Faculty may use more than one period of leave, but no more than two years per event • Paid (medical) or unpaid (family) – Faculty receive 90 days/year for sick leave • Eligibility matches FMLA standards • Available in varying forms since the early 1970s Implementation Issues • Lack of Tracking – Coding issues mask part-time appointments – Temporary reductions cannot be identified unless the tenure clock was extended • Lack of Communication – Many faculty and department chairs are unaware of policy availability – Policies are not implemented consistently Faculty Experiences: Part-Time Tenure Track • Negotiating to use the policy • Negotiating policy implementation – Defining part-time teaching, research, and service – Setting evaluation standards for tenure, promotion, or merit review • Benefits outweigh the costs “It is not clear to other people what are the research expectations of me. Should I be doing half as much research because I am spending half of my time at home? Or should I do more research because I actually have more time? Or should I be doing the same amount of research because there is some kind of balancing act there? . . . [I]t is clearly not an easy thing for anyone to look at.” -Alan, post-tenure part-time faculty “My biggest concern is how the college P&T committee is going to evaluate me. I just don’t know how they are going to do it. . . . [T]here really aren’t many examples across the country.” -Susan, pre-tenure part-time faculty member Faculty Experiences: Leaves and Extensions • For faculty who take leave, a teaching release is not guaranteed – Teaching is not spread equally over all quarters – Not all departments grant a teaching release • Departments may include “waived” years in tenure review • Faculty treatment depends on department experience and understanding of policy “I was lucky, because [both] my babies … were born in September so I took the fall quarter – the standard leave.… [M]y department was very accommodating -normally we teach in two quarters- and so they basically said that the fall off was a teaching quarter and they gave the winter as a research quarter so I didn’t actually have to get back into the classroom until the spring quarter.” -Lisa, utilized leave and tenure clock extension (emphasis added) Recommendations • Track policy utilization • Communicate policy availability broadly • Establish equitably reduced workloads and compensation for part-time faculty • Specify expectations of part-time faculty and evaluate accordingly • Include policy details when a part-time or tenure-extended faculty is reviewed Recommendations (cont.) • Establish routine methods to meet departmental teaching requirements for part-time or on-leave faculty • Specify whether teaching release is guaranteed or negotiable for childbirth • Treat policy use as routine, normal, and accepted Next Steps • Tenure extension and leave for birth are a start, but do not help with the longer-term balancing of work and family • Part-time must be made viable for faculty – Improve departmental climate and culture to support caregiving – Define ‘part-time’ faculty role