Amid discussions of returning to campus and trying to chart a new normal path during the COVID-19 pandemic, universities are beginning to grapple with questions surrounding faculty.
Many institutions have implemented some type of policy to extend the tenure clock for faculty members whose research was disrupted because of the pandemic. At Syracuse University, for example, faculty were previously required to go up for tenure by the end of their sixth year — though they could apply for clock stoppages for health reasons, family reasons or other qualifying life events, according to LaVonda Reed, the university’s associate provost for faculty affairs. Since the pandemic, all faculty were approved for an automatic one-year extension.
“We’re very attentive to and aware of the impact that the pandemic has had on all facets of life for not only our faculty but also our staff,” says Reed. “The pandemic was going on in parallel, simultaneously with … racial turmoil and reckoning, fear for their health and the health of their families, fear about job security.”
Not only that, but faculty members across the country are finding themselves in increasingly trying situations; some are finding themselves the caretakers of elderly parents, many are juggling the demands of parenthood and, still, many are mourning losses of loved ones.
Reed, a working mom herself, says one of the first things she did was go on a listening tour to solicit feedback from faculty members and “experts in the field” to ascertain what faculty needs are.
“We have sought to demonstrate and express appreciation for the continued work, the flexibility for our faculty, the commitment our faculty have for their students and we’re trying to be very intentional to make sure we don’t forget to express gratitude and appreciation for people continuing to work under such trying times,” Reed says.
Dr. Lesia Crumpton-Young, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Morgan State University, believes the swiftness with which Morgan announced its tenure extension policy helped alleviate a significant amount of pressure for faculty, allowing them to actually be productive.
