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MORE MINORITIES TO GET TENURE
Most tenured faculty still white males
Genise Clark
Issue date: 2/20/06 Section: News
The lack of minority professors who have tenure or are on "tenure-track" is a problem, NCAS officials say, but not for long.
The current tenured faculty at Rutgers-Newark is predominately white males - prompting criticism from students and faculty members who say there should be more minority and female tenured professors.
Provost Steven Diner, the top-ranking administrator on the R-N campus, attributed the lack of minorities with tenure to the fact that most tenured faculty joined the university decades ago - a time when there were few minorities at Rutgers.
Diner believes that the tenured minority staff will grow because of the diversity of new hires and newly-appointed tenure-track faculty.
Twenty-four new faculty appointments were made for the 2005-2006 academic year, which Diner believes "will be the tenured faculty of the future."
Of the 21 tenure-track appointments made, seven of those are Asian/Pacific Islanders, two are African-American, three are Hispanic, and nine are white.
Tenure is awarded to professors after a certain, considerable amount of time working at the university. Professors must prove themselves as a valuable and experienced source to the school.
When a professor is awarded tenure, they are given several benefits. These benefits include a higher salary, getting time off to do research and being able to freely voice opinions without fear of being fired or penalized.
The biggest perk of all is that a tenured professor cannot be fired unless under extraordinary circumstances.
In order for a professor to obtain tenure, they generally have to already be considered an assistant or associate professor. They also must first have a tenure-track position, which is determined upon their hiring.
A tenure-track position is one in which a professor works for five or six years before a decision is made on whether or not he or she gets tenure.
During this time, a tenure candidate must have lectured classes, serviced their department, contributed in some way on campus and published journal articles or books relating to their field.
The current tenured faculty at Rutgers-Newark is predominately white males - prompting criticism from students and faculty members who say there should be more minority and female tenured professors.
Provost Steven Diner, the top-ranking administrator on the R-N campus, attributed the lack of minorities with tenure to the fact that most tenured faculty joined the university decades ago - a time when there were few minorities at Rutgers.
Diner believes that the tenured minority staff will grow because of the diversity of new hires and newly-appointed tenure-track faculty.
Twenty-four new faculty appointments were made for the 2005-2006 academic year, which Diner believes "will be the tenured faculty of the future."
Of the 21 tenure-track appointments made, seven of those are Asian/Pacific Islanders, two are African-American, three are Hispanic, and nine are white.
Tenure is awarded to professors after a certain, considerable amount of time working at the university. Professors must prove themselves as a valuable and experienced source to the school.
When a professor is awarded tenure, they are given several benefits. These benefits include a higher salary, getting time off to do research and being able to freely voice opinions without fear of being fired or penalized.
The biggest perk of all is that a tenured professor cannot be fired unless under extraordinary circumstances.
In order for a professor to obtain tenure, they generally have to already be considered an assistant or associate professor. They also must first have a tenure-track position, which is determined upon their hiring.
A tenure-track position is one in which a professor works for five or six years before a decision is made on whether or not he or she gets tenure.
During this time, a tenure candidate must have lectured classes, serviced their department, contributed in some way on campus and published journal articles or books relating to their field.