[Faculty] Update on CALS instructional workload and support for Instructors vs Lecturers vs POPs vs. Tenure Track faculty

[Staten, Michael E - (statenm)]

Everyone,

Back in early March I sent a note to CALS faculty indicating that we were evaluating the allocation of our college-wide resources that support teaching.  I'm happy to report that the Working Group that I appointed to make recommendations on the use of Graduate Teaching Assistants (.25 FTE slots for graduate students) and teaching assistance (graders and other non GTA forms of instructional support) completed its work last Friday.   I will review their recommendations with the Dean's Executive Council and share the results later this month.

On a closely related topic, I also indicated back in March that we were reviewing CALS instructional workload assignments and actual courses delivered for AY 2021-22.   During that review we discovered several issues directly related to equitable assignment and compensation of teaching faculty across four position titles:  Instructor vs. Lecturer vs Professor of Practice vs Tenure Track.  Specifically, these issues relate to


  1.  Within several academic units: significant compensation differences across faculty titles that appear to be independent of differences in workload delivered (e.g., lower compensation for essentially the same teaching duties);
  2.
  3.  For all CALS academic units:   lack of a standardized definition/description of qualifications and job duties for instructors and lecturers, in contrast to quite specific college-wide descriptions/expectations for POPs and TT faculty.  I should note that there is no UA guidance on this either.
  4.
  5.  For all CALS academic units:   no guidelines or policy that address a pathway to promotion within the Instructor and Lecturer classifications, or advancement to POP or TT status.

Regarding point #1, If you are a CALS faculty member in an Instructor or Lecturer position, you can expect to hear from your unit head and/or CALS Division of Business Services in the coming weeks regarding your particular situation.

Regarding points #2 and #3, we are working on developing (through our faculty and shared governance processes) a set of guidelines that better define the parameters and expected duties that should distinguish the Instructor and Lecturer classifications, and the differences between these two classifications vs. Professors of Practice.  We will share these just as soon as the process is complete.

Please know that we've heard your concerns and have been working to identify and understand the nature and breadth of any underlying problems.  And, we will get this fixed!   Thanks for your patience.  More information to come soon.

Last but not least, congratulations on reaching the successful conclusion of another academic year.  I hope to see many of you over the next couple of weeks as we send off the graduating class of 2022!

Mike


Michael Staten | College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Bart Cardon Associate Dean for Career and Academic Services
Professor, Agricultural and Resource Economics
The University of Arizona
Forbes Hall, Room 211
The University of Arizona
PO Box 210036
Tucson, AZ 85721-0036
PHONE: 520.621.1932
statenm at email.arizona.edu<mailto:statenm at email.arizona.edu>
www.mikestaten.com<http://www.mikestaten.com>



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