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Columns::April 14, 2003
Scholarly works
Regents will meet at UGA for first time in nearly 20 years
Stoneman, IHDD director, is named University Professor
Four UGA schools among nation’s best in annual magazine ranking
Lineup of artists for Performing Arts Center’s 2003-04 season is announced
A sight for sore eyes
EITS begins preparation for migration to UGAMail
Campus Closeup
Ag and environmental sciences names human resources director
Update: Private Giving
Newsmakers
Cultural exchange
Campus News
Forum Essay
Extended academic programs
Editor’s note: The annual Faculty Symposium at Unicoi focused this year on four areas: international education, faculty-administration relations, enhancing quality teaching, and extended academic programs. The resulting position papers have been sent to the provost, and are being published in the April 7, April 14, April 21 and April 28 issues of Columns as a way of generating discussion.
In recent years, the University of Georgia has begun to offer a variety of academic programs beyond the Athens campus. Extended education provides a unique opportunity for serving the citizens of the state of Georgia. However, in extending UGA beyond the Athens campus, serious attention should be focused on providing a high quality experience for students, faculty and staff.
The University of Georgia has an opportunity to be innovative and creative in shaping the teaching and learning environment on the extended campuses. The extended campuses are living laboratories for experimenting with new approaches to teaching and learning, and particularly for examining the definition of faculty roles. While the same quality of faculty should be employed at all campus locations, should UGA consider a broader definition of the faculty structure? Do we need new classifications for teaching faculty as our instructional programs extend beyond the Athens campus? Do we need broader definitions of scholarship? Do we need more flexibility in the existing promotion and tenure process?
The group was asked to reflect on the following questions, and responded by providing recommendations.
How can the quality of teaching and learning be maintained in these programs?
Recommendation: Extended programs are an integral part of the university and should have the same quality of students, faculty and programs. Every effort should be made to employ the same selection criteria and standards for students attending and faculty teaching at extended campuses. UGA policies and procedures should be applied uniformly to all campus locations.
How can we assure that faculty at satellite campuses have access to instructional and professional support and development opportunities available to faculty on the Athens campus?
Recommendation: To maintain a quality teaching and learning environment, extended campuses must be provided adequate infrastructure, including office space, lab space, a copy center, classroom space, teaching assistants and instructional/faculty development support.
Are new faculty governance mechanisms required to deal with issues involving these programs?
Recommendation: Extended-campus faculty should have a voice and should be considered as first-class university faculty citizens. The existing faculty governance structure should be available to the faculty located on the extended campuses.
What role can and should student governance and quality of student life issues play in these programs?
Recommendation: UGA should provide campus-life programs similar to what is provided on the Athens campus as appropriate to the location. Comparable services would include health services, counseling, access to libraries, etc.
Are new administrative structures required to deal with issues involving these programs?
Recommendation: A study of how faculty members on UGA’s current extended campuses will be evaluated and rewarded by their various home schools and colleges should be conducted. Also, UGA should continue to research best practices in extended education at other universities around the country.
Recommendation: Members of the faculty affairs committee--in their deliberations on revising the current promotion and tenure guidelines--should consider the job description and the budgeted time of the faculty member. For example, faculty who are budgeted 100 percent teaching should be evaluated on their scholarship of teaching.
Recommendation: Any new structure for faculty must be applied uniformly to all UGA campuses (including Athens). For example: if a “clinical faculty” structure for teaching is considered, it should be available on all campus locations.
Recommendation: The use of the “clinical” faculty structure could be expanded. Faculty in a clinical structure would be hired with the notion that they do not have the same discipline-focused research and scholarship expectations as traditional tenure-track faculty members. Instead, they would have different responsibilities, such as a focus on teaching or service that would include scholarship related to those different responsibilities.
Recommendation: Consideration could be given to alternative models for faculty employment. For example, one-year contracts for three years and then subsequent five-year renewable contracts for non-tenure-track faculty members.
Recommendation: If the institution moves in the direction of staff differentiation (different types of faculty structures), then the institution should encourage a culture in which traditional tenure-track faculty are not considered the elite of the campus.
Recommendation: The institution should support flexibility in faculty careers. Faculty should be able to change the percentage of EFT assigned to teaching, research and service as their interests and roles change over the span of their careers.
Recommendation: Most of the faculty at the Athens campus appear to be unaware of the rationale for UGA’s extended education initiatives. There should be more communication about why UGA is involved in extended education (e.g., 1. Extended education affords students in other locations the chance to participate in the same high-quality learning opportunities afforded to students admitted to the Athens campus; 2. Extended education enables faculty to experiment with new teaching and scholarship models; and, 3. Extended campuses represent a stronger commitment of our university to citizens of our state), and what the programs are (so that faculty judging their peers and judging curriculum do so with knowledge about the programs).
The workgroup members were: Bob Boehmer, Institutional Effectiveness; Joe Broder, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Robert Galen, Pharmacy; Michelle Garfield, Arts and Sciences; Trish Kalivoda, Academic Affairs; Tom Koballa, Teacher Education; Chuck Kutal, Arts and Sciences; Craig Kvien, crop and soil sciences, Tifton; Brian McNatt, management; Tom Reeves, Professional Studies; Mark Rieger, horticulture; and Peter Shedd, Instruction. |
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