Northeastern Voice

Senate: Raise minimum funding for faculty development

Faculty senators on Wednesday discussed the size and allocation of professional development funds.

The Senate passed, 24-11 with one abstention, a resolution calling for a $2,000 "floor" for all tenured and tenure-track faculty.

Economics professor Steven Morrison, speaking for the Senate Agenda Committee, said the measure would be "helpful for morale."

Engineering professor Stephen McKnight echoed the morale argument, and noted that request for funds would still require serious purpose and administrative approval. "This is not mad money," he said.

Michael Vaughn, professor of physics, said faculty professional development "is not an option. It's part of the job."

But James Stellar, dean of arts and sciences, said his college grants each faculty member $1,000 already, and argued that his system of allowing department chairs the discretion to allocate additional funds — another $1,000 per faculty member is granted to the department — is fair and reasonable.

Some department chairs, including David Massey of mathematics and William Sanchez of counseling and applied psychology, also supported the system of letting chairs decide how best to allot development funds. "They trust me that I'll have the right discretion," Massey said of his faculty.

Carol Hafner, professor of computer and information science, pointed out that many faculty receive multimillion-dollar funding and wouldn't need the $2,000 fund. And given budget constraints, she said, "A dean doesn't have a huge amount of money to throw around."

Provost Ahmed Abdelal, who chairs the Senate, said there are "close to 650" tenured and tenure-track faculty, of whom about 200 are "significantly funded" through grants or other means.

"So one-third of the faculty doesn't need this money," he said. "We really don't have so much money that we should be spending money when it's not needed."

The Senate amended the proposal to remove a sentence calling for the $2,000 minimum regardless of other funding sources.

Gerald Herman, assistant professor of history, said the university has for many years budgeted $1,000 per faculty member for development, and called the $2,000 figure "an inflation adjustment."

Richard Daynard, professor of law, said that while department chairs may prefer to disburse funds to up-and-coming or highly productive faculty, others need it as well. "If you think they're deadwood, you don't want them getting deader and deader," he said.

Nursing professor Carol Glod, who chairs the Senate Agenda Committee, said that while the university has "a limited budget ... I feel this is a top priority."

The proposal heads next to President Joseph Aoun for consideration.

(in photo Professor Steven Morrison)