Office of the Provost

Charge to Task Force on
The Tenure Clock
Provost Marty Krauss
September 28, 2005

There is expressed concern among some departments and individual members of the faculty that changes need to be considered in the length of time given to assistant professors before tenure review. This concern reflects the current difficulties of faculty in the sciences establishing funded research and of faculty in other disciplines publishing books. It also reflects a possible need to extend the time to tenure for faculty utilizing FLMA benefits beyond the one semester currently allowed in the Faculty Handbook. Currently, assistant professors start with a three year contract and receive a second three year contract if it is renewed. The tenure review then occurs in the 6 ^th year, with little temporal flexibility.

The Task Force on the Tenure Clock is charged with:

1. Review of tenure practices at other research universities, including length to tenure review, mechanisms utilized to accelerate or decelerate the review period, variations in practice based on discipline/professional school, the impact of FMLA on length to tenure review, etc.

2. Analysis of Brandeis's current tenure policies with recommendations regarding changes - or a recommendation of no changes. Possible changes should include whether there should be differences in policies between A&S and the professional schools at Brandeis. Recommendation(s) should take into consideration practices at other schools and the current assistant professor research and teaching situation at Brandeis, including relevant external conditions such as external funding and publication opportunities.

I would appreciate receiving the Task Force's report and recommendations by November 15, 2005.

Membership:

Michael Rosbash (BIO), chair

Marion Smiley (PHIL)

Tzvi Abusch (NEJS)

Jacqueline Jones (HIST)

Rachel McCulloch (ECON/IBS)