Legislature supports pooling library database resources
State changes guidelines on e-mail use
Katz lecturer discusses German painter Menzel
National engineering study asks: Is there room for women & minorities?
Know of any UW-related start-up companies?
UW staffer/playwright finds a director—at the office
New engineering building to be dedicated April 16
In a letter mailed today to all UW faculty members, President Richard L. McCormick reaffirmed the University's commitment to recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty and announced two new initiatives in support of that goal. One will provide funding to help offset the costs associated with departments inviting minority candidates to campus to interview for faculty positions. The other will award Faculty Development Fellowships for assistant professors. Both programs will be administered by the Provost's Office.
Funds to offset the cost of recruiting are intended "to encourage departments to consider a larger array of candidates than they otherwise would," President McCormick's letter said.
Faculty Development Fellowships will be awarded competitively to assistant professors who have had a successful reappointment review. The fellowships will provide junior faculty an opportunity to focus on developing one special aspect of their portfolio, whether in research, teaching or service. The University administration will consult with the Faculty Senate Special Committee on Minority Affairs and the Faculty Senate Special Committee on Faculty Women to work out the details of the program.
These programs complement existing efforts to diversify the faculty:
The full text of President McCormick's letter is available at http://www.washington.edu/president/ ¶
Committee named to review UW faculty salary policy
An 8-member advisory committee looking at faculty salaries is expected to report to Provost Lee L. Huntsman in mid May. The committee recommendations will be reviewed by the Board of Deans, the Faculty Senate and other key decision-making bodies.
The charge to the committee, chaired by Charles Hirschman, is:
The committee is not charged with providing advice on the distribution of the 1998 2-percent salary increase or addressing the University's strategy to work with the Legislature on University salaries.
In his letter to the committee, Huntsman wrote, " In 1997, we encountered significant problems in the interpretation of the Faculty Code governing merit reviews. Some department chairs reported a nontrivial gap between the code, or its interpretation, and the actual operational characteristics of departments. Since merit reviews and accompanying salary awards are principal tools of academic management and leadership for department chairs, a review of the intersection of the code and departmental merit review processes is in order."
"While merit review is largely conceived as an individual-level process, it is also true that units differ in their merit and market characteristics," the provost wrote in his letter. "First, there are differences at the disciplinary level in terms of salaries: a new assistant professor of English expects—and is paid—a salary different from that of a new assistant professor of finance. This is due not to the merit of the individual professors themselves, but to the various factors that determine differential salaries by field. Second, units differ in their performance. How should departmental merit and market considerations be used in determining salary distributions?
Other members of the committee are, Nelson Fausto, chair, pathology; Thomas Fleming, chair, biostatistics; Vandra Huber, professor, management and organization; Earl Hunt, professor, psychology; Mark McDermott, professor, physics and chair, Faculty Senate; Helen Remick, assistant provost for equal opportunity; and Greg Zick, chair, electrical engineering. ¶
University Week
The faculty and staff publication of the University of Washington
uweek@u.washington.edu
April 9, 1998