WPI is gaining national recognition for creating new tenure tracks and extended contracts for teaching faculty, a move that recognizes and rewards excellence in teaching. The new policies guarantee academic freedom and participation in faculty governance for full-time faculty members whose primary responsibility is teaching.
The changes give WPI new tools to retain excellent teachers, a shift that will ensure that students receive top-notch instruction, says Provost Winston “Wole” Soboyejo.
“WPI has excellent faculty who have a mission to teach and conduct research, as well as excellent faculty who focus on the teaching mission of WPI,” Soboyejo says. “The approach that we are taking will distinguish WPI as a leading university that best balances research with teaching, educating students who are distinctive, while also rewarding faculty who contribute significantly to the preparation of students who are ready to work on day one.”
I hope we can be a model for other universities in truly valuing the important contributions of teaching faculty.
President Laurie Leshin
Tenure is an employment category that guarantees professors the right to speak, teach, and research as they wish, and it confers permanent job security. At research universities such as WPI, tenure is traditionally awarded only to faculty members who balance teaching, research, and service, and only after a lengthy review process. While WPI’s new tenure path for teaching faculty will be equally rigorous, it will focus on the quality and impact of teaching practice and innovation.
“As an institution that is deeply committed to transforming the lives of our students and to respecting the contributions of all members of our community, I am proud that the trustees, administration, and faculty have collaborated to bring forward this latest innovation in our academic work,” says President Laurie Leshin. “Our dedicated teaching faculty will now have a strong voice in institutional governance, and WPI will have a much stronger commitment to their professional growth and careers. I hope we can be a model for other universities in truly valuing the important contributions of teaching faculty.”
WPI trustees and faculty approved the new policies in a series of votes over recent months, capping more than three years of study and discussion among faculty members, administration, and trustees. The university expects to identify 45 teaching faculty members over the next three years who will be eligible to pursue tenure; the first group of 15 were identified this summer.