Spence Outlines Ways To Reach Tenure Goals

Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences A. Michael Spence said late last week he has taken steps to implement a nationally publicized plan to tenure a larger proportion of Harvard's junior faculty.

These comments come after Spence was criticized for his handling last fall of three cases in which popular junior professors were denied tenure. At the time, faculty members publicly said that Spence would not be able to implement his plans for tenure reform.

Spence said he remains optimistic about his tenure report of last spring, adding he does not expect concrete results from the proposed reforms for about 10 years. But Spence said he has taken the first steps in implementing some of the reforms described in the report.

Among these changes, Spence said that he is providing additional money to bring candidates for junior posts to Harvard, holding a series of dinners for associate professors, and organizing fundraising efforts to establish more endowed chairs at $750,000 apiece for associate professors.

In order to offer lifetime appointments to more of Harvard's junior professors, the University first must recruit top young scholars, Spence said. Harvard currently tenures about 10 percent of its junior faculty.

To aid in recruitment, Spence said he has increased departmental allowances by a few hundred dollars. This will enable each department to bring candidates for junior positions to Harvard, a move which he said gives senior faculty members a closer look at the candidates.

"Our principle objective is to try to make sure, in steps in logical order, that we recruit as effectively as we can junior faculty and make their time here as valuable as possible," he said.

"It affected the thoroughness of the screening," said Associate Dean for Academic Planning Phyllis Keller of the candidates' visits to Harvard. "It's coming in part out of the new heightened consciousness."

But once the top young scholars accept Harvard's junior posts, they still should not count on senior appointments, Spence said, or "Harvard would look like many other institutions," referring to other universities which put some young scholars on "tenure tracks."

Spence said he is also considering facilitating promotions from assistant to associate professor. Currently, an assistant professor is evaluated in the fourth year of his five-year appointment and, even if promoted, remains an assistant professor through his fifth year. Under Spence's plan, if promoted to associate professor, the junior faculty memberwould receive professor during his fifth year atHarvard.

As a means of giving junior faculty morefeedback on their performances at Harvard, Spencesaid he will hold a series of three or fourdinners this spring. The dinners, each for about12 associate professors, will give the youngscholars the opportunity to discuss their Harvardexperiences and concerns, he said.

The three cases this fall in which popularjunior faculty members were denied lifetime postsat Harvard have not affected his goals, Spencesaid. "I don't think the occasionally difficulttenure decisions we had this year really in thelong run affect this," he said.

"All my academic experience tells me thesethings don't change quickly," he said. "I thinkwe're on schedule."

Despite his efforts, the individual departmentsstill retain the bulk of control in senior facultyappointments, since each department conducts itsown initial search and voting before sending itsrecommendation to the dean, Spence said.

"The fundamental decisions with respect toappointments are made at the departmental level,"he said. "They, by and large, are in the driver'sseat.