Faculty May Decide To Term Instructor 'Assistant Professor'

The Faculty will consider a proposal to abolish the title of instructor and designate all junior Faculty members as assistant professors at its meeting next month.

Dean Ford said Tuesday that the motion would be presented in the form of a Faculty recommendation to the Corporation, which must approve the change before it can take effect.

Under the proposed system, new junior Faculty members would receive appointments as assistant professors for three years, after which they would be eligible for reappointment to a five-year term with the same title.

Dean Ford gave two reasons for the proposed change. One is competition from other colleges--many institutions have already abolished the position of instructor, and use the title of assistant professor to attract promising scholars.

A second reason, according to Ford, is that there is no real distinction at the University today between the duties of instructors and assistant professors--in some departments instructors teach regular courses and assistant professors conduct tutorial, he noted.