Budget cuts cause steady drop in tenure
June 13, 2005
Tenured faculty statistics for 2003-04 fiscal year
Faculty not on tenure track has decreased from 382 to 368
Tenured faculty decreased from 1,007 to 978
Tenure-eligible faculty decreased from 362 to 361; it is the third year in five that Iowa State has experienced a net decrease in the number of tenure-eligible faculty
Typically the number of tenure-eligible faculty increases as the tenured number decreases, representing the on-going process of hiring new, junior faculty to replace those who have left the university through retirement
The percentage of minority faculty among all tenure-eligible faculty increased from 16.2 percent to 16.9 percent
The number of minority faculty who are tenured increased from 139 to 143
The number of minority faculty who are tenure-eligible remained constant at 83
The number of minority faculty not on tenure track dropped from 48 in 2003 to 43 in 2004
Since 2000, the number of tenured faculty decreased from 1,077 to 978
– Fall 2004 Tenure Report
– ISU Factbook
In response to consecutive years of budget cuts, the number of tenured faculty has steadily dropped for the last decade.
The Fall 2004 Tenure Report, put together by Iowa State, is a governance report the university is required to distribute to the Iowa Board of Regents each year and shows the number of faculty and their rank in tenure status, said Brenda Behling, program coordinator for the provost.
“The decline in the number is a concern because the number of tenured faculty appears to be at an all-time low,” Behling said.
“We’re faced with reversion in budgets in cases where faculty members who have retired or resigned from Iowa State, sometimes those positions were not filled — they were lost.”
The report shows a net decrease in the number of faculty in all categories — tenured, tenure-eligible and non-tenure-track — for fall 2004, she said.
According to the report, the number of tenured faculty decreased from 1,007 to 978 and the number of faculty eligible for tenure decreased from 362 to 361.
The slight decline in the number of tenure-eligible faculty for fall 2004 is a concern since it is the third year in five that the university has experienced a net decrease in that category.
Because of constricted budgets, as tenured faculty leave, their positions are filled with lecturers rather than tenured professors, said College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean Michael Whiteford. Lecturers do not cost as much to employ because they only teach, while tenured professors are expected to engage in research and scholarly activities.
“We too have experienced the gentle erosion of tenure faculty over the past six or seven years,” Whiteford said.
Some ISU faculty members feel the issue is not entirely about tenured faculty, but the total number of faculty at the university.
“A real consequence of the budget cuts that have occurred is an increase in the student to faculty ratio,” said Mark Kushner, dean of engineering administration.
Kushner said the College of Engineering ratio is well into the 20s, and ideally it should be 15 or 16 students to one faculty member. He said the college would need another 50 faculty members to meet the needs of the students.
“There are two ways to make that ratio smaller, increasing the number of faculty or decreasing the number of students. Decreasing the number of students is not an acceptable option,” Kushner said.
“If you want to maintain the quality of education and serve the same number of students on this campus, the allocation from the state goes down, there is only one thing we can do and that’s increase tuition.”
Within the faculty ranks are instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, full professor and tenured professor. Faculty are reviewed by their peers for promotion to associate professors and award of tenure, Behling said. Their rank signifies their year of experience.
