Professional Documents
Culture Documents
I wanted to share some observations regarding the promotion and tenure procedures at
Stetson University in hopes that they might start some dialogue on these. Ive now been
involved in several promotion/tenure cases including pre-tenure reviews (i.e. 2nd year reviews) as
well as been through the process myself (successfully!) And I preface my thoughts by saying
these are just the opinions of one person. I have no particular authority other than my good faith
interest in starting a dialogue.
Also, I should say that my comments should in no way be considered a diss toward the
folks who have worked hard to develop the current system. Its clear a lot of good thought and
effort went into it. Although I argue that it is time to consider some changes, I suspect that is a
feature of the university (and academia at large) changing. What works at one time point may
need revision later.
Most of my thoughts focus on transparency issues, clarity and balance of standards, and
streamlining/efficiency. These are presented below in no particular order. Others may also think
of items to add to this list.
In summary, I believe we can improve our P&T process to a point where were looking
comprehensively at facultys overall contribution and promotion of Stetson University. Stetsons
strengths will come in diversity, including finding ways to capitalize on and encourage peoples
specific skills and assets which will ultimately differ from one person to another. We have a lot
of great folks here and were bringing in a lot of wonderful new faculty and Im sure we can
tweak our P&T system a bit to meet the exciting changes and challenges our university will see
in forthcoming years. I remember being a student here (class of 93!) and what an amazing
experience it was. As always, I am beyond proud to call myself both an alum and faculty
member at this wonderful university and Im excited to see how we take Stetson into the future.
Cordially,
Chris Ferguson
Psychology