The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is in compliance with Principle 3.7.3 because ample evidence of ongoing professional development of faculty as teachers, scholars, and practitioners exists and is provided through 1) the linkage of mission and performance requirements and evaluation, 2) support for professional development, and 3) institutional recognition of professional development and accomplishments.
Both the mission of UAH and the Institutional Goals of UAH address the importance of faculty professional growth to the University. The mission of UAH affirms the University's commitment to "providing an environment that facilitates intellectual, cultural, personal, and professional growth," and the Institutional Goals includes the encouragement of "programs to enhance the academic, social, cultural, personal, and professional growth of the members of its diverse campus community." Faculty members are encouraged to continue their professional development through a number of policies, programs and support mechanisms. Moreover, the University monitors the professional development through regular evaluations and requires evidence of appropriate professional development for reappointment, tenure and promotion.
The UAH Faculty Handbook makes it clear in a number of places (such as in the progressive criteria for promotion to associate and full professor described in Chapter 7, Section 6), that clear evidence of past professional development and clear indications of future professional development are required for positive decisions of re-appointment, tenure and promotion. This is especially true for tenure-track and tenured faculty. As stated in the UAH Faculty Handbook, Chapter 7, Section 3.3.1, "Tenure is granted only to those faculty members who show evidence of substantial growth and future promise."
For tenure or promotion decisions, faculty members provide a detailed dossier of their professional achievements which is examined by appropriate administrators and faculty committees at the departmental, college and University levels. Reappointment evaluation is primarily done at the departmental level by the chair or associate dean (in Nursing) and an independent faculty committee, with recommendation reports sent to the dean. For tenure-track faculty nearing their critical year, these reports normally include a statement on whether the faculty member's professional development is as expected for one so close to a tenure decision.
Independent of appointment, tenure, and promotion reviews, each faculty member files a Faculty Activity Report (FAR), as part of the performance evaluation, detailing the faculty member's professional activity, accomplishments, and development (UAH Faculty Handbook, Chapter 7, Section 8.1). It is reviewed by the faculty member's chair and dean, and becomes, along with the chair's corresponding evaluation, part of the faculty member's comprehensive file maintained in the Office of the Dean. Section VI of the FAR specifically addresses the faculty member's professional development activities for the past year. In Section VIII of the FAR, the faculty member outlines his/her professional goals for the upcoming year.
In addition, status as a graduate faculty member requires evidence that the faculty member's professional development has reached a level appropriate to teaching graduate classes and directing graduate students. Only graduate faculty members may teach graduate classes or direct graduate students. Documentation that the faculty member is actively engaged in research and scholarly activity in the academic discipline is reviewed by the Credentials Committee of the Graduate Council which then recommends to the Graduate Dean whether the faculty member should be appointed as a member of the graduate school. Initially, full appointment is normally for a term of two to four years (depending on the original academic credentials). Continued professional development is encouraged since reviews of the faculty member's professional activity relating to his/her graduate school activity are conducted at regular intervals, with reappointment to the graduate school dependent on the results of those reviews (UAH Graduate School Handbook 2003, Chapter II).
Directly and indirectly, the University encourages and supports the professional development of its faculty. For new faculty, this begins with the annual new faculty orientation, at which many of the resources available for professional development are described. These resources include various units within the University, as well as specific policies and programs.
Because of its roles in academic funding, in developing and carrying out University policies and procedures, and in the hiring, evaluation and retention (or dismissal) of faculty, the Office of the Provost and the academic units under its direction are the primary units of the University regarding the professional development of the faculty. Some of the other major University units that play significant roles in the professional development of the faculty are described below.
- Research Administration, headed by the Vice President for Research, provides aid and support in identifying funding opportunities, preparing grant proposals, administering grants, ensuring that faculty members understand necessary regulations and laws relating to sponsored research, managing intellectual property generated by faculty, and funding start-up packages to support research programs for new faculty. Part of their aid is in sponsoring or co-sponsoring talks, seminars and workshops to aid faculty in obtaining grants, as well as offering numerous on-line aids, including a tutorial on writing grant proposals and links to the Community of Science research and funding database service to which the University subscribes (through this service, faculty can publicize their expertise and receive funding opportunity alerts). In addition, the Research Administration Office manages and funds the UAH Research Mini-Grant Program. The impact of the work of the Research Administration Office can be measured in part by the number of proposals submitted and the dollar amount generated. In FY04, UAH faculty and staff submitted 594 grant proposals, and sponsored research at UAH generated a total of 45 million dollars.
- Computer and Network Services (CNS) provide much of the technology, expertise and training to expand the faculty's ability to use the modern computer environment in their teaching, research and scholarship. In addition to meeting the basic hardware and networking needs of the faculty and ensuring that faculty computers are properly configured, the CNS provides space for faculty websites, provides a number of site-licensed software titles that many faculty find useful in their work, and regularly offer short skill building classes (one to three hours in length) intended to introduce participants to the software packages/ services they are likely to use (e.g., Microsoft Access, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft FrontPage, Microsoft Image Composer, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Faculty Web, Student Web, UAH Netscape Calendar Services, and UAH Webmail).
- The M. Louis Salmon Library maintains hardcopy and online journals, monographs and texts supporting faculty research and instructional efforts. It also provides such services as interlibrary loans, a retrieval service for research materials located at the Redstone Scientific Information Center, and regularly available instruction and workshops in the use of library facilities, especially the on-line materials.
Some of the more noteworthy ongoing projects and existing policies supporting the professional development of the faculty are:
- The Sabbatical Leave Policy provides paid leave for one or two semesters after six years of permanent full-time service to the University. The link between sabbatical leaves and professional development at UAH is made explicit in the UAH Faculty Handbook, Chapter 9, Section 12, on Sabbatical Leaves that states "Sabbatical leaves for tenured faculty are encouraged in order to further faculty development. Sabbaticals are provided so that faculty members may devote a substantial period of time, at UAH or elsewhere, to activities supporting their professional development." Requests for sabbaticals must include "a reasonably detailed plan of activities, describing how the plan will contribute to the professional development of the faculty member." In particular, the applicant is expected to affirm at least one of the following questions:
Will it enrich and enhance the faculty member's understanding of his or her field(s) of study?
Will it increase the faculty member's effectiveness as a teacher?
Will it provide the faculty member time to devote to significant scholarly and/or creative projects?
Within one semester of returning to service at UAH, each sabbatical recipient is required to submit a report summarizing his/her activities during the Sabbatical and the accomplishments achieved.
In 2004-2005, fourteen faculty members took sabbatical leaves. Their names and the terms of their leaves can be found in the table of sabbatical leaves for 2004-2005 included in the source documents.
- The Research Mini-Grant Program, under the direction of the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research, encourages growth and development of the faculty's research talents. Priority is given to new full-time tenure earning faculty with less than three years at UAH. The program supports basic and applied research activities which are motivated by an effort to probe toward and discover new ideas, information or applications. The Program is intended to enhance a faculty member's talents, scholarship, and ability to pursue research activities in his/her respective field of study.
In 2004, eleven mini-grants were awarded to faculty in such diverse fields as management, biology, education, chemistry, music, electrical engineering, and philosophy. The list of these awards is included in the source documents.
- The Mini-grants Program for Instructional Projects, administered by the Office of the Provost, was established to enhance student learning at the University through the development and improvement of the curriculum and educational process. It encourages faculty to explore new and innovative teaching techniques, technologies, and instructional delivery systems, thus supporting the professional development of faculty. Unlike the research mini-grants, these awards are not restricted to beginning faculty but are available to all faculty members. In the 2004-2005 academic year, six awards were made. More details about these awards are given in the table of mini-grants for instructional projects located in source documents.
- The Distinguished Speakers Series Program, administered by the Faculty Senate and funded through the Office of the Provost, was established to provide academic departments/units the opportunity to bring speakers of national and international repute to the campus community. This program gives faculty the opportunity to establish contacts with and interact with eminent scholars in their particular disciplines, and enhances the reputation of UAH faculty as scholars and researchers. This program brought in five distinguished speakers during the 2004-2005 academic year.
- The UAH Humanities Center advances the development of the faculty in the areas of the humanities through its programs of research, travel, and grants, and by its general promotion of the humanities to the public. The research and travel grants go to faculty members to help fund the expenses of faculty in research leading to eventual publication of articles and books, and to allow them to present papers and participate in professional meetings and activities outside the UAH community. Humanities Center grants help enhance the holdings of the University's Library in the specific disciplines of the UAH faculty. The Humanities Center provides matching funds for external grants requiring such funding as needed. Since the Humanities Center was founded (in 1991), hundreds of grants have been awarded. These grants have provided thousands of new titles to the M. Louis Salmon Library's collection, financed research enabling faculty to publish books and articles, and sponsored hundreds of trips to conferences and forums where faculty members have presented their work.
- Unpaid Leaves of Absence allow faculty members to take a leave for periods of up to two years. This policy is described in the UAH Faculty Handbook, Chapter 9, Section 11 where it explicitly states that this leave must be "for further study and other activities that tend to enhance professional capacities or stature."
- The Tuition Assistance Program, described in the UAH Faculty Handbook, Chapter, 9, Section 7, allows a faculty member to take one course per semester or summer mini-semester with the University paying tuition. While this program does not require justification in terms of professional development, it has aided at least some faculty members in earning second MA degrees in fields complementing their major fields of interest.
- Faculty Development Workshops are sponsored by the Office of the Provost. This year the workshop was entitled Foundation Distinguished Teaching Award Lecture Series. Two of the former Teaching Award Winners were present to give a lecture on good teaching practices and then to answer questions from faculty.
- The University provides support for professional travel through funds for approved faculty. For faculty, these funds are usually allocated at the departmental or college level according to the funding actually available. In practice, this funding is necessarily limited and cannot cover all the professional travel needs of all faculty members. In addition, the University provides additional travel support through its pool of cars and vans that are available for a fee for faculty members attending out-of-town meetings, training seminars, etc.
- The University recognizes that faculty activity in consulting and in developing intellectual property can enhance the visibility and reputation of both the individual faculty involved and the University. Accordingly, this activity is encouraged provided it is of non-routine character, is at a high professional level, and does not entail potential conflicts of interest. Faculty members planning to engage in outside consulting activities or in the development of intellectual property leading to copyrights or patents are expected to discuss their planned activities with their chair and/or dean, and, when appropriate, to submit a disclosure form to protect them and the University from conflicts of interest. The University's policy on consulting is found in the UAH Faculty Handbook, Chapter 9, Section 3. The University's policies on patents and on copyrights are contained in the UAH Faculty Handbook, Appendix G and Appendix H. The disclosure form addressing possible conflicts of interest is in the UAH Faculty Handbook, Appendix J.
Throughout the year, faculty members attend, participate in and often set up the many colloquia, seminars and workshops that are hosted by various components of the campus. These range from colloquia and seminars devoted to presenting research of interest to specific groups of faculty and students (e.g., the weekly Hudson Biotechnology Seminars) to workshops devoted to helping faculty succeed in applying for grants (e.g., the Foundation and Corporate Grant Seeking for Faculty seminar hosted by Office of University Advancement ) to workshops introducing faculty to technology that can aid them in their teaching and research (e.g., the regular Introduction to Web Course Tools workshops on applying web technology to teaching) to cultural affairs that offer breaks in the daily tedium of the individual facultys lives and help them understand the wonderful complexities of the world outside their departments (e.g., the UAH Global Affairs Forum: "The Arab-Israeli Conflict: Past, Present, and Future").
Recognition of Professional Development
The University's acknowledgement of a faculty member's professional development comes primarily through the various reviews previously discussed and the subsequent success of the faculty member in being reappointed, tenured, and promoted. However, the University and its colleges also regularly recognize individual faculty who have achieved outstanding professional success through various awards. The most visible of these awards are the four annual Distinguished Teaching Awards and the four annual Research and Creative Achievement Awards which are sponsored by the UAH Foundation and administered through the Office of the Provost. Each recipient of these awards receives a certificate of achievement and a $2,500 award at the annual honors day convocation. At this convocation, other faculty members who have received national or international awards or citations are also recognized. In addition, several of the other colleges also recognize outstanding teachers and researchers within the college through similar (though smaller) awards usually given in conjunction with the honor's day convocation. A listing of the 2004 and 2005 winners of the UAH Foundation Awards is located in the source documents.
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