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DRAFT COPY
8/24/09
Working Paper #6—Criterion 4 Acquisition, Discovery, andApplication of Knowledge
"The College continues to think of its students as partners in inquiry, and seeks those who are earnestly committed to learning"--Kenyon College Mission Statement
Criterion 4: The organization promotes a life of learning for its faculty, administration, staff, and students by fostering and supporting inquiry, creativity, practice, and social responsibility in ways consistent with its mission.
4a: The organization demonstrates, through the actions of its board, administrators, students, faculty, and staff, that it values a life of learning.
President Nugent, in an open letter to students printed at the beginning of the Student Handbook, defines Kenyon's ideal of community as "the collective enterprise of learning in which we all participate, valuing diversity of backgrounds, beliefs, interests, and goals while adhering to the liberal-arts precepts of open inquiry and freedom of expression." That statement is echoed in the "Conduct of Courses" section in the college catalog in the statement of "Academic Rights and Responsibilities": "Students are guaranteed academic freedom; they make known their views, confident that these will be judged by their instructors only with regard to their academic merit" (p. 19) and in the Academic and Professional Responsibility section of the Faculty Handbook, which states that participation in college life "is based upon the broad principles of academic freedom, the vigorous pursuit of knowledge, and the free exchange of ideas" (1.0). The Academic Policies sent to each faculty member at the start of every academic year includes the following statement about academic freedom: "Freedom to search for truth and to teach and learn without fear of arbitrary interference is a first principle of a community of learning, and Kenyon College classes are conducted in that spirit. Members of the teaching faculty, without regard to specific conditions of appointment, and students at Kenyon College enjoy the privileges and responsibilities of academic freedom."
How do our planning and pattern of financial allocation demonstrate that we value and promote a life of learning for students, faculty, and staff.
This is largely woven into discussions of faculty development and student research budgets. Also discussed in WP 2?
Kenyon supports professional development opportunities and makes them available to all of its administrators, faculty, and staff.
Faculty
Kenyon College encourages its faculty members to be active and creative within their disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields. During the past decade, in response to faculty concerns, the college has striven to increase its support for faculty development through a number of initiatives, both by increasing or redirecting funding to already existing programs and by creating new programs of support. In 1996-97 spending on faculty development per full time faculty member was $1553. By 2007 that had risen to $2140 per FTE faculty. In the 2008 HERI survey, 72.8% of the responding faculty agreed or strongly agreed that support for faculty development was adequate. By comparison, in the 1999 Survey of Faculty Opinion, over one-half of the faculty respondents disagreed with the statement that “Kenyon’s level of support for faculty development is consistent with the College’s expectations for scholarly engagement” (see Self Study p. 35).
Start Up Funds
As was the case for the decade from 1990-2000, the college has continued to increase the level start-up funds for newly-hired faculty. Although these funds are still awarded on a case-by case basis, all newly-hired faculty receive something. Over the last decade, Humanities faculty average have around $3,000 in start-up funds; Fine Arts faculty around $5,000 with Dance and Drama the outlier at $20,000; the Social Sciences have averaged around $5,000, with Anthropology at around $20,000. Finally averages in the Natural Science Division range from a low of $35,000 in Mathematics, to a high of $85,000- $100,000 in Chemistry. This program appears to compare well with start-up opportunities at comparable colleges.
Individual Faculty Development Accounts
The College makes available to all full-time faculty (tenured, tenure-track, and visitors) an Individual Faculty Development Account (IFDA) in the amount of $1400 per year. Those account balances carry over from year to year, to a maximum of $4000. Faculty members serving under a Limited Appointment Part-time (see section 2.4.12 of the Faculty Handbook) receive IFDAs funded at $750 per year, with carry-over up to $2000. This fund may be used for expenses associated with the professional development, for instance, travel expenses to attend conferences, conference and workshop registration fees, membership fees in professional societies, publication and copying costs, research supplies, software necessary for research, or payment of a student to help in a faculty member's research. The IFDAs are not as generous as we would like, but providing a reliable base of support is a step in the right direction, and we intend to grow the IFDA accounts as much as possible. The development of IFDAswas a significant change from the earlier system of paying for "faculty travel." Prior to the development of the IFDA, faculty were allocated a fairly limited amount of travel money if they were presenting research at a conference. The IFDA allows the faculty member to define professional development activity for themselves and spend their account accordingly. Michelle, I have a chart showing spending in all research grants. We could probably do a line graph or scatterchart for that.
Figure 1 Allocation and Requests for Faculty Research Funding, All Funding Sources
Sabbaticals
Kenyon offers a generous sabbatical program. The sabbatical typically occurs after the seventh year of service and every seventh year thereafter. A standard sabbatical at Kenyon consists of either full salary for a one semester leave or one-half salary for a full-year leave. However, the college encourages faculty to take a full year off, which they can do by applying for a Sabbatical Supplement Grant that brings their leave salary up to five-sixth of their regular pay. In the last decade, everyone taking a full-year sabbatical who has applied has been awarded the supplemental grant.
In 1997-98, Kenyon began to offer “junior leaves” to a modest number of newly hired faculty. These leaves give tenure-track faculty a semester of leave to devote to their research before they stand for tenure. Prior to 2000-01, junior leaves were rare, with a few being negotiated as part of the hiring process. By 2000-01, at least half of the new faculty hires were negotiating for a one semester paid junior leave and these were granted. The junior leave program has now been regularized, so that a sabbatical leave during the pre-tenure appointment does not need to be negotiated as an individual matter, but is a standard policy. In the 9 years between 2001-02 and 2009-10, Kenyon has granted one semester paid junior leaves to 73 new tenure-track faculty members. However, the junior leave program has not yet been brought onto the budget; they are all funded by the salary pool so that the faculty member on junior leave is paid his or her full salary and the college replaces one course (of two). All junior leaves must be taken in the 2 course semester of the 3:2 load.
Kenyon has several longstanding grant funds that support faculty research and creative work.
Faculty Development Grants
The Faculty Development Grant provides funds to members of the faculty (half-time or above) in scholarly or artistic activities related to their College work. Faculty may apply for up to $2500 annually; awards are made each year in October, January, and April.
Kenyon Summer Stipends
Each year 2 Kenyon Summer Stipends of $4000 each are awarded to faculty to support a minimum of six weeks uninterrupted writing, research, or artistic work. These awards recognize major research and artistic projects of exceptional merit and promise.
The chart below shows the allocation of Faculty development and Summer Stipend funds for the last ten years (they are funded from a single pool). The annual budget for these grants has grown very little over the last decade and in no year was it sufficient to fund all proposals or even to fund all meritorious proposals up to the $2500 maximum (see chart below). Demand for the fund is difficult to predict from year to year; or even, within a given year, from cycle to cycle. While competition for faculty development grants has grown (at one time they were virtually automatic for those who applied), the Faculty Affairs Committee is usually able to award grants to more than half of those who request them. Percentages of successful applications have run from a high of 83% of proposals funded in 2008-09 to a low of 45% successful applications in 2003-04. Amount of funding as a percentage of total funds requested has fluctuated from a low of 46% in 2002-03 to a high of 77% in 2008-09. However even though FAC is usually able to accommodate the majority of requests, the perception is that the $2500 cap is low and that this budget has not substantially increased in years. Those years when the numbers of requests were fairly low and most were funded may reflect an perception among the faculty that competition is too fierce to make application a good use of faculty time.
Faculty Development Grants including Kenyon Summer StipendsYear / Allocation / Number of Applicants / Requested / Number of Awardees / Granted
1999-2000 / $44,478.00 / $66,957.53 / $44,061.05
2000-2001 / $46,702.00 / 42 / $96,017.90 / 25 / $49,552.00
2001-2002 / $51,372.00 / 59 / $89,884.71 / 33 / $64,692.50
2002-2003 / $51,372.00 / 47 / $110,790.22 / 26 / $51,372.00
2003-2004 / $51,372.00 / 67 / $123,281.70 / 30 / $58,502.00
2004-2005 / $61,646.00 / 52 / $112,021.00 / 38 / $61,646.00
2005-2006 / $60,000.00 / 42 / $78,297.95 / 31 / $60,000.00
2006-2007 / $61,500.00 / 50 / $87,180.00 / 32 / $63,944.00
2007-2008 / $57,500.00 / 53 / $101,674.96 / 32 / $65,499.20
2008-2009 / $58,938.00 / 29 / $60,247.00 / 24 / $46,202.00
Teaching Initiative Grants
Teaching Initiative Grants provide funds to support members of the faculty in developing new courses and for enhancing teaching methods and strategies in existing and new courses. Grant monies may be used to restructure existing courses, and to research and obtain materials for the development and implementation of new courses, including attending or organizing workshops or other productions that directly contribute to enhanced teaching. We examined this fund more fully in working paper 5.
Midwest Faculty Seminars
Kenyon has been an active participant in the University of Chicago’s Midwest Faculty Seminars for many years. The Midwest Faculty Seminars program is a unique forum that brings faculty members at the University of Chicago into continuing conversation with faculty members at private liberal arts colleges through 3 day interdisciplinary scholarly symposia throughout the year. Kenyon pays to send up to 4 faculty to attend 4 Midwest Faculty Seminars throughout the year. In any give year, 4-6 faculty might request a seminar. In many years we are able to accommodate all the faculty who apply to the program. While this program does not affect a large number of faculty (our records show that about 17 faculty members have taken advantage over the last 5 years) it remains a useful opportunity for those who attend.
In addition, over the last decade, Kenyon has added several new grant opportunities for faculty that has increased the funds available for faculty research.
Dr. Newton Chun Award
The Dr.Newton Chun award was endowed by his son, Jon Chun, and first awarded in 2004. The award of $8000 is given to support research and artistic projects of exceptional merit and promise. It may be used for projects that take place in the summer, during one semester, or over one or more academic years, but preference is given to projects that cannot otherwise be accomplished without financial support. Recipients may not reapply until the seventh year after having been awarded a Chun fellowship.
Labalme Faculty Development Grants
In 2004, the Labalme Faculty Development Grants became available supporting up to $5000 of the costs of research that involves international travel. 2-3 awards are given each year.
Newton ChunYear / Allocation / Requested / Granted
2004-2005 / $12,533 / 7 / $66,398 / 1 / $10,000
2006-2007 / $8,000 / 3 / $23,350 / 1 / $8,000
2007-2008 / $8,000 / 2 / $16,000 / 1 / $8,000
2008-2009 / $8,000 / 5 / $40,000 / 1 / $8,000
Labalme Grants
Year / Allocation / Requested / Granted
2004-2005 / $53,303.00 / 15 / $73,659.00 / 7 / $28,552.00
2005-2006 / 25 / $112,141.68 / 3 / $13,388.00
2006-2007 / $25,000.00 / 16 / $62,604.00 / 7 / $24,701.00
2007-2008 / $15,000.00 / 4 / $18,800.00 / 3 / $13,800.00
2008-2009 / $15,000.00 / 7 / $12,100.00 / 3 / $10,000.00
Teachers Teaching Teachers
The Teachers Teaching Teachers program was launched in 2007 with a $600,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The program provides support for teams of two or more faculty members who span different disciplines or programs and share a common objective, with no upper or lower limits placed on the number of participants. TTT grants are intended to expand and improve the interdisciplinary content of courses, provide opportunities for interdisciplinary teaching and learning outside of courses, or refine pedagogy at Kenyon through collaboration with faculty members outside of one's own discipline. The Teachers Teaching Teachers program offers twoawards: TTT Faculty Initiative Grants (currently awarded at amounts up to $10,000 per faculty member per year) and TTT Interdisciplinary Summer Seminars (currently awarded at $20,000 per seminar and typically involving 15-20 faculty members). We discussed TTT grants more fully in working paper 5.