A Faculty Senate Position Statement

Faculty Senators believe full-time senior administrators involved in the promotion and tenure process, and especially a Provost or a Vice President for Research (and Economic Development), should be bound by the same expectations as faculty who are involved in evaluating colleagues for promotion and tenure.  Thus, a vice president for research should be fully aware of research and scholarly expectations at a major research-oriented university and should have successfully proceeded through the tenure and promotion processes at a research-oriented university. 

Dr. Angeline Dvorak, the current Vice President for Research and Economic Development at USM, has not been tenured as a faculty member at The University of Southern Mississippi nor at any other four-year university.  For Dr. Dvorak to continue to have a prominent role in promotion and tenure processes at USM has the potential to undermine expectations that are explicitly stated in the current Faculty Handbook. 

The Faculty Senate urges, therefore, that Dr. Dvorak voluntarily discontinue her involvement in promotion and tenure processes at USM.

Passed April 16, 2004

Vote: 31-9-1 in support of the position statement