University of Massachusetts Boston
Faculty Staff Union, Inc.
University of Massachusetts Boston
From the September 29, 2009 Mass Media:
Got Tenure?
By Dillon Zhou
While UMass Boston may not be an Ivy League School, many of the best professors on campus are not guaranteed a job each year due to the overall organization of professors. Because there are two types of professors at UMB. There are the tenured professors and then there are the Non-Tenure Track professors (NTT).
Most of the students interviewed said that they have no reckoning of the difference between an NTT professor and a tenured professor, as most professors don’t generally announce their tenure status in class.
“I didn’t really know there was any difference between my professors,” said John Beckman, a senior at UMB. But Beckman stated that he rarely runs into a professor he dislikes.
The main difference between NTT professors and tenured professors is their privileges and employee benefits. For instance, NTT professors don’t get the first choice on which courses they get to teach each semester. They also do not have solid job security, especially when UMB decides to downsize its faculty.
NTT professors receive benefits from UMB and work within their own promotion structure. According to the Faculty Staff Union (FSU), the organization representing professors at UMB, there are three categories within this hierarchy system.
After joining the faculty, newly hired professors must teach 5 courses over 3 consecutive semesters in order to get Lecturer I status and then teach 2 more consecutive semesters at a minimum half-time status. In return, these professors are granted the basic employee benefits offered to NTT staff members, which include a salary floor of $44,076.
Lecturer I professors can acquire Lecturer II status can be acquired after teaching at UMB for 6 years. They are then eligible for a new annual salary minimum of $51,349, with consideration to each professor’s workload. After ten years of service, full-time NTT professors with Lecturer II status receive a $5,000 raise for their dedicated service to UMB, while the half-time professors receive a $2,500 pay raise.
NTT professors who reach the status of Lecturer II at UMB are eligible for a promotion to the top position of Senior Lecturer. Those who stay with UMB for 10 years or more are granted this position after a thorough review by the Department Personnel Committees. According to the FSU, these NTT professors are given multi-year contracts, which range from 2-3 years depending on seniority, and are guaranteed a minimum of two courses per semester for each of the two terms of each year of the contract, and allow for a 3rd and 4th course if allowed by the departmental priority list system. Furthermore, all of these contracts can be renewed, after they expire, by Department Personnel Committees, which can recommend another multi-year contract depending on projected departmental needs. All contracts are subject to change if deemed necessary by a UMB dean, depending on changes in student enrollment and tenure hiring plans.
As of 2009, there are 47 NTT professors who have Lecturer I status, 78 with Lecturer II status, and 40 Senior Lecturers at UMass Boston. There are also two program directors and 236 NTT professors who are working on campus. There are also 102 NTT professors who have been here for more than ten years – with and without the status of Senior Lecturer. The rest are newly hired professors who have yet to fulfill the requirements to become a Lecture I professor. Altogether, there are currently 479 untenured professors working as Non-Tenure Track (NTT) faculty.
Recently, Professor John Hess, a 20 year veteran of the UMB English Department and an active leader among the NTT professors, gave an interview to highlight the contributions of the NTT professors to the UMB community.
“Some of our students already have figured out the NTT professors at UMB are competent, fully qualified professionals. We are dedicated to our students and to the university. In my case, which is typical of many NTT faculty members, I have been teaching English for 20 years at UMB and I can honestly say that I love the university and my students. I firmly believe that NTT faculty are crucial to the functioning of the university,” said Hess.
He points out that many of the NTT professors are active on campus and genuinely care about the students in terms of the quality of education that they receive and their futures in the U.S. workforce. They also take up some of the heaviest workloads at the University.
“Many NTT professors teach on a part-time basis, but many teach full-time as well thanks to the university’s unique policy,” which the FSU was critical in making possible, said Hess.
Like many other NTT professors, Professor Hess has taught a wide variety of courses including English 101 and 102, Introduction to Literature, British Literature, and American Literature. Currently, he’s teaching two sections of English 101; he’s also one of the negotiators for the Division of Corporate, Continuing, and Distance Education (CCDE) contract negotiations now taking place.
Professors Hess is also an active supporter of UMB’s sports teams. He regularly attends both the Men and Women’s basketball games during both the regular season and plans on being present at the upcoming invitational tournament during Thanksgiving Break.
“I love teaching at UMB and am deeply committed to the university, doing a great deal of service as well as teaching. I am not an exception. There are many NTT faculty members who do the same,” said Hess
At the conclusion of his interview, Professor Hess cited many veteran NTT professors, like Professor Tony Vandermeer, Dr. Kathryn Kogan, and Professor Emmett Schaeffer, as some of the most devoted professors at UMB. At the same time he emphasized his message about the NTT professors.
“These particular NTT professors represent the spirit of what we all stand for. They have made equal if not greater commitments to the students of UMB, while putting in additional community service to our school. We [the NTT professors] do our jobs as well as the tenured staff, but I doubt that all our students can tell the difference between a tenured professor and NTT professor. We hope that our efforts aren’t overlooked.”
This may not remain true for long, as the NTT professors came out in force in Spring 2009, stressing their contributions at an publicized conference, Hidden Treasure: A Celebration of the Research, Service, and Achievements of NTT Faculty. With plans under way for another Hidden Treasure event to be held in April 2010, the interest in the role of the NTT professors promises to remain a vibrant and pressing issue at UMB.