President's Committee for Women in Health Sciences
Symposium Recommendation
Recommendation 1a: Retain tenure track women faculty.
Action: Dr. Wilson stated that the modification of HSC Regent's Rules regarding the tenure probationary period will be an agenda item for the Board of Regents meeting in December or shortly thereafter.
Recommendation 1b: Recruit more women faculty.
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Publish an annual report.
Action: Dr. Wilson stated that this report should be available within a few months from the Academic Affairs Office (Dr. Nairn).
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Research start-ups space….normalize for external research dollars spent.
Action: The Task Force is invited to inform Dr. Wilson if it finds serious discrepancies in the data regarding gender discrepancies in areas such as salaries in departments and schools, years in rank as they relate to salaries, access to advancement (promotions), space allocations, time available for research, and other areas that may become apparent.
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Research start-ups space….normalize for external research dollars spent.
Action: The Task Force is invited to inform Dr. Wilson if it finds serious discrepancies in the data regarding gender discrepancies in areas such as salaries in departments and schools, years in rank as they relate to salaries, access to advancement (promotions), space allocations, time available for research, and other areas that may become apparent.
- Monetary pool for Chairs to apply for development monies for women faculty. Action: Dr. Wilson stated that he plans to establish a development fund for new faculty, both men and women. (Women faculty cannot be addressed exclusively in this initiative.)
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Develop comprehensive spousal relocation service program for TTUHSC. Dr. Strahlendorf stated that she spoke with Dr. Elizabeth Hall at TTU regarding this issue. The Women in Health Sciences Task Force volunteered to work with Dr. Hall regarding implementation of a spousal relocation program at the HSC.
Action: Dr. Wilson asked the Task Force to keep Mary Croyle informed of progress on this issue and enlist her support in implementing this program through Human Resources here at the HSC.
Recommendation 2: Clarify promotion tracks
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Apprise faculty of the specifics of each appointment series upon hire and during annual performance evaluation. Apprise faculty of requirements for promotion. The Women in Health Sciences Task Force suggested that Task Force Members meet one-on-one with each new woman faculty hire in a school-specific meeting to discuss school-specific appointments and requirements for promotion/tenure. Dr. Bickley stated that this would also aid in locating mentors for junior faculty. This would be in addition to and not replacing the information from that faculty member’s Chair.
Dr. Wilson stated that all promotion tracks need simplification and clarification. A uniform process of apprising faculty of requirements is planned. He agreed that there should be implementation of a mid-tenure track review (three year probationary period) by departmental chairs or senior faculty. He also agreed that Deans should hold Chairs accountable for this review and for providing an annual appraisal of probationary work to tenure-track faculty by using the Chair’s annual evaluation.Action: Dr. Wilson agreed to Task Force meetings with new women faculty.
Recommendation 3: Implement a school-specific expectation of annual scholarship for all faculty (this is a change in phrasing from the current recommendation)
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Apprise faculty of required expectation of annual scholarship. Dr. Wilson stated that this is an area of continued dialogue, and a specific definition of scholarship should occur at the Dean level. The discussion also included statements regarding the difficulty in quantifying teaching as a scholarly product (perhaps preparation of a teaching portfolio could be carried out) and how to proceed with recommendations if an inadequate level of scholarship was exhibited by an individual.
Dr. Bickley discussed that the School of Medicine Development Research Task Force addressed the definition of scholarship earlier this year, namely that "scholarship is creative intellectual work that has been validated by disciplinary peers and is communicated and published in writing or electronically…to those within the discipline. Scholarship is not just a listing of all activities that make up a person´s job in a university; it is work that has been peer reviewed and documented."Action: The above definition is submitted with these minutes as a starting point for clarifying current definitions of scholarship for HSC faculty.
Action: Dr. Wilson will speak to Drs. Nairn and Rolfe to define a broader scope of scholarship
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Prepare and publish report on annual scholarship for online " fact books." Dr. Coates stated that this information is typically given to departmental chairs every year and that it should be available for compilation into a Fact Book.
Action: Dr. Wilson stated that this will be coordinated and made available by the Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Recommendation 4: Establish on-site TTUHSC childcare
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Perform feasibility study of on-site childcare. Dr. Wilson stated that a new initiative should be instigated. He would like to include University Medical Center in the preparation of a new feasibility study in hope that collaboration between the HSC and UMC would provide additional monetary support for establishing a childcare center for all faculty and staff. He stated that this center must be financially self-sustaining. The feasibility study should look at all options – a joint effort with UMC or a sole effort of the HSC. We should also explore whether the Pediatrics Department could provide backup services for the childcare center. One potential issue is that this would be a Lubbock benefit and the impact on the regional campuses needs to be considered. Action: Dr. Wilson authorized the Task Force to pursue the next steps, namely:
- Dr. Coates is asked to identify names and figures for an external consultant.
- Dr. Bickley was charged with obtaining information from her Rochester experience with childcare and forwarding it to Dr. Wilson.
- Dr. Wilson will fund a feasibility study and add this project to the official Projects Portfolio.
Recommendation 5 : Coordinate academic career activities for women faculty
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Dr. Wilson agreed that a staff support individual was necessary for the committee to operate nominally, particularly close to Symposium time. He also agreed that we continue with our Symposia.
Action: Dr. Wilson named Cynthia Urive as support staff, to be contacted after completing the majority of her SOM Dean Search Committee commitments in January 2006.