Report of Executive Staff on a Significant Board Matter

Proposal from the System Office of Academic Affairs to Authorize an Exception to Chapter 8, Section 2.7 of the Regulations of the Board of Supervisors

Current Regulation

Section 2.7 of the Regulations of the Board of Supervisors has the following requirements regarding the length of time a faculty member at the rank of assistant professor, associate professor, or professor  may be appointed before mandatory review for tenure:

Professors and Associate Professors

Professors and Associate Professors are tenured and are appointed for an indefinite period of time, except that the initial appointment and subsequent reappointments through not more than five years of total service to the LSU campus involved may be made for a stipulated term.   Persons promoted to the rank of Professor or Associate Professor after less than five years of service on the campus may be continued to term appointment through no more than the fifth year.

Assistant Professors

 Upon reappointment after seven years of service in rank on a particular campus, Assistant Professors receive tenure.   A thorough review will be made during the sixth year of service so that notice of termination may be given if necessary no later than the end of the sixth year of service.

Proposal

Hurricane Katrina caused a major disruption in the research and instructional productivity  of many faculty at the University of New Orleans and the LSU HSC-NO to meet their instructional and research responsibilities during the 2005-06 academic year.  In order to give affected faculty an opportunity to meet Campus and System criteria for promotion and tenure, both the University of New Orleans and the LSUHSC-NO have requested that faculty be given an opportunity to request an additional year before the date of their mandatory review.

Assistant professors requesting a delay in their mandatory tenure review by one year will sign a statement that they understand that, Tenure will not automatically be granted at the beginning of their eighth year of service.    Associate professors and professors will sign a statement that they understand that, Tenure will not automatically be granted at the beginning of their sixth year of service.

Recommendation of Executive Staff

The Executive Staff recommends approval of the request for faculty at UNO and the LSUHSC-NO to have an additional year before the date of their mandatory review.