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1995 ChemConf: Faculty Rewards: Can We Implement the Scholarship of Teaching?

10/11/95 to 10/27/95
Organizer(s): 
Arlene Russell Michael Pavelich Dept of Chemistry Dept of Chemistry UCLA Colorado School of Mines

The main issue to discuss is whether the scholarship of teaching should become an alternative to the scholarship of discovery (research) in faculty promotion and tenure decisions in higher education. This case was argued forcefully by Ernest Boyer in the Carnegie Foundation's 1990 monograph "Scholarship Reconsidered". The issue, however, needs to be debated openly and creatively by academics themselves. We have organized this conference to do just that.

Conference Articles

Abstracts of Papers:

WHO SHOULD TEACH IN COLLEGE?

Richard M. Felder
Hoechst Celanese Professor of Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University
felder@eos.ncsu.edu

Raleigh, NC 27695-7905

Abstract:

The following remarks are an informal synopsis of my paper, "The Myth of the Superhuman Professor," which appeared in the April 1994 issue of the Journal of Engineering Education. For a more detailed presentation of my position and supporting references, I invite you to consult that article.

"Scholarship Reconsidered" - Inherent Dangers in its Applications

Michael P. Doyle
Department of Chemistry
Trinity University, San Antonio, TX 78212

Abstract: 
Focus first on the CBS program "60 Minutes".  The reporter is visiting the University of Arizona.  "I have read the catalog listing of professors," she observes, "and I find many distinguished faculty, but I am shocked," she says, "to find that distinguished professors are not generally accessible to undergraduate students."  Observes a member of the humanities faculty:  the more distinguished you are, the less you teach.  The interview and commentary continues with increased criticism of the professorate and its focus on research, inexperienced teaching assistants, and a reward system that emphasizes research at the expense of teaching.  This commentary in March of 1995, to which the President of the University of Arizona was refused on-camera reply, reflected the general theme of "Scholarship Reconsidered" by Ernest L. Boyer which described, already in 1990, "the divisive struggle on many campuses
between research and teaching".
Integration of the Scholarship of Teaching Into Faculty Roles and Rewards: Implementing A Task Force Recommendation

J. Ivan Legg
Provost and Professor of Chemistry
The University of Memphis

Mark B. Freilich
Associate Professor of Chemistry, Provost's Task Force on Faculty Roles and Rewards
The University of Memphis

Abstract:
In September 1993, at The University of Memphis, I assembled a faculty task force to review our entire system of faculty roles and rewards and to make recommendations for change.  The Provost's Task Force on Faculty Roles and Rewards made its report last January and we are in the process of implementing its recommendations.  The report included a recommendation on recognizing and rewarding the scholarship of teaching.