The Board of Trustees Governance and Nominating committee met Sept. 10 to nominate five people as emeritus trustees and approve a resolution to adopt the appointment-stream faculty titles previously passed by Faculty Assembly.
The five trustees nominated for emeritus status, who have all served for more than 10 years, are: Michael A. Bryson, Robert G. Lovett, Martha Hartle Munsch, William E. Strickland Jr. and Stephen R. Tritch.
The resolution on faculty nomenclature will replace the term “non-tenure-stream faculty” with the new descriptive term, “appointment-stream faculty.” Committee chair Lou Cestello said the new title means “faculty are referred to by what they are, rather than what they are not.”
The changes also would create the new prefix “teaching”; and add the new ranks of “professor, associate professor, assistant professor, or instructor” and “professor, associate professor, assistant professor, or instructor of the practice” for appointment-stream faculty.
Academic Affairs/Libraries Committee of the Board of Trustees approved the changes to faculty title in June.
Provost Ann Cudd, who first proposed the title changes last year, said this proposed revision to Pitt’s bylaws defines “teaching” ranks as applying to “one whose primary assignment or contribution is instruction, and who is not ordinarily expected to undertake research responsibilities.”
A professor, associate professor, assistant professor or instructor of the practice is defined as: “One who may not have a terminal degree but who has considerable skill, expertise and experience in a specific profession and whose major contribution is usually teaching and facilitating experiential opportunities for students in the profession.”
— Susan Jones
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