Teaching a graduate seminar at another university. Working a very limited amount of hours on something related to their research. Consulting with non-profit organizations. These days Fairfield full-time faculty must adhere to a strict Faculty Handbook that restricts their off-campus employment.
Only full time professors can qualify for tenure. Full time professors have their own office as adjunct professors often must share offices. Full time professors have a different amount of independent studies they can take on. The number of classes and sections full time and adjunct professors can teach is different and full-time professors have a difference in pay. [Information provided by Jenny Mingus…waiting for Fran’s response on what a full-time faculty job entails]
“In this economy right now it’s only fair to allow them to pursue other work outside the university while still focusing on other students” Jenny Minus ‘10
On October 13, 2009 a mass email was sent by Paul J. Fitzgerald S.J. to all University full-time faculty members regarding “outside employment.” According to the faculty handbook, “Full-time members of the faculty may not engage in other employment or private professional activity during the academic year except on a limited basis and only with the written approval of the dean.”
“In general, faculty work outside the university should not be for more than the equivalent of 1 day per week to be approved,” said Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Robbin Crabtree.
According to Professor Norm Solomon, “Most often the outside work takes the form of consulting with a profit or not for profit organization on a variety of business topics-for example, general business strategies, marketing research and financial strategies. The external work that the faculty members do can often assist them in illustrating the most current trends in business in the classroom.”
Other faculty might be invited to teach or co-teach a graduate seminar at another university, which allows them to teach content they might not get to teach at Fairfield.
Full-time professors are on a nine month contract with the University. From September 1 through May 30, school is in session meaning they must uphold the rules of University work only.
“There are limits on the kind and the amount of work they can do elsewhere beyond this contract,” said Crabtree. The goal is to limit outside work so as not to interfere with their full-time duties at Fairfield.
At the Dolan School of Business, professors often consult for organizations beyond the University and related to their academic expertise. In the College of Arts and Sciences, professors may have the same opportunity but they try to limit those actions as much as possible.
“Anything that I’ve done outside of the University has either been related to small grants and those are usually situations where either you work with the grants office,” said Professor Renee White.
“Professor Curt Naser who developed Eidos and Eidos is turning into this big company that’s going to provide that platform for universities and high schools around the country,” said White. The University benefits from Eidos but it can be seen as a separate business as well. Fairfield wants to make sure that the faculty’s primary focus is the work they do here.
Schools have issues sometime over conflicts of interest. The projects he may have students doing relating to some non-university benefit or utilizing things that you financially benefit greatly from in the class room.
“When I was at Central Connecticut they had very strict prohibition on using any material that you would benefit financially from in the class room. So if you wrote a book, you couldn’t use it to teach because it was considered an ethics violation,” White said.
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