Students pushing for endowed teaching chairs in all U. schools

Teaching is important too. At the University, where the emphasis on research fosters a "publish or perish" attitude, some students are concerned that excellent teaching tends to fall by the wayside. But the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education hopes to end what it considers an unhealthy trend by convincing schools within the University to provide endowed chairs for teaching. SCUE recommended the chairs at a Council of Undergraduate Deans meeting earlier this month, stressing the need to reward excellence in teaching and to encourage professors to concentrate on their students. Endowed chairs are established when a donor gives at least $1.25 million to the University to pay for a professor's salary for several years. Currently, the University only has endowed chairs -- which bear the donor's name -- for research. "If a person is excellent in teaching, I think they should be rewarded," SCUE Chairperson David Kauffman said last week. "It would be a significant impact on the culture at the University if you could get a chair for teaching." According to Kauffman, SCUE has set no specific parameters for the chair, but he envisions it as a renewable honor given to one professor as long as that person continues to show excellence in teaching. The chair suggestion was a part of SCUE's "White Paper," released last spring, which sets out several strategies to improve teaching at the University. Kauffman said the committee focused on teaching because it should be "a number one priority" for the University. Some deans said this week they have not yet developed a plan to implement SCUE's idea, but applauded the idea of praising good teachers. "Teaching is very hard to do, and when it is done well it should be celebrated," School of Arts and Sciences Dean Rosemary Stevens said last night. But Stevens said SAS -- as well as the other schools -- does not have the money to set up a chair right now. She said she has put SCUE's idea on the list of things she is seeking funding for through the University's $1 billion capital campaign. John Keenan, associate Engineering dean for undergraduate education, said last night he also thinks the chair is "an excellent idea," but said he thinks it may be difficult to raise money for a teaching stipend, noting that it is "hard enough to get money to support a [research] professorship." If the schools go through with SCUE's idea, the new chairs would be one of the most significant acknowledgements of excellent teaching at the University. Currently, outstanding teachers are rewarded with salary raises or with a few honors, such as the Lindback Award and the Abrams Award, which give a few thousand dollars in prize money. Psychology Professor Henry Gleitman said last night the existing teaching awards, while prestigious, are not nearly as encouraging as a term chair would be. "Endowed chairs would make it absolutely clear to especially young faculty members that education is a highly regarded facet of what they're doing," said Gleitman, who said he has received both a Lindback and an Abrams award. "We shouldn't reward the good teacher by giving them extra money. We should regard it as an integral part of the University, and if there were endowed chairs for this, that would say it." SCUE's White Paper, which was released last spring, also made several suggestions to improve teaching, including distributing mid-semester teacher evaluations to give professors student feedback during the course. The committee also suggested instituting more team-taught classes and setting up a new agency to help departments sort through the evaluations each semester. Provost Michael Aiken and Associate Wharton Dean for Undergraduate Education Janice Bellace could not be reached for comment on SCUE's suggestions this week.

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