Committee gets faculty's take on academics

and JAMILLAH WRIGHT Faculty members should be more accessible to their students and they should concentrate on teaching rather than research. That's what a group of faculty members told members of the Visiting Committee on Undergraduate Education yesterday. The consensus at one of several simultaneous meetings was also that the advising system at the University does not enhance student/faculty relations. "The University does not have a perfect advising system," Interim President Claire Fagin said. "Faculty members aren't in a position to advise because the University promotes a more professional advising system." Fagin said students are more likely to direct questions to a department rather than to a faculty member. And, she said, the University, when compared with other academic institutions, promotes fewer advising resources. The same discussion group stressed that students may not be properly guided because they do not receive enough faculty support. "Due to lack of faculty advisors," Philosophy Professor Tom Ricketts said, "many students could slip between the cracks." Some members of the group noted that the Engineering and Nursing schools seem to have stronger advising systems than their Wharton and College counterparts. Along these lines, faculty recognized they are often difficult to reach outside the classroom, even if they hold office hours. This has been an ageless complaint made by undergraduates. But the discussion group also noted that while students complain about the lack of faculty availability, many professors' offices remain empty during their office hours. Another focus group discussed the difficulties of teaching while continuing research. Faculty members, some of whom did not want their names used, agreed their responsibilities at the University have greatly changed in the past few years. In the past, they noted, faculty members were most concerned with conducting their research and writing grants to begin knew projects. But today, professors said, they are asked to maintain a certain level of teaching competence that was not expected of them in the past. The group said there are three problems with trying to balance their duties as scholars and their responsibilities as professors. The initial concern is time, faculty members said. Most professors have trouble teaching a productive and stimulating class and at the same time working on their research. "There just aren't enough hours in the day," said one professor. "Even if we work all 24 hours." But History Professor Drew Faust said in an open forum following the small discussion groups that "teaching is enhanced by research." She added that undergraduates see research as something that takes professors away from students. But in fact, she said, professors' research keeps them at the height of their fields. Funding is also an issue, professors said. They said do not receive enough resources to do an adequate job teaching. One member said she often has to write grants to support her teaching. And many discussion participants said some faculty members are not interested in undergraduate teaching because good teaching is not rewarded. "The reward structure is entirely based on research excellence," one professor said. Faculty members explained that excellent research will propel a person to the top of a field and bring world-wide acknowledgement to the scholar. But teaching an introductory level undergraduate course, even if the professor does an excellent job, is never rewarded at the University, they said.