Penn Faculty Senate forms committee for associated faculty, academic support staff participation

Penn’s Faculty Senate is expanding its ranks to include associated faculty and academic support staff in advisory roles.

Endorsed on Oct. 7, the resolution broadens participation in faculty governance by creating a 10-member committee of full-time associated faculty and academic support staff. Each member will serve a renewable one-year term and help advise the Senate Executive Committee. 

One associated faculty member and one academic support staff member may also serve as non-voting members on four existing Faculty Senate standing committees. The committee’s chair, to be selected by the Senate tri-chairs, will be invited to join SEC as a non-voting member.

According to the document, the committee will expand “opportunities for participation” and guide “future consideration of faculty governance structures.”

As a standing faculty body, the Faculty Senate consists of professors, associate professors, assistant professors, and clinician-educators. Officially, it does not include associated faculty — such as research and practice professors — or lecturers.

“The committee shall identify issues affecting associated faculty and academic support staff and shall convey those issues, together with its recommendations, to SEC,” the resolution reads.

The effort to enhance engagement follows a recommendation from the Senate Committee on Faculty and Academic Mission. In June, the committee published a report calling on SEC to “more effectively represent the interests of non-standing faculty.”

The committee worked with an advisory subcommittee of lecturers and associated faculty during the formation of its report. It also examined the governance structures at peer institutions and within Penn’s schools. 

“Penn’s current governance structure is notably out of step with its peers,” the report found.

After reviewing potential other models, the committee concluded that a “unified governance structure” — which includes both standing and non-standing faculty — “should be the ultimate goal.”

The report acknowledged that “persistent concerns have been documented regarding the professional status, advancement opportunities, and evaluation processes” of full-time lecturers, who “frequently hold long-term or effectively career-length appointments” despite their formal classification as academic support staff.

According to the Faculty Handbook, full-time lecturers are limited to three consecutive years of appointments with exceptions approved by Penn’s provost. Some full-time lecturers can be promoted to senior lecturers, for which “successive appointments are allowed.”

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