THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 3, 1994 TAG: 9407030261
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 36 lines
Three-quarters of U.S. professors say it's difficult to get tenure if they don't publish articles or books, according to a study by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
But nearly half of the professors - 45 percent - say publications are merely counted, not evaluated, during tenure decisions. And 73 percent say there are better ways to evaluate teaching.
The foundation has been pushing colleges to give more priority to teaching and to provide more rewards for research about teaching, such as textbooks or articles examining teaching strategies.
The findings are similar to those in previous Carnegie surveys, but this time the foundation also quizzed professors in 11 other countries, including Japan, Israel and Russia. In six of them, most professors said their publications were just toted up, and not reviewed, at tenure time.
``The biggest and most important finding of this report is that there is an imbalance, and there is worldwide concern,'' said Robert Hochstein, assistant to Carnegie's president. ``Since World War II, research has been top dog on campus, and you got ahead because of publication.
``I think this is starting to change. Campuses are much more serious about evaluating teaching.
``As we move into the next century, we will see a dramatic shift in how tenure is achieved. It won't simply be the counting of publications. The faculty are uncomfortable with that, and the data bears that out.'' by CNB