2008 Woodie Awards
Religious Studies department challenged by staff departures
By: Zac Farber, Managing Editor
Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: News
The Religious Studies department saw the departure of three tenure-track professors in the 2006-07 year, bringing the department to two full-time professors, the minimum number required for status as a core academic department.
While the department is now on the road to recovery-two of the positions will be filled by the beginning of the fall semester and the hiring process will begin for the third-the paucity of full-time professors forced the department to juggle personnel to find creative staffing solutions and inconvenienced religious studies majors who found themselves with new advisors who could not replace the old ones.
Provost Diane Michelfelder noted that it is "unusual but not unique" for so many professors to leave in such a short time period and pointed to English, History and French and Francophone Studies as departments currently in a "re-building phase."
Religious Studies department chair Jim Laine said that trying to prevent faculty departures can be a difficult balancing act. "One of the things about turnover that you see is that if you try to hire the best people they will always have other options."
While one of the professors who left was denied tenure, the other two chose to leave Macalester. Rosamond Rodman went to Los Angeles for personal reasons and Ahmad A. Ahmad decided to continue teaching at Santa Clara University, where he was a visiting professor.
To continue offering the same number of courses, Laine relied on visiting and part-time faculty like Rabbi Barry Cytron and hired a temporary full-time faculty member, Erik Davis, who will be a tenure-track faculty member in the fall. Next fall Susanna Drake will replace Rodman's position as the tenure-track faculty for scripture and bible studies.
The negative consequences of the faculty departures were more in terms of advising for majors than in general course offerings.
"The drawback for students," Laine said, "is finding a professor you really want to work with and work with over four years and develop a kind of relationship with advising only to have them leave."
While the department is now on the road to recovery-two of the positions will be filled by the beginning of the fall semester and the hiring process will begin for the third-the paucity of full-time professors forced the department to juggle personnel to find creative staffing solutions and inconvenienced religious studies majors who found themselves with new advisors who could not replace the old ones.
Provost Diane Michelfelder noted that it is "unusual but not unique" for so many professors to leave in such a short time period and pointed to English, History and French and Francophone Studies as departments currently in a "re-building phase."
Religious Studies department chair Jim Laine said that trying to prevent faculty departures can be a difficult balancing act. "One of the things about turnover that you see is that if you try to hire the best people they will always have other options."
While one of the professors who left was denied tenure, the other two chose to leave Macalester. Rosamond Rodman went to Los Angeles for personal reasons and Ahmad A. Ahmad decided to continue teaching at Santa Clara University, where he was a visiting professor.
To continue offering the same number of courses, Laine relied on visiting and part-time faculty like Rabbi Barry Cytron and hired a temporary full-time faculty member, Erik Davis, who will be a tenure-track faculty member in the fall. Next fall Susanna Drake will replace Rodman's position as the tenure-track faculty for scripture and bible studies.
The negative consequences of the faculty departures were more in terms of advising for majors than in general course offerings.
"The drawback for students," Laine said, "is finding a professor you really want to work with and work with over four years and develop a kind of relationship with advising only to have them leave."
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