The Tenure System in Engineering

工程专业的终身制--新墨西哥州罗里·瓦马大学--这项提案研究了终身教职制度在高等学府工程专业中的重要性。终身教职制度使学院有别于其他形式的专业工作。然而，终身教职职位的迅速减少，以及兼职和非终身教职职位的增加，降低了终身教职制度的重要性。最重要的是，租赁制已经成为一个有争议的话题，学者们在支持保留该制度的人和主张废除该制度的人之间存在激烈的分歧。该提案侧重于工程，因为它对技术系统和人的价值进行了有趣的案例研究。这主要是一项基于对15名以上受试者的深入采访的定性研究。这一样本包括10-12名获得终身教职和终身教职的工程学教师，女性和少数族裔教师，以及来自一所公立大学和一所私立大学的即将毕业的教师。终身教职和终身教职的样本将随机抽取，其中女性和少数族裔教师以及最后一年的教师将通过滚雪球抽样方法选出。智力功绩工程学是阐明薪酬制度潜在角色的最佳学科之一，它超越了传统的学术自由辩护。工程学作为一个非技术领域，不太可能调查那些导致根深蒂固的偏见和强烈的情感反应的问题，而这些问题是有理由获得终身教职的。然而，工程设计是一个决策过程，在这个过程中，技术知识被应用，将资源转化为经济上需要的产品。工程设计意味着对社会结构、社会组织、工作环境、人的安全和环境保护的一些了解。此外，工程学涉及的技术自二战以来深刻地改变了社会。最重要的是，工程学教师越来越多地与工业界合作，这破坏了传统的学术自治概念。换句话说，工程学并不像所宣称的那样是真正的价值中立。一项关于工程学教师在终身教职过程中是否面临与大学相关的社会和政治问题的挑战，具有行业S联系的工程学教师是否在获得终身教职方面具有竞争优势，以及女性和少数族裔在工程学终身教职晋升中是否面临额外困难的调查，将揭示技术和社会系统之间的潜在关系。布罗德影响这是一项先导性研究；这项研究的结果将在2006年8月1日提交给美国国家科学基金会。在探讨终身教职对学术人员的重要性时，它可能会阐明学术界的地位和机会的结构。它还将展示工程学假定的政治中立性是如何构建的，尽管工程学教师持有明显的社会和政治观点。它将为关注社会公平的社会科学家提供数据。这个项目也有很大的潜力为本科教学做出贡献；这一发现可能会被纳入未来的教学中。这一点尤其重要，因为工科学生非常需要了解他们自己的课程和学科世界的社会和政治层面。

The Tenure System in EngineeringRoli VarmaUniversity of New MexicoThis proposal studies the importance of the tenure system in engineering in institutions of highereducation. The tenure system distinguishes the academy from other forms of professional work.However, the rapid reduction of tenure-track positions and the rise of part-time and non-tenuretrack positions has reduced the importance of the tenure system. Most importantly, the tenuresystem has become a controversial subject that passionately divides scholars between those whoargue for maintaining the system and those who argue for eliminating it. The proposal focuses onengineering because it makes an interesting case study of the technical system and human values.This is primarily a qualitative study based on in-depth interviews with 15+ subjects. Thissample includes 10-12 engineering faculty who are tenured and on tenure-track, female andminority faculty, and faculty who are in their terminal year from one public university and oneprivate university. The sample of tenured and on tenure-track faculty will be drawn randomlywhere as the sample of female and minority faculty and the faculty in their terminal year will beselected via snowball sampling method.Intellectual MeritEngineering is one of the best disciplines in which to illuminate the underlying roles of thetenure system that go beyond the traditional justification of academic freedom. Engineering, as atechnical field, is unlikely to investigate those problems that result in deep-rooted prejudice andintense emotional reaction for which tenure has been justified. Yet engineering design is adecision-making process in which technical knowledge is applied to convert resources into asocially required product. Engineering design implies some understanding of the structure ofsociety, social organizations, work environment, peoples safety, and protection of theenvironment. Furthermore, engineering deals with technologies that have profoundlytransformed society since World War II. Most importantly, engineering faculty increasinglycollaborate with industry which undermines the traditional notion of academic autonomy. Inother words, engineering is not really value neutral as proclaimed. An investigation intowhether engineering faculty involved in social and political questions relevant to the universityface challenges during the tenure process, whether the engineering faculty with industry s linkshave a competitive edge in securing tenure, and whether women and minorities face additionalhardship in tenure promotion in engineering, will show the underlying relationship betweentechnical and social systems.Broader ImpactThis is a pilot study; findings from this study will result in a full proposal to the NSF on August1, 2006. In probing the importance of tenure to academic personnel, it is likely to illuminatestructures of status and opportunity in academia. It will also show the ways in which thesupposed political neutrality of engineering is constructed despite patently social and politicalviews held by engineering faculty. It will provide data for social scientists concerned with socialequity. This project also has great potential to contribute to undergraduate teaching; the findingscan be incorporated in future teaching. It is especially important because engineering students arein great need of understanding the social and political dimensions of their own curricular anddisciplinary worlds.