UGA President Michael F. Adams and Provost Jere Morehead intend to expand the faculty by an additional 25 tenure-track positions by implementing phase three of a faculty hiring initiative first announced in January 2010.
The first two phases added a total of 60 new tenure-track positions and also allowed the university to place more full-time faculty in the classroom by converting part-time instructor positions into 22 full-time lecturer positions. Appointments to these positions began in fall 2011 and will continue this fall.
“UGA must remain competitive nationally on faculty hiring, and we know that other universities are making faculty hiring a top priority even in tight fiscal times,” said Adams. “We, therefore, have made it a top priority to re-invest tuition and fee revenue growth in areas that directly benefit students, most particularly the hiring of full-time faculty.”
Hiring faculty also is one of the foundations on which UGA’s 2020 Strategic Plan is built. The plan, developed and endorsed by the academic leadership of the university, emphasizes building on excellence in undergraduate education, enhancing graduate and professional programs and investing in proven and emerging areas of research excellence at UGA.
“In order to advance the 2020 Strategic Plan, it is critical to prioritize the recruitment, retention and development of tenured and tenure-track faculty,” said Morehead.
Tuition, special institutional fee increases and the funding formula approved by the board of regents for fiscal year 2013 are generating sufficient additional revenue to sustain the third phase of the faculty hiring initiative, Morehead said.
In fall 2011, 28 tenured or tenure-track faculty joined UGA, while an additional 28 faculty will arrive by fall 2012. Four searches are still under way. All but one of the 22 full-time lecturer positions have been filled; a search to fill the remaining position is under way.
“Expanding our tenure-track faculty by an additional 25 positions by implementing phase three of the faculty hiring initiative will enable UGA to build on the momentum created by the first two phases and to provide our students with the very best learning experience possible,” Morehead said.
Morehead stressed that the faculty positions have been and will continue to be allocated to critical, high-demand and strategic programs at UGA.
“Restoring the flow of faculty hires will allow the university to maintain a competitive position regarding external research funding, building program capacity, increasing credit-hour growth and accelerating our students’ time to graduation, while continuing to enhance the quality of their overall UGA experience,” Morehead said.
