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Statement
of Standards and Practices Concerning the Promotion, Tenure, and Retention
of Studio Art Faculty
Adopted at the annual membership meeting, Durham, NC, October
23, 1993, and amended at the annual meeting in Jacksonville, FL.,
October 2004.
The Southeastern College Art Conference adopts the following "Statement
of Standards and Practices Concerning the Promotion, Tenure, and Retention
of Studio Art Faculty." The Conference urges all institutions
of higher learning to endorse and conform to these standards and practices.
Statement Acknowledging the Mission of Institutions of Higher
Learning.
Given the diversity of institutional missions, the Southeastern College
Art Conference, SECAC, encourages all colleges and universities to
articulate policies and procedures regarding retention, promotion,
and tenure.
The Role of the Artist Educator to Higher Learning
Art is a body of knowledge that contributes to the richness of our
culture. The artist educator, like educators in other disciplines,
is committed to teaching (visual literacy), scholarship/research (creative
production and exhibition/presentation), and service to communities
(academic/artistic). Specifically, teaching visual literacy prepares
students for making responsible and sensitive contributions to society
and making art with the skills, knowledge, and values necessary for
the constant process of cultural renewal.
Hiring Standards and Practices
Standards
Artist educators hired to teach studio art classes should be qualified
by earned degrees and/or commensurate professional experience.
The appropriate degree is the Master of Fine Arts, which is acknowledged
as the highest professional degree in studio art. It is also recognized
that some artist educators will hold other degrees or no degree at
all. In those instances where a candidate for a studio art teaching
position does not hold the Master of Fine Arts degree, the appropriate
measure is the individual's professional experience, expertise in
the discipline for which he/she is hired to teach, and his/her accomplishments
as an artist.
In as much as the Master of Fine Arts is the highest professional
degree in the field and thus, equivalent to the Ph.D., faculty hired
to teach studio art should be afforded the same opportunities for
rank, tenure, tenure-track salary, and professional development as
their colleagues hired with doctorates.
Practices
Institutions seeking to hire studio art faculty shall follow prescribed
professional practices in all searches. This includes (but is not
limited to) a forthright position description and adherence to standards
and expectations articulated in this and similar documents from agencies
such as the College Art Association and the National Association of
Schools of Art and Design.
Beyond the position description, a candidate may request and should
be given detailed information regarding responsibilities and departmental
policies relevant to tenure and promotion. Specifically, this information
should include:
a. A thorough position description.
b. All institutional catalogue copy pertinent to the instruction expected
of the potential faculty member.
c. A detailed list of responsibilities including: faculty work load,
number of courses to be taught, contact hours required, student advising
duties, supervision of graduate and special students, studio and classroom
maintenance, technical support/maintenance, the range of committee
expectations and extraneous activities such as gallery work, mentoring
responsibilities, administrative duties, office hours, etc.
d. Availability of studio and office space for faculty.
e. Availability of research and professional development support through
the department, college, institution, etc.
f. Copies of unit or departmental governance documents, including
description of procedures and standard for the awarding of promotion,
tenure, and salary increments.
The Professional Environment
Class size, course loads, classroom supervision, and support duties
should contribute to sound teaching practices and safe learning/working
environments. We endorse C.A.A.'s recommendation for class size and
studio courses taught by teaching graduate students.
Class Size
CAA encourages institutions to place limits of 15 or less on classes
where safety and the use of specialized equipment are major factors.
Generally, to ensure quality instruction in visual arts courses, 20
students or less is appropriate. Class size of 25 or more is inappropriate
for effective visual arts teaching.
The use of dangerous machinery, complicated equipment, solvents, chemicals,
etc., shall be taken into consideration in determining an effective
teaching and learning situation.
Graduate Students
When graduate students are assigned teaching duties, they should be
closely supervised by members of the regular teaching staff. In no
case should graduate students be given teaching assignments in excess
of one half the normal teaching load.
The Work Environment
Studio art faculty are to be provided with adequate space and facilities
to offer the curriculum as articulated institutional catalogues and/or
bulletins. Given the space and equipment considerations most studio
art curricula require, it is particularly important that appropriate,
safe, and hospitable work places be guaranteed to faculty and their
students. Curricula should not be offered for which adequate space
does not exist or which lacks appropriate safeguards for the health
and safety of its users.
Like their colleagues in many of the laboratory sciences, studio art
faculty are charged with the safety and well being of their students
in work environments that are potentially dangerous. It is expected
that studio art faculty and their institutions will cooperate in seeing
that every possible precaution is taken to insure a healthy environment
in the art studio classroom. This includes adequate ventilation of
work spaces where known or potentially toxic chemicals are used, providing
adequate lighting, insuring that safe and well maintained equipment
is available at all times, access to trained medical assistance, and
easy access to thorough material safety data on all items used.
Support Duties
Support duties assigned to faculty which contribute to the smooth
and qualitative operation of the department, but are exceptionally
time consuming (i.e., gallery work, supervision of visual resources,
or studio maintenance of kilns, presses, computers, printers, and
other technical equipment, etc.) warrant a reduced teaching load.
Expectations and Standards for Promotion, Tenure, and Retention
Teachers of studio art with the recognized terminal degree, the Master
of Fine Arts, are entitled to full faculty status and should be given
the same regard and treatment for promotion as other faculty members.
In order that every faculty member understands the requirements for
tenure and promotion, the department or college of art should have
a document (separated from the university handbook) readily available
to the faculty and especially to potential faculty or candidates for
positions, in which minimum standards and expectations for each level
of advancement are clearly outlined. So that faculty will not have
to discern between multiple sets of expectations, guidelines should
be written to coincide and agree with general standards mentioned
in a Faculty Manual and be written with regard for their contractual
implications.
This document should include:
a. A description of departmental mission or philosophy.
b. Expectations of the faculty member as teacher, including undergraduate
and graduate student instruction, and advising duties.
c. Minimum research/creative activity and exhibition/presentation
expectations.
d. Acknowledgement that research/creative activity and exhibition/presentation
expectations should be as discipline-specific as possible, recognizing
that digital media, time arts, collaborative projects, and new genre
artwork might have different criteria than painting, sculpture, etc.
e. Expectations in the area of service to the university including
such items as recruitment, fund raising, grantsmanship, alumni development,
involvement in distance-learning, and committee work.
f. Minimum expectations in the area of community service if the school
has expectations in this area.
g. Professional activities, including exhibition/presentation, participation
on panels, presenting papers, jurying art competitions, conference
attendance, and participation in professional arts organizations at
the local, regional, and national level.
h. A calendar of regularly scheduled conferences between the faculty
member and appropriate administrators, to discuss faculty progress
and issues related to promotion and tenure.
For each level of Promotion/Tenure, terms, such as "teaching,"
"research," "creative activities," and "service" should be carefully defined, their relative weights stated, and expectations
made explicit.
Compliance With Other Organization's Standards
SECAC strongly recommends that art departments/colleges of art be
familiar with and/or comply with the current standards of CAA, NASAD,
and AAUP. Copies of current standards/guidelines of these organizations
should be readily available to all faculty.
SECAC Ad Hoc Committee on Standards and Practices Concerning
Promotion, Tenure and Retention of Studio Art Faculty
J. Michael Simpson
Auburn University at Montgomery, Chair
Donald Van Horn
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Robie Scucchi
Mississippi State University
Dr. Olaf Sorenson
Furman University
Michael Aurbach
Vanderbilt University |
