Task force submits its final report听
- The Instructor Task Force's final report is now available.
- The executive summary is also available.
- Comments are invited. To make a comment, please use this webform.
The college is posting for your comment the report of the Instructor Task Force. We welcome your comments on this important report and its many recommendations.
Please use this听webform to submit your comments. Implementation will take place over the coming months, guided by an implementation committee and college-wide discussions.
On March 20, 2019,听James W.C. White, interim dean of the college, thanked the task force members for their work so far and for听agreeing to serve on as members of the implementation committee. He added:
"Our campus wide visioning efforts are beginning to bear fruit. Instructors are an essential part of a modern Research 1 university such as ours, a reality that will continue into the future. Changing the culture and practice of how we incorporate instructors into the faculty of CU Boulder is an important step as we move towards being the best CU we can be now and in the future."
Background
In the past five decades, the teaching load at the University of Colorado Boulder has been increasingly borne by instructors instead of tenured or tenure-track faculty, and the College of Arts and Sciences has formed a task force to recommend best practices.听
The college鈥檚 ad hoc Instructor Task Force was jointly formed by Interim Dean James W.C. White and听Stephen Mojzsis, chair of the Arts and Sciences Council, the college鈥檚 faculty shared-governance body.听
The Instructor Task Force held four town halls during November 2018. The group sought听faculty input to help craft the final version of its recommendations.
The task force conducted听a 鈥渓ong overdue鈥� examination of the role of A&S instructors, policies and workloads affecting their service, and the climate in which instructors work, White and Mojzsis stated.
鈥淩ostered instructors and senior instructors on multi-year contracts now join tenure-stream faculty as the 鈥榗ore faculty鈥� of the College of Arts and Sciences, and of the campus as a whole,鈥� the task force鈥檚 charge states, adding: 鈥淭heir responsibilities and professional activities surely differ, as they should. But both groups contribute in vital ways to our undergraduate mission, and to the success of our students.鈥�
The task force is co-chaired by Jenny Knight, associate professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, and Rolf Norgaard, teaching professor and associate director of the Program for Writing and Rhetoric.听
Knight and Norgaard characterized the task force as a 鈥渢imely opportunity to think strategically and intentionally about the roles of and policies concerning instructors in what is our larger shared mission.鈥澨�
The task force held its first meeting on June 8 and resolved to seek input from the faculty. The group is charged with completing a report with findings and recommendations by February 2019.听
The task force will solicit information and diverse views, and it will announce town halls or similar fora in the coming months. Meanwhile, please contact the task force co-chairs,听Knight听补苍诲听Norgaard, with any questions. Information about the task force, its meetings and progress can be found at听this web page.听
How we are proceeding
Core Commitments
Likely Areas of Interest for our Recommendations
Task force membership
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