Term Faculty Information

Term Faculty Task Force Final Report

The Term Faculty Task Force presents its final report and recommendations.

Mason would be unable to thrive without our term faculty. We must recognize term faculty contributions in a systematic and inclusive way.

With term faculty making up a significant portion of full-time instructional and full-time research faculty, it is critical to create and maintain an environment that values term faculty members’ work and contributions to Mason’s teaching and scholarly communities and its national reputation. Mason strives to be an institution where term faculty are supported in reaching their professional and career goals. Term faculty contribute to campus life and institutional success in a wide variety of ways, such as teaching, advising students, providing administrative leadership, university service, and more.

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Term Faculty Committee

The Term Faculty Committee was convened in fall 2019 to oversee and facilitate the implementation of the recommendations put forward by the Term Faculty Task Force. The Task Force worked from spring 2017 through fall 2018 to explore the opportunities for career development for term faculty at Mason and to address their concerns and challenges. The Task Force presented its final report and recommendations to the Provost in December 2018.

Mission and Core Values

The Term Faculty Committee seeks to improve the status and quality of term faculty experiences through informing inclusive and sustainable policies and practices that promote the contributions and livelihood of the term faculty. We will pursue meaningful pathways for career progression and recognize the varied contributions that term faculty make to our institutional mission. We aim to foster an institutional culture in which term faculty positions are viewed as productive and rewarding career opportunities.

Our work is driven by a sense of urgency in order to make meaningful progress
We believe that all faculty have the right to participate in governance decisions that affect them
We will operate with openness and transparency
Our actions are designed to support term faculty wellbeing
We embrace the “spirit of possibility”

Name	Department	Title	Email
Kim Eby (co-chair)	Faculty Affairs and Development	Associate Provost	keby1
Cindy Parker* (co-chair)	School of Business	Associate Professor	cparker8
Irene Bruno*	Volgenau School of Engineering	Professor	ibruno
John Cantiello*	College of Health and Human Services	Associate Professor	jcantiel
Brian Fitzpatrick*	College of Humanities and Social Sciences	Assistant Professor	bfitzpa2
Karyn Kessler	INTO Mason	Academic Director	kkessle3
Michelle Lim	Human Resources and Payroll	Director, Strategic HR Services and Faculty Consulting	mlim1
Ellen Rodgers	College of Education and Human Development	Associate Dean	erodger1
Solon Simmons	School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution	Associate Professor	ssimmon5
Paul So	College of Science	Professor and Chair	paso

* denotes term faculty member

Term Faculty Evaluation Process

The work of the Term Faculty Task Force has resulted in a rich process for multi-year contracts and faculty promotion. It enables term faculty to be recognized for their dedication to teaching and learning and their long-term commitment to Mason. The guidelines provided underscore the possibility for promotion, but the adherence to these guidelines does not guarantee automatic multi-year commitments and promotion. The following factors will also be taken into consideration with the evaluation process:

Departmental resource needs and commitments
Enrollment trajectory for the unit
Dean’s office commitment to the local academic unit
Provost’s support for the renewal and promotion