Andrew Hibel, HigherEdJobs: Dr. Dove, in addition to your role as an associate professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Iowa, you have also served as the vice president, president and past president of the faculty senate. Would you please describe the purpose of the faculty senate?
Edwin Dove, Ph.D., University of Iowa: The FS has many roles at The University of Iowa. The FS is one of the shared governance bodies at the university, and though it is an advisory body to the administration, it has legislative authority on all matters pertaining to the educational mission of the university, and on matters that concern the faculties of more than one college. The FS provides structure through which the faculty, administration and the governing body (the Board of Regents) can communicate with each other about issues and decisions facing the university. The FS provide a forum for the discussion of all matters affecting the university, participates in recruitment and selection of academic senior administration officials, participates in the long-term planning of the university, and works with the administration to resolve faculty grievances.
Hibel: Congratulations on your recent Michael J. Brody Award for Faculty Excellence in Service . You have an impressive history of being extremely involved in the university, which includes sitting on more than a dozen university committees and task forces; acting as interim DEO of your department; chairing the 2011 review of the Presidential Committee on Athletics; and as mentioned above, being involved in the faculty senate. What prompted you to serve in these leadership roles on campus and specifcially in the faculty senate?
Dove: It started with agreeing to serve on university committees, and then being selected to chair committees, and then agreeing to serve in a leadership role in the FS. In one sense, agreeing to serve is an attempt to influence the university, in some small way, and helping the university achieve its educational mission.
Hibel: Sabbatical awards are one of the important topics managed by senates. Although a sabbatical leave is professional development and full of research, writing or other work for most professors, some may have distorted views thinking that professors just “take a year off” while getting paid. Will you explain the purpose of sabbaticals and the professional and personal benefits faculty members may receive from the experience?
Dove: We actually do not use the term sabbatical. We call it a Professional Development Award (PDA.) The role is to enhance the development of one’s research mission, teaching mission, or service mission. Specifically, the PDAs are designed to change the direction or focus of one’s research work, or to extend the research domain, or to begin a new research or creative area, or to learn a new technique, or to do preliminary work to obtain new funding. PDAs are also designed to improve teaching through new lecture notes, to reorganize a class, or to start a new class, write a textbook, create a new painting, enhance the technology of an existing class, etc. A successful PDA will enhance the career of the faculty member, and enhance the educational experience of the faculty member’s students.
Hibel: A faculty member is not the only one that benefits from a PDA. What does the university, student population and/or the community at large gain from a professor’s leave?
Dove: The university benefits by having faculty be at the forefront of new technologies, or new approaches, to being able to develop or create new works of art. As a consequence, the students at the university will benefit by having faculty who are working at the forefront of their areas of expertise. The community will benefit by having the graduating students being able to compete with others entering the job market, and becoming good and educated citizens. The notion is that a successful PDA leave will enhance a faculty member’s ability to contribute to the life of the students and the community.
Hibel: Some taxpayers express frustration with state university faculty members who take sabbaticals because replacement instructors must be hired to teach classes causing an increase in budget expenditures. How do you respond to charges like this?
Dove: I believe that having to hire additional instructors is not as common now as it has been in the distant past. We try to find a way to teach the required undergraduate courses by shifting teaching loads within the department’s faculty. The idea is that a one-semester shift now will allow me to benefit from a PDA in the future. Elective courses usually taught by the faculty member going on a PDA are usually postponed by one semester. Even if a replacement instructor is needed, the benefits to the university, department and students are hopefully greater than the cost of hiring a replacement instructor for the one semester; the benefits last a long time.
Hibel: Because of budgetary reasons, a senior faculty member with an outstanding application and exceptional credentials may not be awarded a sabbatical. I’m assuming the selection process may not always be easy. How does the senate make the decision on what is a strong application and who receives the professional development award?
Dove: The University of Iowa has a limited number of PDAs that can be awarded each year. This limit is set in order to avoid disruption, and in order to manage the overall costs to the departments. As a consequence, not all who apply for a PDA will be granted a PDA. The Faculty Senate (FS) participates by choosing a member, or members, to serve on the selection committee, which is composed of FS members and someone from the Provost’s office. The role of the committee is to rank order the applications based on the potential for achieving the stated goals of the proposed work, on the centrality of the work,and on the previous record of the applicant. It is a difficult job, because many good applications cannot be granted due to limited resources, or due to the department not being able to fill in the work that the faculty member usually does. In other words, the selection committee determines from the departments chair if the department can replace the applicant’s work.
Hibel: What are some of the biggest challenges when it comes to awarding a PDA and do you think there are areas of improvement that can be made in regards to how administration perceives and/or budgets for leaves or how faculty applies for them?
Dove: The biggest challenge is finding the resources to fund the PDAs. If infinite resources were available then all quality applications could be granted; unfortunately that is not the case. Our administration values PDAs, wants to have faculty obtain PDAs, and sees the benefits to faculty, students, and community of providing faculty time to develop new approaches, ideas, techniques, sources of original work, etc. If the resource issue were solved, then I believe that all would benefit.
Hibel: At the University of Iowa, what procedure is followed after a faculty member returns from a PDA to ensure accountability and measure if the leave was successful?
Dove: The faculty member must do two things. First the faculty member must submit an abstract that describes and summarizes the outcomes of the award. The abstract must describe how the award has been, or will be, of benefit to the state, and to the teaching mission of the University. This abstract is read by the members of the Board of Regents. Second, the faculty member must compose a narrative report that describes in detail the activities during the award period (where was the research conducted, what was created, what was accomplished, etc.) The narrative must also describe the impact on research/creative work. For example, was there a change in direction or focus, the beginning of a new creative activity, etc. The narrative must also specify the improvements in the member’s teaching through new lecture notes, new textbook, etc. Finally the narrative must describe any new products that were completed, for example, a new manuscript, new book, new painting, etc.
Hibel: Thinking back at some of the most successful and least successful applications that you reviewed for leave, what words of advice would you give to faculty members in order to have a strong application?
Dove: A strong application must describe how the proposed work will enhance the research and teaching career. The application must be detailed, and show how the proposed work continues work that has already been done, or how a new area or work or focus fits in with the career goals of the individual member. At least at Iowa, the application must describe who will benefit from the work in addition to the applicant.
Hibel: A final question to end the interview–what aspect of working in academia are you most passionate about and why?
Dove: The “bread and butter” of any university, including research extensive universities such as ours, must be the students. Educating students is the central mission of a good university. I am most passionate about seeing students succeed, and my contribution to their success is to be as good in the classroom and laboratory as I can be. I enjoy working with both undergraduate and graduate students, and seeing them succeed in accomplishing whatever they choose as their career.