More faculty hired in history department
The USU history department has hired two one-year temporary faculty members for next year and is looking to hire another in order to make up for the loss of seven history faculty members, said Norm Jones, history department head.
Information from the USU president’s office indicates that about 16 more positions across the university will be cut by July 1 due to budget cuts.
When the history department lost those original faculty, Jones said the department’s ability to offer courses was almost cut in half, and that he was “anxious to do something about that.”
Shawn Clybor and Kyle Bulphuist have already been hired for the temporary positions. Clybor just finished a doctorate at Northwestern University, Jones said. Clybor’s emphasis is modern European history. Bulphuist earned his doctorate from the University of California-Davis and is a colonial America specialist. He will also be teaching classes about black religion during that time period.
Clybor and Bulphuist will start their positions next fall, Jones said. The process of filling the third spot is already underway.
John Allen, associate dean of HASS and next year’s dean of the unnamed college of humanities and social sciences, said money for the temporary positions comes from salary money of the faculty who left.
Whether the three temporary positions will become permanent is still unknown, Allen said. With the splitting of HASS into a humanities and social sciences college and the Caine College of the Arts, things still need to be organized and nothing is yet set in stone. Once budgets are figured out for the two colleges, the history department will know how much funding it will receive and can start making long-term hiring decisions.
“We’re going to do our very best to make sure history retains as many lines (job positions) as possible,” Allen said.
Temporary positions are common throughout a university system, Jones said. Typically, if a faculty member leaves abruptly – for sabbatical or retirement, for example – the university will need someone to immediately fill in. By law, USU has to conduct a national search for permanent positions. When faculty suddenly leaves, however, a national search, which takes time, is not always an option.
The college must hire one-year faculty to take the teaching positions while a search to permanently fill the position is conducted. People who are hired for a temporary position can apply for the job permanently when the national search is opened; however, this doesn’t necessarily mean their stay at USU will become tenured, Jones said.
While temporary positions are often used to fill positions while the national search goes on, it is uncommon for one department to have many temporary faculty members at one time.
“In the current budget crisis, we’re doing it a little bit more than usual,” Jones said.
Though a national search is required for permanent positions, an online search will suffice for temporary positions. Jones said the department looks for applicants with teaching experience who have courses that the department needs all ready to go. These applicants will be interviewed over the phone. If they are chosen to fill the temporary position and accept, they will be given a one-year terminal contract.
– rac.ch@aggiemail.usu.edu