The president of the University of North Dakota says he’s done some research on tenured faculty – and has found that a tenured professor is more likely to embrace innovation.
Andrew Armacost will be presenting his research to the Board of Higher Education’s Post Tenure Ad-Hoc Committee. The subject came up during a meeting of the Board's Research and Governance Committee. The study follows an attempt in the 2023 Legsialture that would make it easier for college presidents to remove tenured faculty.
Armacost was responding to a perception that tenured professors were less likely to be innovative. He told the Committee the research showed the tenured faculty were more productive on the research front.
"In addition, once they have tenure, they have the opportunity to pursue diverse interests, and participate in research they wouldn't ordinarily have done," Armacost said. "When you're fighting for tenure, you follow a very narrow line of research, because you have a steady stream going. But once you get tenure, it opens up the opportunity to actually pursue multiple options across disciplines, and really make a difference beyond what you can do in the first years at the University."
T e ad-hoc committee is hearing from all 11 campuses about tenure.