Description
In the US, faculty at the University of Michigan and the University of California can request a delay in tenure review to care for a newborn or newly adopted child. (The University of Michigan also allows this delay to care for an ill parent, spouse, or child.) Faculty at the University of Michigan may request a one-year delay as well as a reduction of appointment to 50% or 75% time; however, untenured faculty can only use this option once, “regardless of the combination of circumstances.” Faculty members at the University of California are allowed a “temporary relief of duties” for up to one year per child and no more than two years. While the University of Minnesota Medical School does not have a formal flexible tenure policy, the school treats faculty members who work at least 67% time as full-time employees eligible for full faculty benefits. This arrangement enables faculty to work on a part-time basis and still be on a tenure track, which allows “for time off-track for either parent when a new child enters a family or when a faculty member needs to focus on an illness or care for an elder.”
Implementation lessons learned
Evaluation of this intervention is needed. A survey of University of California, Berkeley faculty did find that most respondents who had used this practice, among other family-friendly policies, reported positive perceptions; however, 11% of women who used tenure clock stoppage (three individuals) felt that it had had a negative effect on their careers.
Example
University of California’s family-friendly interventions, including flexible tenure
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