Earth and Planetary Sciences at UNM, the Flagship University of the Poorest State in the US-A Milagro

Details Earth and Planetary Sciences at UNM, the Flagship University of the Poorest State in the US-A Milagro Earth and Planetary Sciences at UNM, the Flagship University of the Poorest State in the US-A Milagro

Dec 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005agufmed12a..04g&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2005, abstract #ED12A-04

Other

0800 Education, 0810 Post-Secondary Education, 0850 Geoscience Education Research, 6319 Institutions

Scientific paper

Any strong geoscience department that functions within a university environment where resources are exceedingly limited, rewards are few and far between, and administrator turnover rate is exceedingly high (etc.), has probably figured out how to survive and has adhered to certain survival tactics for many years. One critical aspect of success is open and frank discourse. The Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (EPS) at the University of New Mexico (UNM) has had a strong history of open faculty discourse, centered around weekly and often long, sometimes seemingly drawn out faculty meetings. EPS Chairs are selected by faculty vote, with the approval of the Dean of the College. The Chair has typically led EPS with the strong support of the faculty, and has promoted open and frank discourse. Dissenting or opposing viewpoints can be fully presented and discussed at any faculty meeting. Problematic situations arise when one or a limited few individuals voice dissenting/criticizing opinions by direct communication with the chair (e.g., endless email messages). If a faculty member refuses to allow such opinions to be discussed by the full faculty, the opinions should be and typically are ignored. Another key for success is the fair treatment of faculty in any form of productivity evaluation. Five years ago, EPS established a semi-quantitative, encompassing algorithm for the evaluation of faculty productivity. An assessment committee, consisting of four faculty and the Chair, uses this algorithm to annually evaluate each faculty member. The committee discusses each faculty member and each member provides a ranking after full discussion. Rankings are typically very consistent for each faculty, and provide as fair and equitable as possible means of assessment. Overall, the process has nearly unanimous approval of the faculty, and has shown to most of the faculty that, despite the fact that rewards are seldom substantial (in the past 21 years, UNM faculty have had eight years of zero salary increases), these efforts are taken seriously by our immediate peers.

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