The May 22 editorial suggestion that UW-Oshkosh "run" with the idea that professors add to their workload in order to ease budget cuts in higher education is short-sighted and based on ill-informed opinion. Why? The University's guidelines for tenure (note that our professors are not unionized teachers) mandate not only evidence of quality teaching performance but also scholarly achievement (e.g., research, publication, grant-related knowledge development, etc.) Guidelines also emphasize contributions to service at the university and in the wider community levels.
The editor misperceives UW-Oshkosh faculty to be T.V. persona, political activists, website developers, and persons who have all sorts of time outside of the classroom for extracurricular activity not related to their professional calling. Not so. As a retired faculty member, I can speak to my former activities that included volunteer service, service on agency boards and on national professional accreditation site teams, writing and presenting papers at national conferences, authoring $1 million in funded grants, serving on a myriad assortment of university committees, etc. My receipt of tenure was based on these activities along with a demonstrated record of teaching and advisement. So, I am offended by some stereotypical view of what a faculty member's role is here at UW-Oshkosh. It certainly doesn't represent my career or the careers of the many dedicated faculty at UW-Oshkosh who continue to advance its leadership position. Any suggestion that faculty teach extra classes to meet a budget crisis because they have all this free time does not reflect the reality of what it takes to achieve tenure and to serve a leadership role in an institution of higher learning.
Carol Schulke, Retired Chair
Dept. of Social Work
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AS A FORMER STUDENT OF CAROL SCHULKE, I CAN TESTIFY TO HER INTENSIVE DEDICATION TO HER WORK, HIGH INTEGRITY, AND PERSEVERANCE. SHE IS CORRECT.
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