Faculty hires respond to resignations, program growth

Iowa State hired 62 tenured (13) or tenure-track (49) faculty from September 2017 through last month, the smallest group in at least five years. In the prior year, the university hired 80 tenured or tenure-track faculty in the same period. But with enrollment leveling off and state operating support declining for a second year, that's a good hiring year, said associate provost for faculty Dawn Bratsch-Prince.

"The budget definitely is a factor. With two years of midyear reversions, we were taking a more subdued approach to hiring," she said.

She also called several years when the new faculty number exceeded 100 -- running as high as 123 -- "extraordinary."

Bratsch-Prince said most of the past year's hires were in response to retirements or resignations. There were 44 resignations among tenured and tenure-track faculty the previous year, according to an annual report to the state Board of Regents.

Some hires, she noted, also were due to program growth, for example in the Ivy College of Business. Across the college, 16 faculty joined its ranks, roughly 18 percent of all tenured and tenure-eligible Business faculty last fall. The supply chain and information systems department, which is in the process of splitting into two due to growth, hired seven faculty members in the last year. The math department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has a multi-year strategy to grow its faculty numbers, at least partly still in response to the rapid enrollment growth of three to five years ago, Bratsch-Prince said.

Students continue to seek out majors in the STEM fields, big data and data analytics, she said.

The faculty hires included four full professors. Bratsch-Prince noted hires at that level typically meet specific circumstances, such as:

  • Hiring a department chair
  • Filling a vacant endowed faculty position
  • Elevating the regional or national prominence of an academic program
  • (Less common) Identifying an appropriate position for a faculty spouse or partner

Tenured and tenure-eligible faculty hires: Sept. 2017-Aug. 2018

College/department

Professor

Associate professor

Assistant professor

Total

Agriculture and Life Sciences

 

 

 

2

  Animal science

 

 

1

 

  Food science and human nutrition

 

 

1

 

Business

 

 

 

16

  Accounting

 

 

2

 

  Finance

1

 

1

 

  Management

1

1

1

 

  Marketing

 

1

1

 

  Supply chain and info systems

 

1

6

 

Design

 

 

 

10

  Architecture

 

1

1

 

  Art and visual culture

 

 

1

 

  Community and regional planning

 

 

1

 

  Industrial design

 

1

 

 

  Interior design

 

 

4

 

  Landscape architecture

 

 

1

 

Engineering

 

 

 

9

  Aerospace

 

1

2

 

  Agricultural and biosystems

 

1

1

 

  Civil, construction and environmental

1

 

 

 

  Electrical and computer

 

 

1

 

  Industrial and manufacturing systems

 

 

2

 

Human Sciences

 

 

 

1

  Apparel, events and hospitality management

 

 

1

 

Liberal Arts and Sciences

 

 

 

20

  Computer science

1

 

 

 

  Economics

 

1

1

 

  English

 

 

1

 

  Genetics, development and cell biology

 

 

1

 

  Geological and atmospheric sciences

 

 

1

 

  Greenlee School

 

1

2

 

  Mathematics

 

 

4

 

  Music and theatre

 

 

2

 

  Psychology

 

 

2

 

  Statistics

 

 

2

 

  World languages and cultures

 

 

1

 

Veterinary Medicine

 

 

 

4

  Clinical sciences

 

 

1

 

  Microbiology and preventive medicine

 

 

2

 

  Pathology

 

 

1

 

Total

4

9

49

62