next »

[grendels_mother]

Another forumite began a thread about this in the two-body forum, but I thought I might ask another version of the question here, since the advice of deans and chairs would seem most pertinent in this particular situation.  Can anyone provide some insights or advice about negotiating a shared position when two different departments (let's say they're within the same college) are involved?  I realize this may not be something that occurs often, but how might you respond if someone to whom you offered a position proposed such a thing?  Would you be receptive to something like a 1.5 position shared between two people (where each person teaches 3/4 time? or 4/3 with each teaching 2/3 time?)? Are there any do's or don'ts for broaching this kind of subject with a chair or dean?  If your college has never done this before, would you be willing to try it?

Thanks for your help.

[sibyl]

My institution actually does have one formal policy on shared positions, which is that the two people in a shared position must be evaluated separately for tenure.  This means that it's possible for one sharer to have tenure while the other does not; indeed, in a couple of cases one person went up for tenure several years before the other.

The actual cases of sharing I've seen (none on my watch) were sharing positions within departments: two historians, two Spanish professors, etc.  If I were chair and I was approached about a shared position, I'd say sure, but I would want some strict ground rules about that shared position, spelled out in writing.  Does the sharer in my department get a full vote in the faculty?  In the department?  What about research funds?  Is there a time commitment -- that is, am I guaranteed a .75 person, or is it possible that this person's time will go up and down based on the other person's time?  If my sharer goes on sabbatical, will I get a full replacement, or will I have to try to find a .75 replacement?  Does this .75 person mean I won't get the full line that I was promised in the last strategic plan?  If this person leaves, will I get to hire a full-time replacement?

If I were dean, my openness to this would depend heavily on whether this met my other needs.  Shared positions are a pain to administer and I'm not going to inflict that pain on myself or my successors unless it eases pain elsewhere.  If one sharer is English and the other is history, I'll say no, because I know candidates are plentiful and the second choice in either field will be just as good.  If one sharer is in English and the other in computer science, I might jump at that, because it's hard to find computer scientists.  If one sharer is in physics and the other in French, I'm going to say no because I have more faculty in those departments than are justified by enrollments.  If one sharer is a Latin American political scientist and the other is in English, I might say yes if I can get the political scientist to beef up our Latin American Studies program and the English person will allow me to stop hiring the adjuncts I have in English.  I'd like to think I could be swayed if I saw very good teaching or research potential, but I admit these are only second or third thoughts.

So I guess in terms of advice, mine is this:  Try to pitch it as the solution to a problem.  This is hard to do when you don't know the problems of the new dean, so the burden is on you to show how this will help.  Make suggestions; if one of them falls on good ground, the dean will take it.  "My partner can beef up your Latin American Studies program."

[grendels_mother]

Sibyl,
In our case, it's math and English.  Thanks very much for your helpful response.