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[kmmbt]

I am seeking examples of academic couples with more than a split position, but less than two full tenure lines. Do such examples exist, especially in the sciences?

I've been offered a tenure line at a large public university. The spousal offer that we received is not a good fit for my spouse (its a research position at an institution affiliated with the university, non-permanent, non-tenure track). My spouse currently has a good, permanent scientist position at a large govt lab replete with excellent colleagues and resources, and I am a postdoc at a nearby university. I've been successful on the job search, but have not found anything near my spouse's current job. We are trying to negotiate 1.5 tenure lines, split down the middle in the same department. We think this would strike a great work-life balance and give us a bit more flexibility with caring for our child. Their department head is going to ask the Dean about 1.5 FTE, but if this sort of thing has been done in the past, I think it would be helpful to send along examples. The people we are negotiating with are all at the end of their careers and don't seem to have much experience with dual career situations.

Thanks for your help.

[quirkus]

You are looking for examples. As in, people would write you with names and institutions of others who have split 1.5-line jobs, and you would provide these details to your institution? I doubt others on this fora would out themselves to that degree.

If all you're looking for is confirmation that this is not totally out of orbit, then yes, I can think of two academic couples I know who shared more than 1 line. Both were in the sciences, both at non-R1 schools (one a SLAC, another a small regional public) and the main reason for the split was that there was no research institute equivalent for spouse #2. Teaching was the priority, and FTEs seem most relevant to teaching loads. Also, one of these couples was highly interdisciplinary and their work overlapped significantly (they were an academic "team" who had published a lot together).

Good luck.

[kmmbt]

Thanks, quirkus. I am not looking for names of faculty, but it would be nice to have examples of other universities that have given couples between one and two FTE.