Board Approves Awarding of Tenure and Emeritus Title

April 29, 2013

The Old Dominion University Board of Visitors approved the award of tenure to 14 current faculty members and the granting of the emeritus title to seven retiring faculty members at its April 26 meeting.

Based on the recommendation of the provost and the Academic and Research Advancement Committee, the following faculty members were awarded tenure and promotion to associate professor effective with the fall 2013 semester:

College of Arts and Letters - Robyn Bluhm, philosophy and religious studies; Greta Pratt, art; Avi Santo, communication and theatre arts; and Alla P. Zareva, English

College of Business and Public Administration - Dean Chatfield, information technology and decision sciences; and Michael McShane, finance

Darden College of Education - Laurie M. Craigen, counseling and human services; Petros Katsioloudis, science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and professional studies; and Mark C. Rehfuss, counseling and human services

Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology - Patrick T. Hester, engineering management and systems engineering; and Stacie I. Ringleb, mechanical and aerospace engineering

College of Sciences - Holly Gaff, biological sciences; Poornima Madhavan, psychology; and Balasubramanian "Bala" Ramjee, chemistry and biochemistry.

In addition, the board approved the appointment of two faculty members with tenure: Brian K. Payne as vice provost for graduate and undergraduate academic programs and professor of sociology and criminal justice in the College of Arts and Letters, effective May 25, 2013; and Thomas W. Bean as professor of teaching and learning in the Darden College of Education, effective July 25, 2013.

On the recommendation of the Academic and Research Advancement Committee, the board approved the granting of the title of emeritus/emerita to the following faculty members:

Nicholas Bountress, professor of communication disorders and special education, effective July 1, 2013

Samir Ibrahim, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, effective June 1, 2013

Osama A. Kandil, Eminent Scholar and professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, Jan. 1, 2013

Larry Lee, associate professor of mathematics and statistics, effective June 1, 2013

Kathy L. Pearson, University Professor and associate professor of history, effective June 1, 2013

R. James Swanson, University Professor and professor of biological sciences, effective June 1, 2013

Donald Swift, Eminent Scholar and professor of ocean, earth and atmospheric sciences, effective June 1, 2013.

Also on the recommendation of the Academic and Research Advancement Committee, the board approved the appointment of Steve Yetiv as the Louis I. Jaffe Professor in the College of Arts and Letters, where he currently is University Professor of political science and international studies.

His research explores energy security, American foreign policy and decision-making, the Middle East, globalization and theory. He received the Robert L. Stern Award for Outstanding Teacher from the College of Arts and Letters in 2007, the college's Burgess Award for outstanding researcher in 2010. In 2012, Yetiv was named a recipient of the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award.

On the recommendation of the Academic and Research Advancement Committee, the board approved a proposed revision to the Policy on Reappointment or Nonreappointment, effective June 1, 2013.

The proposal to revise the policy consists of the removal of the following section: "Any academic year in which a faculty member has been under full-time contract to the University for one full semester or more will be counted as a full academic year for the purposes of this provision."

As noted in the related rationale statement: "The inclusion of this language in the policy is confusing and could be interpreted to mean that faculty who are notified of nonreappointment in their second year must be given a terminating appointment of one year. The intent of the policy is that only faculty with two or more academic years of service would receive a terminating appointment of one year upon notification of nonreappointment."

On the recommendation of the Academic and Research Advancement Committee, the board also approved a proposed revision to the Policy on Remunerative Outside Employment, effective June 1, 2013.

According to the rationale statement: "The revisions to the Policy on Remunerative Outside Employment were proposed initially by the Faculty Senate as part of their review of policies in the Faculty Handbook. An ad hoc committee worked to revise and reorganize the Handbook to make it a more accessible, streamlined, and focused document for the faculty.

"Many of the revisions to the Policy on Remunerative Outside Employment are not substantive but consist of reorganizing the policy so that it is clearer. Several more substantive changes have been made and are summarized as follows."

The title of the policy has been changed to remove the word remunerative.

There are currently two policies on outside employment. The two policies are similar, but only one of the two policies was approved by the Board of Visitors. The two policies have been combined into one policy.

The section of the policy on administrative and professional (AP) faculty has been removed. AP faculty should not have been included in the policy, and a separate policy has been developed for outside employment activities for this group.

Language has been added to the policy to clarify that faculty members teaching part time or full time for another institution while employed by Old Dominion must obtain prior approval of the Provost. Further, a faculty member who accepts a full-time position elsewhere without prior approval will be considered to have resigned his or her position with the University.

In other action, on the recommendation of the Academic and Research Advancement Committee, the board approved renaming the Office of Computing and Communications Services to Information Technology Services, effective May 1, 2013.

As noted in the rationale statement: "The proposed name change, Information Technology Services, reflects the work of the organization for the application, management development, and support of the broad range of technologies, data, and services utilized at Old Dominion University. Information Technology Services identifies the organization with naming practices used in higher education and in other businesses. The proposed name is consistent with those of similar entities within other higher education institutions in Virginia."

Also at the meeting, the president has approved the promotions in academic rank, to professor, for the following faculty members, effective with the 2013-14 academic year:

College of Arts and Letters - Maura E. Hametz, history; and Manuela Mourao, English

College of Business and Public Administration - Yuping Liu-Thompkins, marketing

Darden College of Education - Gail K. Dickinson, teaching and learning; and John Nunnery, educational foundations and leadership

Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology - Sylvain Marsillac, electrical and computer engineering

College of Sciences - Bryan E. Porter, psychology.

The board selected Bo Ram Yi, a doctoral student in international studies, as the nonvoting student representative for 2013-14. Yi, who earned a master's degree in public administration from ODU in 2011, is expected to complete her Ph.D. in 2015. Her concentration areas in international studies are conflict and cooperation and transnationalism and interdependence.