Research
Continued from Page 1
Nebraska’s land-grant university.
“Every state has a land-grant insti
tution that is expected to do research,”
Splinter said. “UNL is Nebraska’s
land grant, and it’s expected to both
teach and do research.
“Research is one of our areas of
responsibility. It’s part of our mis
sion.”
Land grants began in the 1860s
when Congress allotted funds to each
state for the creation of agriculture
and mechanical arts schools. The
schools were expected to carry out
research in the two fields, he said.
These schools grew and diversi
fied, transforming into many of to
day’s “state” universities. They brought
their original emphasis on research in
these two fields to their new roles.
The emphasis has carried into the
university’s other disciplines.
Research gives UNL an edge over
non-research institutions, Splinter said,
because professors have a first-hand
knowledge of the latcstdevclopments
in their disciplines.
Constance Kies, a professor of
nutritional science and hospitality
management, said that faculty in the
College of Home Economics are
required to conduct various amounts
of research. Faculty without specific
research appointments are expected
to spend about 25 percent of their
time in research activities, she said.
Kies said her appointment is 50
percent, which means she is expected
to spend half of her lime teaching and
half researching.
The importance of research in a
professor’s career depends on the
university and the discipline involved,
she said.
“If you want to leach in a univer
sity with graduate studies, research is
important,” Kies said. “For the most
part, graduate degrees arc research
degrees. It’s hard for a professor to
leach about (research) if they aren’t
doing it themselves.
“It is absolutely essential to any
discipline. It must be done. Disci
plines won’t advance without it.”
Without research, a professor’s
career might not advance cither, Splin
ter said.
Number of hours per week
ActivityUnderl hr.| 1-4 [ 5-8 | 9-12 113-1 |17-20| 21-34 [35-44 145+
Teaching .3 7.2 26.2 32.0 17.6... 10.1 5.9 .5 .1
Preparing for teaching .3 8.4 22.9 25.2 17.3 13*8 9.4 2.0 .7
Research and 20.2 27.906.4 12.4^713 ^6.7 6.3 1.8 1.0
scholarly writing - j|! /// / V
ps / / .? | \ \
Advising or 2.6 56.6$ 29.5 " •"••8.0 f|2.0L *4 ^
counseling students )
...v.v.v....... . '' ■
Committee riSfe lb* W!o **J3r T.i .3 .1
Other Administr iol 36.5 K38.6 11.5: 5.8 3.0 j$3 1-7 •i| | -2
' A , t
Consultation wi 68.8 • 20.7 6.3 2.2 : : .8 ^ .6^:. «4 .1: |: -1
clients or patients
Source: Stan Liberty, Intern J|a chj|cellor lor academic attalre_l' _1 ^_& .M __
“Most disciplines require that ai
individual publish some works,” h<
said. “It influences decisions whei
promotions come around.”
But, Splinter said, exceptions ex
ist to these requirements. A professoi
who is proficient at cither teaching 01
researching can excel, he said.
“There are people who prefer tc
teach, who aren’t strong researchers.
These people have gone through the
system. The system does adjust.”
This adjustment means having
strong researchers do the research while
strong teachers pick up the extra classes,
Splinter said. Each department must
create a balance, he said.
Peter Bleed, an anthropology pro
fessor, said UNL emphasizes research
but doesn’t push so hard that profes
sors arc encouraged to neglect their
Leaching responsibilities.
“I don’t think UNL places too much
emphasis on research,” Bleed said.
“I’ve never seen a good professor
who lets research get in the way.”
: Workload
i Continued from Page 1
mittec, said the Legislature needs
clarification about how the Univer
• sity of Nebraska system works with
regard to faculty.
“It was obvious that there were a
considerable number of professors who
don’t teach — they do research
mostly,” Lynch said.
Liberty, chairman of an ad hoc
task force appointed by the chancel
lor to work with the Legislature on
the faculty workload study, said he
hopes the study will help clarify that
UNL provides more than just class
room instruction.
“That appears to be a problem.
People arc asking, ‘Why arc faculty
teaching so little?’” Liberty said. “The
burden on us is to clarify our image
and help the public understand the
value of what we’re doing.”
Other colleges and universities may
focus on instruction, but UNL’s mis
sion is to provide instruction, research
and service, Liberty said.
The task force plans to establish a
base for providing information about
how UNL’s individual departments
allocate their time and efforts, he
said.
An analysis of the distribution of
faculty effort rather than a workload
study is a better characterization of
what the task force and the Legisla
ture are doing, Liberty said.
“Workload is a very inappropriate
term for what we’re doing,” he said.
“Faculty will be very sensitive to that.”
UNL doesn’t have an institutional
information base regarding faculty
workload and productivity, Liberty
said. But recent questions about a
management professor’s traveling
expenses are an indication of the need
for one, he said.
Concerns were raised among leg
islators and faculty about the profes
sor’s traveling reimbursements, which
amounted to about S40,00() over a 30
month period. Buiadministrators said
the business he conducted while trav
eling brought in about $ i.3 minion in
grants and other funding for UNL.
Liberty said the professor’s travel
ing expenses appeared excessive until
they were viewed in the context of the
revenue brought into UNL as a result.
Because of problems such as these,
Liberty said, the information base
UNL designs must consist of more
than just separate strings of statistics
— it must place them in a general
context.
“Data are good for raising ques
tions, but not for answering them,”
Liberty said.
The UNL task force, with input
from Kathy Tenopir, a legislative fiscal
analyst, will devise preliminary plans
for the comprehensive information
base.
“We get questions that look at
only one side of the coin,” Liberty
said. “You need to look at what’s
being produced for an investment.”
He said the task force plans to take
a sampling of units from UNL and
compile faculty data on a standard
ized basis.
Tenopir said the first step is defin
ing what various terms mean for NU’s
different campuses.
“We need to standardize the data
so that it means the same thing in each
place,” she said. “The Legislature
realizes that with different roles and
missions, the data will come out dif
ferent for each campus.”
In response to a separate request
for information regarding instructional
excellence, Liberty presented the NU
Board of Regents last Friday with a
national study, which when compared
to UNL, indicated that:
•full-time equivalent UNL fac
ulty teach an average of 8.48 credit
hours per semester.
•UNL’s percentage of tenured fac
ulty is 68.4 percent, 2 percent higher
than the institutional average.
•UNL’s proportion of faculty with
doctoral degrees is 67.4 percent, 6
percent higher than the institutional
average.
He said UNL’s status as a research
university may account for some of
the differences. The national study
was based on a survey of more than
35,000 faculty at 400 institutions,
including non-research and private as
well as public and non-research insti
tutions.
2nd ANNUAL UNL POWWOW
i Saturday November 23, 1:00 ■ 10:00 p.m.
Sunday November 24, 1:00 - 10:00 p.m.
*In the UNL Ballroom
Sponsored by
UPC Native American Special Events
and
i
UNITE (University of Nebraska Tribal
Exchanges)
For more information call Frank or Nancy
472-5500,
.... ...
