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Vol. XCIV No. 21
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Thursday, March 26, 2015
A student voice of Saint Louis University since 1919
Remembering Romero: Hope derived from Jesuit martyr By KATHERINE KELLIHER Associate Arts Editor
See “Romero” on Page 3
Jessica Park / Chief Illustrator
Career-minded: Recently, discussion has arisen surrounding tenure and promotion and the job security they afford.
Addressing advancement in academia Faculty panel offers counsel, critiques of tenure system By TIM WILHELM News Editor
A modest group of SLU faculty from numerous colleges and departments gathered in Boileau Hall on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 25, to discuss a subject that is perhaps foreign to many students: tenure and promotion. Organized
U. of Delaware candidate selected as provost By TIM WILHELM News Editor
Last Thursday, March 19, President Pestello announced the selection of Dr. Nancy Brickhouse as provost. Brickhouse will replace Dr. Ellen Harshman, effective July 1. She previously served as the University of Delaware’s Deputy Provost of Academic Affairs. Her appointment is the result of many months of searching by an 11-person committee. Each of the four candidates for the position visited campus and took part in an open forum. Brickhouse earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in chemistry and a doctorate in science education. She has held administrative positions at the University of Delaware since 2002. She describes her position as follows: “The provost provides leadership for the work of the faculty – teaching, scholarship, outreach. The work of the provost is focused on providing new and improved educational opportunities for students – in the classroom, in research labs, in partnerships in the community and abroad. As an administrator I seek to stay focused on a commitment to excellence, transparency, and collaboration. My job is to make other people successful – and nothing is more important than student success.” Brickhouse’s career – from student to teacher to administrator – has been closely linked to research universities. This translates closely to SLU’s focus on research. “A lot of cutting-edge research requires faculty to work across disciplines, institutions, and sectors,” she said. “As provost, I can help
build the relationships that can seed great research and bring greater visibility to the research done at SLU. Assessing the research infrastructure (both intellectual and physical) and determining how to best invest resources where they will have the greatest impact will also be a high priority for me.” Her specialization in strategy, which received special attention in President Pestello’s announcement message, guides her interaction with those who come under the influence of her decisions as well as how she communicates with them. “Communication is very important – and listening is as important as speaking. As part of our strategic planning efforts at UD, I met with faculty groups and student groups all across campus to ascertain their views for what UD should be doing differently in the future. Our undergraduate students really wanted a stronger focus on sustainability – both in terms of our institutional practices and in terms of the curriculum. This emphasis on sustainability was also shared by faculty across campus.” Brickhouse registered the recent rhetorical climate on campus when she visited. “When I met with student leaders at SLU as part of the interview, they expressed a desire for core curricular requirements focused on social justice,” she said. “This commitment to the mission of the university was inspiring. I look forward to hearing more about what students take the social justice mission to mean and how that can be best developed in the educational experiences at SLU.”
by Michael Lewis, Associate Vice President for Faculty Development, a panel composed of Gretchen Salsich (physical therapy, Doisy College of Health Sciences); James Ginther (theology, College of Arts and Sciences); Carol Needham (School of Law) and Frank Wang (accounting, John Cook School of Business) fielded ques-
tions from the audience. In his opening remarks, Lewis, who is also teaches chemistry, explained that he had conducted similar panels on a more regular basis while working at the Reinert Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning, although these had been sparsely attended. “Most of the people who showed up
were already on the tenure track looking to move from assistant to associate professor,” he said. Those attending the present panel, however, were at various stages in the tenure process; a show of hands revealed a predominance of pre-tenure candidates in colleges other than Arts and Sciences interspersed with non-tenure
See “Tenure” on Page 3
Honing in on homelessness By PAUL BRUNKHORST Associate News Editor
Katie Harder, the Major Gifts Manager at the St. Louis chapter of Habitat for Humanity and its liaison to SLU, thinks you would be surprised by who seeks help finding affordable housing through Habitat for Humanity in St. Louis. “We have medical assistants, bus drivers, police officers, security guards, teachers assistants, a lot of home healthcare workers,” she said. “[And these are] jobs that you’d think would make a steady income, [but] even on that, it isn’t possible to pay the bills.” Indeed, these were the issues hashed out at the panel discussion held on Sunday, March 22, in the basement ballroom of College Church: homelessness and affordable housing issues in St.
Louis. Harder was joined by educational opportunities. Jonathan Belcher, a project Therefore, both institutions manager at the St. Patrick’s – Habitat for Humanity and Center, and a handful of SLU St. Patrick’s Center – offer a students and members of the comprehensive approach to community at the discusmitigating the problem of sion, where homelessboth Harder ness. and Belcher “We truly Our main goal talked about believe that is to get sometheir work homeownerbody into perand anship is a goal manent housing and help swered quesfor families, them maintain tions from and we want that housing. the group. to truly preFor both pare them -Jonathan Belcher, Harder and for the lifeproject manager Belcher, the long comimportant mitment thing to realthat it is,” ize, they said, Harder said. is that homelessness and af“So [our housing applicants fordable housing issues are are] taking mandatory classoften what prevent people es on financial management, from addressing other, more insurance, [and] home repair personal problems that and care before they are even they might have – like drug allowed to purchase their addiction, mental health home through the program. complications and missed Talking about the HERO
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The Faith and Justice Speaker series on Sunday, March 22nd, highlighted an aspect of life that many forget, the importance of remembering. A large group of students, professors, faculty, staff and members of the St. Louis community gathered in the basement of College Church with open notepads and open ears for a talk by Dr. Matt Ashley, PhD., the theology department chair at the University of Notre Dame. Ashley’s talk titled; “Remembering Romero, Remembering Ferguson” articulated the connection between Archbishop Oscar Romero’s life message and the future of St. Louis following the events in Ferguson. Faith & Justice Coordinator John Burke introduced the speaker and set the theme for the evening — celebrating martyrs in a suffering world. The key question addressed the connection between Romero’s efforts and
track and post-tenure faculty. The administrative branch in which Lewis works is, he said, “the conduit between the dean’s office and the provost.” While themselves academics, Salsich, Ginther and Needham also serve on committees involved in the multilayered tenure and promotion process. Each took time to elaborate on their own college’s criteria and approaches to tenure. They also emphasized certain points of guidance, such as following instructions as specified by departments and the Faculty Manual; understanding the “tenure clock” on both a long-term and short-term basis; and verifying that things are done “officially correctly.” Wang had gone through tenure procedure just last year, and thus provided insight into attendees’ questions and concerns based on his experience. Upon shifting to audience questions, discussion centered primarily on particularities such as dossier preparation, external reviewers, gray areas and inconsistencies in criteria. Audience members’ specific situations framed the conversation and often elicited expressions of understanding from others. Despite the faculty-exclusive nature of the panel, students were brought up sever-
Project – Housing, Employment, Recovery and Opportunities – for homeless veterans, Belcher said that “we put people into apartments, and then we wrap services around them, provid[ing] case management for up to two years … Our main goal is to get somebody into permanent housing and help them maintain that housing.” Harder and Belcher also both went into detail about what their work entails and what sort of societal issues they are facing in St. Louis as they work to help the homeless and poor. Harder, for example, emphasized the importance of Section 8 housing opportunities, but
See “Homeless” on Page 3
Ryan Quinn/ Photo Editor
See “Provost” on Page 3
La Cena: The Spanish National Honor Seocity celebrated its unnual dinner and cultural celebration.