LMU has been selected as one of two winners of the Delphi Award for 2023 by the Pullias Center for Higher Education at USC’s Rossier School of Education, in partnership with the American Association of Colleges and Universities. The second winner is University of Arizona. Each institution will receive $15,000 to continue their work to support non-tenure-track faculty (NTTF) in promoting student success.
“This award recognizes the work done by LMU faculty from all categories to advocate for non-tenure track faculty voices to be included in our shared governance structure,” said Christopher Daily, instructor in theological studies. “Working together as faculty, we’ve created platforms for non-tenure track faculty voices to be heard and where we can continue to work towards creating positive change.”
LMU’s proposal team was comprised of faculty and administrators from units across campus, including:
- Christopher Daily, Faculty Senate Executive Committee member and instructor in Theological Studies
- Karie Huchting, director of the Center for Teaching Excellence and professor of Educational Leadership
- Maryann Krikorian, clinical associate professor of Teaching and Learning
- Kat Weaver, vice provost for research, professional development, and online learning
- Leon Wiebers, Faculty Senate president, professor and chair of Theatre Arts
The LMU team’s proposal was titled “The LMU Shared Governance Structure: Where All Faculty Voices Matter.” Their application described how LMU faculty, over the past decade, “created ways to include NTTF voices in our shared governance structure, thereby inviting these members of our community to play active roles in shaping LMU’s future.” These efforts have resulted in wins for non-tenure track faculty at LMU, including clearer hiring and promotion guidelines, providing contingent faculty a larger voice in shared governance, inclusion in the faculty senate with some NTTF being elected to the Faculty Senate Executive Committee, and ultimately, expanded eligibility for benefits and longer term contracts.
The award funds will be matched by contributions made from the LMU Provost’s Office, Mission and Ministry, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, President’s Office, and Faculty Affairs. This initial investment will continue to build over five years to open professional development opportunities specifically for NTTF to continue to grow as teacher-artist-scholars. The proposal indicated there is more progress to be made toward growing opportunities for NTTF and the committee looks forward to engaging in dialogue to move this work forward.
“Institutions of higher education have an ethical responsibility to acknowledge the systems in which non-tenure track faculty are situated, prioritizing institutional cultures of wellness in service to the communities it serves,” said Krikorian. “The Delphi award aims to emphasize our university’s guiding principle of cura personalis — the Jesuit ideal that accentuates the concern for the whole-person. The essence of the award facilitates understandings of interdependence and intentionality to work toward building and sustaining an institutional culture that thrives as a community and as individuals.”
In the near future, LMU will host a reception to celebrate the work of the many faculty who have advocated for the support of NTTF, including the members of the 2014 Task Force on Part-Time Faculty and the 2019 Faculty Senate Working Group on Contingent and Term Faculty.
The winners of the award will be recognized for their work at AAC&U’s annual meeting in January 2024, in Washington, D.C. This is the sixth year for the Delphi Award.
