Dr. Millhorn, Included below is President Petersen's response to two messages I had sent (posted at the UTK Faculty Senate President's page at http://www.tiem.utk.edu/~gross/facpres.html ) regarding the Governor's Chairs searches. Evidently you are the UT Coordinator for these positions - I am unaware of any formal announcement that this was your responsibility having been distributed to UTK faculty. I would appreciate a response to two issues I raised in my notes: (i) the lack of indication in the ad for these Governors Chairs that appeared in Science on June 23 of the teaching and educational responsibilities of these positions, as are expected of all UT tenured faculty; and (ii) the continuing lack (as of today) of any acknowledgement on the official Governors Chair website prominently displayed in the Science ad that there actually is a desire to hire individuals in areas of computational science, despite the ad having appeared over a month ago. It would be helpful to have a very clear understanding of the search process for these positions as well. According to the President's response, it appears that the process does not get to a campus committee until after a decision is made about a candidate's competitiveness. Is it only after a campus academic unit is identified as the appropriate home for the selected individual that affirmative action guidelines on each campus are followed, so that possible candidates have already been eliminated prior to this? Thank you for your assistance - I am ccing this to Chancellor Crabtree and Provost Holub as well as Professor Deseriee Kennedy in her role as both past-President of the UTK Faculty Senate and as a Faculty member on the UT Board of Trustees. Sincerely, Louis J. Gross Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Mathematics Director, The Institute for Environmental Modeling University of Tennessee - Knoxville President, UTK Faculty Senate Past-President, Society for Mathematical Biology (www.smb.org) gross@tiem.utk.edu http://www.tiem.utk.edu/~gross/ http://atlss.org/ (ATLSS Project Home Page) http://www.tiem.utk.edu/bioed/ (Quantitative Life Sciences Education) cc: Faculty Senate Past-President Kennedy, Chancellor Crabtree, Provost Holub Delivered-To: gross@fragaria.tiem.utk.edu Subject: RE: Governor's Chair Searches Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2006 21:36:06 -0400 From: "Millhorn, David Eugene" To: "Lou Gross" Cc: , "lcrabtr1" , "Holub, Robert Charles" Dear Dr Gross, I am happy to respond to your questions. The Governor's Chair positions are for individuals who have distinguished themselves in academic research. Teaching is not emphasized but all candidates are expected to excel in teaching. The Governor provided funding for these positions to recruit world leaders in the research areas common to UT and ORNL. However we do evaluate the entire career of the potential candidates including their teaching and their success in preparing students for careers in science and education. Moreover, all of the candidates are tenured professors (or possibly senior associate professors) who have been evaluated throughout their careers for excellence in research and teaching. We felt that it was not necessary to state a dedication to education and teaching in the ad since these individuals have spent their entire careers in academia. We make it clear to all candidates that teaching and the training/ education of students and post-doctoral fellows is expected by both UT and ORNL. In fact, all of the candidates are eager to participate in the education mission of the university. We are a little behind on getting the last ad on the web site because of staff vacations and because I don't have a media specialist on my staff but instead work with the staff that maintains the UT website. These people are often very busy but usually very responsive. Previous ads and associated information have appeared on the website at the time the ad appeard in Science. Moreover, my assistant who takes care of this from our end has had been away on vacation and because of a death in her family. We are now in the catch up mode. I should be up within the next day or so. We also provide a name and contact information of a person in the Science ad who can provide additional information. No candidate has complained about lack of information. The initial evaluation of candiates is performed by a search committee that is appointed by the appropriate dean at UT and associate laboratory director at ORNL (equal representation from UT and ORNL). Remember that these positions are funded 50/50 by UT and ORNL. There is a second level of review by senior scientist committee that is mostly made up of Distinguished Scientists and other senior scientists at ORNL and UT. This committee is part of the due diligence process to make sure that the scientific credentials are appropriate for a Governor's Chair. The dean, associate laboratory director, and chancellor are welcome to weigh in at any stage of the evaluation process. A seminar is a major part of the process (and a good opportunity to evaluate teaching and communication skills). The seminar is scheduled and advertised widely. Thus any faculty member can attend and offer an opinion at the initial stage of the review. Final recommendations are made to myself and to Jim Roberto, Deputy Director for Science and Technology at ORNL. The negotiations are conducted by the associate laboratory director with input from the cancellor, the DDST, and myself. The offer is extended from the chancellor and the ALD at ORNL. I evaluate to insure that the 50/50 funding is in place. The chancellor may wish to involve the new provost in this process. We would gladly welcome this. As you can see, the review process is comprehensive and equally involves both UT and ORNL at all stages. This basic process is followed for all candidates, but occassionally has to be modified to fit the schedules of the candidates or reviewers. The university process for hiring faculty is followed from the time the ad is written until the offer is made. This is handled by susan martin in the chancellor's office. It is the responsibility of the search committee chairperson to insure that this is done. I appreciate your interest and hope that my responses were satisfactory. David Dr. Millhorn, Thank you for the detailed response to the questions concerning the Governors Chair positions. If I understand your description correctly, Susan Martin (for a position that is to be held at UTK) is to be involved from the start (before the ad is written), a Search Committee is established by appointment by a UT Dean and an ORNL ALD with representation from both institutions, candidates are evaluated by this Search Committee based upon all appropriate criteria for the campus (e.g. including affirmative action guidelines), a credential review is carried out by additional UT and ORNL senior scientists, and then if appropriate a formal invitation or set of invitations are issued for an on-campus interview. I was unaware from the ads and web-pages that all candidates for these positions were required to have held tenure previously at a university. You do not state so, but I presume the Search Committee, prior to release of an ad, discusses the specific areas of expertise to be included in the ad. In addition to those on the initial distribution list, I am copying Susan Martin on this. Your response certainly clarifies the procedures to be used in these searches and I will so inform the faculty who have raised concerns about the way that candidates for these positions are evaluated. I appreciate your efforts to enhance the research and educational opportunities available to our students. Best regards, Lou Louis J. Gross Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Mathematics Director, The Institute for Environmental Modeling University of Tennessee - Knoxville President, UTK Faculty Senate Past-President, Society for Mathematical Biology (www.smb.org) gross@tiem.utk.edu http://www.tiem.utk.edu/~gross/ http://atlss.org/ (ATLSS Project Home Page) http://www.tiem.utk.edu/bioed/ (Quantitative Life Sciences Education) cc: Faculty Senate Past-President Kennedy, Chancellor Crabtree, Provost Holub, Associate Vice Chancellor Martin