While the recession that prompted a close examination of the university budget ended over two years ago, it has had a delayed and lingering impact on the university's hiring practices.
The university sees itself in a more stable situation than in 2008 and 2009 and has handled the brunt of the recession "very well" in terms of maintaining a balanced budget and university priorities, according to Executive Vice President Patricia Campbell.
The university, however, continues to proceed cautiously when it comes to managing its finances, and nowhere is this caution more evident than in the hiring practices at both the Schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering.
Since the hiring process generally spans the course of an academic year, there is often a lag in the effect of the economic climate on hiring practices at the university.
Tufts in summer 2009 approved requests for new faculty in the School of Arts and Sciences that were submitted at the end of the 2008−2009 academic year. After the university approved these requests, Tufts conducted searches and made offers for these positions during the 2009−2010 academic year, according to Dean of Academic Affairs for Arts and Sciences Andrew McClellan.
Faculty recruited during that hiring cycle began teaching in the fall of 2010, McClellan said.
The process at the School of Engineering is similar but more streamlined because there is no dean of academic affairs in the school's leadership structure, according to School of Engineering Dean Linda Abriola.
Executive Vice President Patricia Campbell emphasized that while some fields halted hiring when the recession hit, there was never a full hiring freeze at Tufts.
"It was trying to be intelligent and careful in a time when we couldn't afford to do everything," she said. "We did forgo hiring in a number of areas across the university. What we've done, gradually, is to let people begin to hire and backfill, but continue to look carefully and think if it can be foregone."
The 2009−2010 hiring cycle saw the addition of seven tenure−track faculty who began teaching at Tufts in fall 2010, McClellan said.
"But even seven at that moment in time was a lot," McClellan said. "Many institutions had a hiring freeze at the faculty level as well as the staff level. We did not. We remained committed to increasing faculty during the hard economic time."
This year, the School of Arts and Sciences added 19 tenure−track faculty, according to McClellan.
The School of Arts and Sciences is following a strategic plan that a group of faculty and administrators outlined in 2005, McClellan said.
"One of the key recommendations that came out of the plan was to increase the faculty by the number of 60 over a decade," McClellan said. "Today, we've got about halfway to that goal."
The number of tenure−track faculty since 2005 has increased from 260 to 290, a net increase of 30, he said.
In the School of Engineering, the number of faculty has stayed constant or slightly increased for the last three years, according to Abriola. Four tenure−track faculty this year joined the School of Engineering and three faculty joined in the fall of 2010, she said.
"Last year, we had a number of open positions that we didn't fill," Abriola said. "It was kind of a disappointing recruitment period for us."
The Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering currently lack department chairs, according to Abriola.
It was challenging to recruit department chairs because candidates didn't have the opportunity to meet University President Anthony Monaco during the university's leadership transition, she said.
The School of Engineering is this year conducting faculty searches in four departments, as well as for the McDonnell Family Professorship in Engineering Education position.
"We're hopeful that we will be more successful this year," Abriola said.
The School of Engineering is currently facing spatial limitations rather than recession−related budget constraints. Since every new faculty member requires laboratory and office space, Abriola said, she must first create a space plan before hiring more faculty.
"I've been trying to be creative in trying to find place. I wouldn't say that it has been a real major resource constraint," she said, adding that the school has been leasing lab space on Boston Avenue.
