Mama Promoted to Highest Faculty Rank

Published December 2001 - Kotzebue, AK

This past summer, Mama Susan was promoted to "full" professor, which constitutes "the highest honor an institution can grant to one of its faculty members, and admissions to its ranks should be rigorously guarded."

Mama teaches in the humanities at Chukchi Campus, a Kotzebue branch of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. One of Susan's most popular courses is "Alaska Natives in Film," which explores the portrayal in motion pictures of Alaska Natives as well as Native Americans in general. Professor Mama's film class, taught by audio conference through-out rural Alaska, fills almost every semester, mostly with certified schoolteachers living and working in Alaska's remote Native communities.

Mama started her full-time teaching career as an "assistant professor" with the University of Alaska in August of 1989, just after giving birth to her first child, Myles, who was about two months old at the time. By the summer of 1994 after Myles had just turned 5 and Tiffany was 3, Susan was promoted to "associate professor" while simultaneously earning tenure.

"Just six years later, Susan put together a file that promoted her to full professor," said Papa. "Giving birth to twins in 1996 would slow anybody down, but attaining full professor status in just 12 years while giving birth to and raising for little kids, I must say, is amazing."

Faculty tenure and promotion at a university require putting together a huge file covering your record of teaching, research/creative activities, and university/community service over a given review period, and then having the stomach for scads of people to pick you over.

The candidate's file enters a scrupulous review at numerous levels in the university system, starting with the campus director, who like at every level, writes up "findings and recommendations" from evidence in file and passes everything along to the next level.

Next, a "peer review committee" made up of fellow faculty, reads the file and votes individually whether to support the candidate for tenure and/or promotion. Then the college dean in Fairbanks has at it before sending it along to still another faculty committee, the "university-wide committee," for another going over.

After that, the university provost gives it a whirl, then sends the whole mess onto the chancellor, who makes a final decision based on a review of each level's findings and recommendations as well as, ah yes, whether the candidate has credibly survived the often notoriously nasty world of "university politics" (where the disputes are so vicious because the stakes are so small).

"Susan's file sailed right through," said Papa.

For "full" professor, the standard in all aspects of the faculty member's appointment is "exemplary" or "serving as a role model for others."

"With Chukchi being the Harvard of, ah, Kotzebue, that's quite an honor, isn't it?" said Papa with a wink. "Oh, but Susan works hard, and she's a great teacher, wife, and mom. We are proud of her."