Research Fund for Barnard Professors May Launch by Spring

For Barnard professors struggling to find research funds, help might be just around the corner. After announcing the development of a presidential research fund at her inauguration, President Debora Spar is in conversation with faculty about the prospect of distributing research awards to professors by the spring semester.

At a Faculty Grants Committee meeting Monday, Spar laid out her plans for the new research fund to faculty members, who responded positively. While logistics—such as details about how the awards will be doled out—are still being hammered out, Dean Dorothy Denburg said that they aim to begin handing out research funding by the spring of 2009.

Barnard professors have long struggled with the double bind of working for a teaching-oriented liberal arts college while being evaluated for tenure at Columbia, a university which expects an impressive record of research. Spar has often noted this challenge since being named president of Barnard. Faculty members said they appreciate the new resources.

“The excitement is unanimous—I’ve actually heard no critical feedback,” environmental science professor Martin Stute said about Spar’s proposed plans. “Research is the area where it is most difficult to stand out. Now it may be easier to establish a research record.”

Associate professor of political science Sheri Berman agreed that Barnard faculty feel pressure when it came to research funding, but pointed out that the school generally values teaching over large research endeavors.

“Of course Barnard faculty need more money,” Berman said in an e-mail. She noted that funding is larger at research universities, but that “teaching, service, and the views of students count more at liberal arts colleges.”

While religion professor Randall Balmer said that research funds have not been insufficient in the past, he acknowledged that it was sometimes difficult to keep up with publishing work.

“We have to work much harder to produce the same level of publications,” Balmer said.
Randy Reback, a tenure-tracked assistant professor of economics and urban studies, said he didn’t think that Spar’s plans for increased research funding would have much of an impact on the tenure review process.

“I don’t think the two are closely related,” Reback said, although he suggested that the funds might help with faculty recruitment and retention.

Administrators say it’s too early to tell who will benefit and how the allocations will be decided. Interim Associate Dean for Faculty Grants Stephanie Pfirman, who has been working closely with Spar and the committee to develop the criteria for the awards, said the Committee itself will also change the way it operates. Instead of being appointed, its faculty representatives will now be elected. The representatives will be four tenured faculty members as well as two at-large members taken from, according to Pfirman, “any rank off our ladder.”

Pfirman said the Committee would like to have elections “fairly soon,” but that details were still preliminary.

“It is most important that the funding allows [professors] to explore new directions,” Stute said. “Seed funding for those beginning new ideas—that is most critical.”

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