A funny thing happened on the way to Thursday's Academic Council meeting-faculty decided it was time to promote the Program in Drama to departmental status.
Following endorsements from drama professors, administrators and the Academic Priorities Committee, the council unanimously voted to establish a Department of Theater Studies, signifying an increased University commitment to the performing arts.
"To create a Department of Theater Studies will help us adhere to a balance that we strove for really since the inception of drama at Duke, a balance between the study of theater as literature and the practice of theater as an art," said program chair Richard Riddell, Semans professor of the practice of drama. The proposal will go before the Board of Trustees in May for final approval.
By moving to the department level, Riddell said, the program will move away from the "preprofessional conservatory" model of some other universities while still promoting the practice of drama. He added, however, that the program already functions much like a department, with a more advanced curriculum and more
Drama currently has nine full-time and six part-time professors, as well as several professors with secondary appointments. Riddell said that, as a department, theater studies would immediately receive an additional fully tenured professor, and that the new status would make the University more competitive in attracting drama students and teachers.
Riddell also expressed hope that the departmental status would eventually lead to a graduate program in theater studies.
IN OTHER BUSINESS: The Academic Council unanimously endorsed the main themes, but not the specifics, of a recent review of the appointments, promotions and tenure process for faculty members. Among other things, the review calls for streamlining the three processes and increasing the faculty's education on the subject.
Provost Peter Lange noted some of the many complexities involved in the APT process, such as the occasional inability of a candidate's colleagues to be objective.
Lange emphasized the need to codify an unwritten policy of the APT Committee that cases deliberated by the committee cannot be considered twice. "It's silly to have a policy that's not written down anywhere," Lange said of the "up or out" rule.
His one major objection to the review was its recommendation that deans, not department chairs, rank department faculty.
The ranking is essential to the consideration of tenure candidates, Lange said.
Noting that clinical faculty members in the Medical Center have a separate APT process, Dr. John Baillie, associate professor of medicine, suggested the University look into integrating the two processes.
"The folks in the Medical Center really want to be a part of this university and are missing that oversight," he said.
The council elected four new members to its executive committee. Serving two-year terms will be Frederik Nijhout, professor of biology, Dr. Douglas Tyler, associate professor of surgery and chief of surgical oncology, and Marjorie McElroy, professor of economics and department chair. Prasad Kasibhatla, an associate professor in the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, will serve a one-year term.
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