At a prestigious university like Duke, one would not expect academic departments to find themselves in a faculty shortage of unusual proportions-but such has been the case this fall.
Multiple departments have struggled finding instructors for classes as a large percentage of faculty members from certain departments are on leave.
The Department of English in particular has drawn a lot of a attention for having 11 of a total 33 faculty members on sabbatical, a number considerably larger than the norm.
Deans and department chairs alike insist that the matter is being carefully handled, and they are doing what they can to keep curricular offerings intact.
This semester's events in multiple departments have caused the administration to recognize that a more formal process of organizing faculty leaves might be in order.
"We are going to take a careful look at whether the current system is meeting the needs of first, the students, second, the curriculum, and third, the faculty," said George McLendon, dean of the faculty of arts and sciences. "It's probably a good thing that this issue is being brought to attention, because it might have been later rather than sooner that we re-evaluated the system."
McLendon said fluctuations in sabbaticals are always a possibility and the current system may be the best option available.
"It has been a perfectly orderly process," said Thomas Pfau, professor of English and director of undergraduate studies. "The majority are on leave because a sabbatical was due to them, many for research purposes. It was a conflux of different factors."
Pfau emphasized that the department knew well in advance that an inordinate number of professors would be taking time off so there was plenty of time to make arrangements and avoid a crisis.
Administrators said they try to avoid dissuading professors from leaving or asking them to defer their sabbatical to a more convenient time. "It's not an easy problem to solve," said Gregson Davis, dean of humanities and professor of classical studies. "These professors have all earned their sabbaticals, and it's hard to say to them, 'I know you've been planning this leave for years, and you've been trying to write this book, but how about you put that off for a bit?' For some, their future depends on this leave."
As one of Duke's larger programs, the English department has managed to maintain consistent course offerings despite losing a third of its faculty this semester. Because of this, numerous English majors have barely registered a change in the course offerings. "I haven't experienced any radical change in the quality or availability of classes in the English department," senior Miche Anderson wrote in an e-mail. "On the contrary, I'm more challenged and enthused by my current professors than ever."
But smaller departments, such as the Department of Germanic Languages and Literature and the Department of Classical Studies, have minimal cushioning to soften the blow of faculty departures.
Michael Morton, associate professor and director of undergraduate studies for the German department, acknowledged a bit of strain on the department's academic resources this semester, especially since there is only one regular, full-time, tenure track member who will not be on leave this year.
"Our ranks aren't completely depleted. The situation just requires a bit of creative thinking and rescheduling," Morton said. "We saw it coming well enough in advance to avoid a crisis. I'm very pleased with how everything has been handled."
The Department of Classical Studies has taken a hit as well, with seven of 11 professors away or teaching a reduced load.
"All of these leaves happened for good reasons, and we are happy to have faculty getting recognized for their achievements," said Peter Burian, professor and chair of classical studies. "We've felt the loss of professors quite a bit, but we're doing our best with limited flexibility."
Despite the classics department's best efforts, many students are feeling restricted as a result of fewer courses being offered. "The number of professors on leave really made it difficult planning my schedule for the fall," senior Andrew Blackburne wrote in an e-mail. "This semester there were only two 100-level classes that I had not taken, and because of a few scheduling conflicts, I was effectively prohibited from taking a single upper-level classics course."
Frustration with the limited courses has been rivaled by students' disappointment that they are missing opportunities to learn from seasoned professors.
"The grad students are very good, but not personally interacting with faculty in the department has made me re-evaluate declaring for a classical studies major," sophomore Gregory Westcott wrote in an e-mail. "I can only hope that the course offerings will increase next semester... or I face the risk of declaring for a major in a department from which I've never had a professor."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.