jmatrow@ncrwic.Wichita.NCR.COM (John Matrow) (05/05/87)
From The Wichita State University SUNFLOWER, Friday, May
1, 1987, Vol XCI No. 93. Used by permission.
PROMOTION DENIAL PROMPTS RESIGNATION
by Scott Brokaw, Staff writer
A controversy surrounding an associate professor of
computer science has resulted in the resignation of the
department's chair and could lead to further faculty
departures.
As a result, the computer science department at
Wichita State University may have its heart cut out
before the end of the semester, due to negligence on the
part of the administration.
So charged Mary Edgington, chair of the computer
science department and Mark Rutter, instructor in the
department.
The controversy involves Viswanathan Santhanam,
associate professor of computer science, who was
recently denied promotion to full professor. Members of
the department claim Santhanam was denied promotion
because of a faulty committee process.
Edgington resigned her seat Tuesday over the flap.
"My resignation is the result of frustration of
trying to build a department that has no control over
personnel decisions within the department," Edgington
said. "The so-called departmental committee was made up
of people outside the department."
Santhanam, who received his Ph.D from Ohio State
University, said that he has a lot of respect for the
review process, but that the fault lies in its
execution.
He said that because no computer scientists served on
any of the committees, the value of his work was not
understood.
"There was a reluctance on the part of the committees
to examine my achievements in the context of my field,"
Santhanam said. "If the committees tried to solicit the
information they didn't have, it would have made a
difference."
Santhanam's bid for promotion to full professor
failed after a series of committee rejections. The only
computer scientist to serve on a committee during
Santhanam's review was Edgington, who served on the LAS
committee. However, because college review committee
members are not allowed to speak on behalf of faculty
members in their departments, she couldn't speak.
Santhanam said that too much emphasis was placed on
publication in journals in the review process.
"I do not have publications in journals that are
viewed as prestigious," he said. "I have considerable
achievement in other areas."
Santhanam has petitioned to WSU President Warren
Armstrong in an attempt to reverse the rulings.
Santhanam said that he would resign if Armstrong rules
against him.
"My best opportunity for an academic career is here,"
Santhanam said. "If I cannot be recognized here, the
chances of me being recognized elsewhere are small."
Santhanam emphasized that his intention is not to
alter anyone's opinion regarding his review, but to
correct the problems that persist in the review process.
Santhanam, who played a key role in the development
of the department after coming to WSU in 1975, recently
completed a software development project that brought
$225,000 to the university. Santhanam's project
translates computer programs from Fortran [sic], the
first computer language, into ADA [sic], the most
sophisticated language.
Joyce Scott, executive vice president of academic
affairs, said she couldn't discuss the matter because it
was a personnel matter.
The entire computer science faculty has visited Scott
twice concerning the decision on Santhanam's promotion.
"We expected her (Scott) to reconsider (the
decision)," said Rutter, instructor in computer science.
"She proceeded to insult us for attempting to meet with
here about the issue."
Rutter added that denying Santhanam a full
professorship is "one more step in the brain drain.
There's been negligence on the part of the
administration."
Scott said that she told the computer science faculty
that because of university policy, they could not appeal
the decision on Santhanam.
"If they felt insulted, it's unfortunate," she said.
"There is no provision for third-party appeals, which I
think is perfectly appropriate. The problem is that
people aren't aware of the policies regarding the tenure
and promotion process."
Santhanam's journey through the promotion process
began when he was reviewed by a departmental committee,
which denied his promotion. He then was reviewed by the
department chairperson (Edgington), a college committee,
the dean of the college and the University Committee on
Tenure, Promotion and Academic Freedom. All except
Edgington voted against Santhanam's promotion.
However, no computer science faculty members served
on the departmental committee because no faculty member
has more than an associate professor status. A
university policy states that only full professors can
sit on departmental committees.
After Santhanam was turned down by a Liberal Arts and
Sciences committee, he appealed to the University
Committee on Tenure, Promotion and Academic Freedom.
"Where the dean and the college committee have voted
almost unanimously against the promotion, there would
have to be strong evidence that the decision was reached
inappropriately for the university committee to reverse
anything," said Fred Kraft, committee chairman. "Since
there was no evidence that the decision was reached
inappropriately we did not overrule the college
committee's decision."
President Armstrong, who has received Santhanam's
appeal, said he expects to resolve the matter before the
end of the semester.
Edgington said that the loss of Santhanam would be
devastating to the department.
"It's like being stabbed in the heart," she said. "We
would be losing one of the best faculty members in the
department. The students would be the ones to suffer."
--
----
John Matrow Automation Engineering, NCR E&M Wichita
<john.matrow@Wichita.NCR.COM>
{ncrcae|ncrlnk|ncr-sd}!ncrwic!john.matrow