CONWAY -- When an associate provost at the University of Central Arkansas got two raises last summer after she applied for what amounted to two promotions on the same day, some faculty members questioned whether the actions conformed with school policy.
Laura Young, who formerly taught accounting in the College of Business, got raises totaling $6,500 last summer even though five of six members on a faculty review committee abstained from a vote on whether to recommend her for the promotions, records show.
As a result of the raises and a cost-of-living increase that other UCA employees also received, the annual salary for Young, associate provost for finance and administration, rose from $126,000 to $135,020 annually starting in July of this year.
Young said in an interview that she felt she deserved the promotion because of her work and contributions over the years.
In 2012, when Young was promoted from assistant provost to associate provost, she temporarily declined a $14,528 raise because UCA hadn't been able to give other staff members raises then, according to records released by the provost's office.
"How many other people on this campus have given back a raise?" she asked. "I personally couldn't accept a promotion that I feel I didn't deserve."
No faculty members contacted would speak publicly about the matter. But some said they did not believe Young had met the faculty handbook's requirement for advancement of nontenure-track faculty when she applied to move from lecturer I to senior lecturer, effectively bypassing the lecturer II rank. The issue also came up during at least one faculty senate meeting earlier this fall.
Faculty senate President Don Bradley said he believes everything was done according to "proper procedure."
"I double-checked and triple-checked it," said Bradley, a marketing professor and executive director of the Small Business Advancement National Center at UCA.
In fall 2013, Young applied for promotion from lecturer I to senior lecturer shortly after a change in policy in the College of Business. Until 2013, teachers hired at the "instructor" position in that college, unlike other UCA colleges, were not allowed to seek promotion to a higher faculty rank no matter how long they worked at the university.
The College of Business also did not hire anyone as a lecturer until then, said Provost Steven Runge, who is also vice president of academic affairs, and Michael Hargis, the college's dean.
In spring 2013, department chairmen within the college orally notified faculty of the change, Hargis said. Young and current instructors in the college were automatically promoted to lecturer I. Some other faculty members are applying for the same double-rank promotion as Young, said Hargis, who wrote a letter endorsing her application last year.
Young was the first person from the college to apply for and get a double promotion in faculty rank after the policy change, Runge said.
"Just because someone does something first doesn't necessarily make it wrong," Runge said.
Bradley agreed.
"We've got people going up right now [for a similar promotion]," he said. "They just didn't get their paperwork in time."
The faculty handbook section at issue says that upon approval of a nontenure-track faculty member's application, the person may be promoted to lecturer I, II, senior lecturer and certain other positions if, among other requirements, the teacher has had "six years of continuous service" in the immediately lower rank "or equivalent experience."
Because Young hasn't taught accounting since 2012, some faculty members said they did not believe she met the "continuous service" requirement and said she shouldn't have been allowed to bypass the lecturer II position.
Runge stressed the "equivalent experience" element of the requirement and cited the College of Business change in policy as a reason to let longtime instructors in that college seek the two-rank promotion.
Runge said he was sure teachers in other colleges also have been promoted in the past based on "equivalent service."
Young, a UCA employee for 13 years, taught accounting full time nine years and then part time.
"Academic administrators do not surrender their faculty status, their rank or their opportunities for promotion or advancement through the faculty ranks when they accept an administrative appointment," Runge noted.
In her application, Young wrote that a promotion that would allow her to bypass the lecturer II rank was justified because she had "been at the rank of Instructor for over thirteen years with no opportunity for advancement in faculty rank while non-tenure-track faculty across campus have had this opportunity."
"I believe that my sustained excellence in teaching, contributions in the accounting field and service throughout my time at UCA indicate that I would have been promoted six years ago had that option been available, and I would now be eligible to apply for Senior Lecturer," she added.
Young voluntarily released a copy of the Oct. 24, 2013, letter from Keith Atkinson, chairman of the Accounting Department Promotion and Tenure Committee that reviewed her application.
That letter to department Chairman Tom Oxner said the committee's vote on Young's application included one yes and five abstentions; the discussion was tabled.
"The primary reason for abstentions was lack of criteria for making the decision," Atkinson wrote.
Committee members thought they needed more criteria in areas such as what "continued teaching" means and what "scholarship expectations" are for nontenure faculty.
Atkinson wrote that it was not the committee's intention to deny Young's application.
"There was more concern over setting a precedent to which future decisions might be compared," he wrote.
State Desk on 10/25/2014