Faculty across the University of Arkansas System could be rewarded in the tenure process for taking their academic work to market, under a resolution trustees will consider today.
The academic and student affairs committee approved the resolution Thursday, and the full board will vote on it today. During the meeting, Trustees Ed Fryar and Cliff Gibson said they believed the policy would help the system move forward and give credit to faculty that may be lacking.
Fryar noted a University of Arkansas, Fayetteville instructor, who isn't tenured, has a contract to license her Diversity Intelligence project on Friday's agenda for trustees to approve.
"This resolution would allow her to get credit toward tenure for this invention," Fryar said.
The resolution, if approved, would direct chancellors and other system leaders to work with faculty to insert language into their tenure policies that would give faculty credit for obtaining patents for their work. The credit would be an additional criteria for tenure consideration. Tenure considerations typically include published research, involvement with other organizations and teaching performance.
Several universities have adopted similar policies. At one, Texas A&M University, the number of patents obtained by faculty rose, UA System President Donald Bobbitt told trustees back in September when he first told them he would start a committee to study the idea.
The idea, which Bobbitt referred to as "commercialization" of research or other scholarly activities, is seen as a potential economic boon for universities' bottom lines if sufficient revenue is generated and for their communities' economies, though many patented technologies don't generate profits. His letter to trustees proposing the resolution noted the National Science Foundation's support of the commercialization tenure credit across the country.
"The resolution acknowledges the role of the modern university to foster innovation and entrepreneurship and the changing nature of faculty work that is extending beyond traditional academic outputs," Bobbitt wrote.
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock already has a tenure policy that considers patents, Faculty Senate President Amanda Nolen said, adding that similar policies exist at many research universities.
At UALR, patents are considered when evaluating a tenure or promotion candidate's "scholarship." Patents can be part of "Scholarship of Integration," which refers to the process of "tackling social, economic, and technical problems that require broad and sometimes multidisciplinary perspective," Nolen wrote in an email to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Articles, books, presentations or products can also fall under that category.
The resolution being considered by trustees would apply to all UA System schools. It calls for permitting consideration of commercialization "where applicable to the academic discipline."
It also calls for schools to "consider" increasing off-campus assignments, which could be time off to pursue a project, for faculty.