By Amber Layton
UHCLIDIAN STAFF

The University of Houston Clear Lake's School of Business and Public Administration recently gave four members of its faculty a one-year notice in a move to compy with the research requirements set by the collegiate accreditation board.

The American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business, or AACSB, which is the accrediting body for university schools of business, sets standards that determine whether or not a school will earn its accreditation.

In January 2002, the AACSB took data from the past five years of activity from UH-Clear Lake's School of Business. A self-study of the scholarly activity was taken and it was decided that for the 2001 school year not enough professors were being published and, therfore, the school's faculty had failed to meet its research requirements.

Pictured clockwise from above left: Erin Alexander, Ed Altemus, Jan Morris, and Peter Bowman.

There is an expectation for university professors to write and publish in scholarly journals or textbooks. The AACSB expects 80 percent of professors to publish. The School of Business came up short with only 50 percent of its faculty publishing.

"The way we balance both teaching and research is that we expect our tenured faculty to be excellent in the classroom and also that they will make scholarly contributions, such as books, journals, etc.," said Senior Vice President and Provost Edward Hayes. "We feel that the research of the faculty supplements and balances their effectiveness as classroom instructors."

UH-Clear Lake's School of Business published two journals in a five-year period. The AACSB noted that accounting and internal services had no scholarly activity. This brought the school's accreditation ratings way down.

"The students would not notice a differnce if the school was not accredited," said Ted Cummings, dean of the School of Business. "What would be different would be that another university that is accredited this way would recognize this fact if a graduate from our school applied to their university.

Being professionally accredited adds value to the degree but it wouldn't change the fact that the School of Business can still offer degrees through the regional accrediting body."

The AACSB determined that the School of Business did not meet the standards, but it will not have its accreditation taken away at this time. A three-year continuing review will be conducted with a report filed every January noting any progress.

This resulted in four lecturers in the School of Business not having their contracts renewed. Erin Alexander, Ed Altemus, Peter Bowman, and Jan Morris have been given their one-year notice because they do not have Ph.D.s and are, therefore, not eligible for tenure and not required to publish. Alexander has been teaching at UH-Clear Lake since 1987, Bowman and Morris since 1988 and Altemus since 1995.

The School of Business will hire four new people with Ph.D.s who will be required to publish, bringing up its percentage rates with the AACSB. The search is currently in progress.

"The hope is that we can get these four new people in and can meet the minimum requirements to meet the standards," said Grady Perdue, associate professor of finance. "The loss in the school is that the people being let go are teaching large classes. It will also hurt us in the regard that the people being let go are highly respected and recognized in their field."

The new professors that are hired will only be teaching three classes each. This will reduce the number of sections that are offered to students in the School of Business.

"In my opinion, the action taken by the accreditation committee (but not supported by the subcommittee that visited here) of the American Association of Colleges and Schools of Business imposes an overly narrow standard of professionalism on UH-Clear Lake's School of Business and Public Administration," said Peter Bowman, lecturer in administrative science and one of the teachers being let go. "The standard is that SBPA faculty must publish in certain scholarly journals (rather than those of practitioners) if those faculty are to be permitted to teach graduate courses. I believe that imposing this standard on our school will seriously harm its historically strong teaching program."

Laura Koenig, a business major, questions the decision to let Alexander, Altemus, Bowman and Morris go. "Why are four people being punished because the others aren't publishing?" Koenig said. "They need to take a look at what they are letting go. These are good, good teachers."

Koenig is urging students who have had these teachers to write or call Ted Cummings, the dean of the School of Business, or President William Staples with opinions on this matter. She has also set up an e-mail address for students to voice their opinions. They can be sent to keepourteachers@teacher.com.

Top of Page | Front Page