Pitt plans to add 21 tenure positions

A new level of job security is on the horizon for 21 lucky professors.

According to N. John… A new level of job security is on the horizon for 21 lucky professors.

According to N. John Cooper, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, the current faculty staffing levels were based on an assumption that 9,200 full-time or equivalent students would be enrolled in the School of Arts and Sciences. The target was adopted in 1996, and, in 1998, enrollment reached that level.

Things have changed since then, with numbers at one time rising to about 9,800.

According to Cooper, Pitt will add 21 new tenured faculty positions, hiring most of those faculty members this year.

The addition of 21 tenured positions will cut down on the number of faculty members hired on one-year contracts, Cooper said. Pitt has been forced to create many one-year contracts during the past few years in order to keep up with the growing enrollment, he said.

The new tenured positions will not affect the number of non-tenure faculty positions.