Policy Setting Standards for Teaching

I write to inform you of the adoption of a new policy setting minimum standards for teaching at the School of Medicine. The work of the three committees that led to this policy – Curriculum Task Force 2001, the Committee on a Revision to the Policies and Procedures for Appointment, Promotion and Tenure, and the Committee on Teaching Expectations – is important and timely. This is a moment of national concern in teaching at the nation’s medical schools. Economic contraction of both the research and clinical sectors has made teaching a less desirable activity than at any previous time. We are not immune. Despite a full-time faculty of some 1400 and a part-time faculty of some 3500, and while we have some remarkably talented and dedicated teachers of our 1935 students, we have been unable in the last two academic years to recruit sufficient faculty for our largest courses, interdisciplinary offerings which are faculty intensive and which cannot be owned or staffed by a single department.

The policy, which can be seen at http://www.med.nyu.edu/faa/resources/ may be distilled to the following three elements:

1. Full-time faculty members are obligated to provide at least 50 hours of contact time with students per year if asked by their chairs;
2. Part-time faculty members are obligated to provide at least 20 hours of contact time per year with students if asked by their chairs;
3. All faculty members will report their teaching activities annually.

The policy was first suggested seven years ago and developed extensively by the most recent of the faculty committees, “ Artman II”. After extensive modifications requested by the Executive Committee of the Faculty Council over the last two years, the policy was approved unanimously by the Council of Chairmen and the Academic Affairs Committee of the School of Medicine Foundation Board, endorsed unanimously by the Student Council and adopted unanimously and spontaneously by the Executive Committee of the Department of Medicine. However, the Faculty Council on the advice of the Executive Committee could not support the adoption of the policy as described in the Minutes of its meeting of February 7, 2005 at http://www.med.nyu.edu/faccoun/. While we have worked collegially and collaboratively with the Council on a host of important and contentious issues, I cannot accept the Council’s advice on this matter, and the Provost and Vice President for Health, on my request, have accepted the policy on behalf of the University.

We will use the following approach for adoption. The policy will become effective on September 1, 2005. Since we remain very interested in the support of the Faculty Council if possible, I will ask Dean Levin to create a working group composed of members of the Council and other members of the faculty in an attempt to resolve the remaining procedural issues. I believe that this method shows clearly that the issue of accountability and obligation in full- or part-time service to the University is fundamental, and that we remain committed to consulting with and developing policy jointly with the Faculty and Faculty Council to the extent possible.

Sincerely,

Robert M. Glickman, M.D.
Dean