St. John's Graduate Faculty Mentoring Recognition

To: AAUP & FA Representatives at St. John's University


To: St. John's AAUP Chapter Representatives & Faculty Association Representatives of St. Johns University





St. John's University is an outstanding academic institution with many fine doctoral and masters programs. Mentoring doctoral dissertations and theses are important aspects of these programs that the faculty takes very seriously. The responsibilities associated with mentoring of these projects and committee membership for them are often time consuming and compete with other professional responsibilities associated with our being part of the faculty of St. John's University. Despite the importance of these activities, in general the impact of work on dissertation and thesis committees has only a small, if any, impact on decisions about merit and research reductions, and there is nothing in the collective bargaining agreement that mandates or quantifies such impact.





At the same time, we have communicated individually and as a department to union representatives our dissatisfaction with this lack of recognition, yet these issues are not addressed in negotiations or are quickly dismissed as not in the best interests of the union as a whole. If faculty stop mentoring dissertations this will have a negative impact on the students, the programs, and the reputation of the University.





We, members of the St. John's University community call on the Unions to renew their commitment to this important issue. We want to ensure that in our doctoral and masters programs all faculty are receiving recognition for this important part of the students education.





We believe that the unions must adopt strong measures to end this lack of compensation and to create a genuine learning environment that is supportive of this process within the University.





We the undersigned call upon the Union to re-open contract negotiations with the administration and request the following:





1. A financial incentive for mentoring doctoral students theses and dissertations.


2. Investigation of what other Universities offer in terms of compensation for doctoral dissertations and masters theses.


3. Adoption of a single standard and policy of compensation for ALL doctoral and masters programs on campus.


4. Ask to ensure that these activities are considered by all present and future deans in determining recognition awards, research reductions, promotion and tenure.





We recognize that the work of the union has generally led to a number of favorable outcomes for the faculty. However as an important voting bloc we will likely reject any new contract that does not explicitly address this issue.


Sincerely,