Full-time faculty who had been waiting on a decision for five months finally were told they had received tenure, just ahead of the start of the fall semester.
The decision came Monday, Aug. 5, five months after Marcella David, senior vice president and provost, announced that tenure appointments would be postponed due to the college’s financial situation, as the Chronicle previously reported.
The assistant professors had expected to hear if they were being awarded tenure by March 18. The process is outlined in the college’s Statement of Policy, but at the direction of former President Kwang-Wu Kim, the decisions were put on hold as the college dealt with financial difficulties.
When the college’s Board of Trustees accepted Kim’s recommendation for “adverse circumstances” in May, a process that allows the college to lay off full-time faculty and close programs, many faculty expressed concern that Columbia had effectively suspended tenure, as the Chronicle previously reported.
Many faculty members expressed relief at the final decision over tenure, though the extended wait caused significant anxiety across the college. No announcements have been made yet about the associate professors who applied for promotion to professor.
Gabriela Díaz de Sabatés
Gabriela Díaz de Sabatés, an associate professor in the School of Communication, Culture and Society, began at Columbia in 2017. She said what drew her to the college was “the fascinating diverse and multicultural community of creative and caring students and faculty.”
She created the “Women’s Life Stories” course for the former Humanities, History and Social Sciences department. She is also the coordinator for the minor in Latino Latin American Studies and is the co-creator of the study abroad course “Latin American Culture, Arts and Gender in Argentina and in Mexico” alongside Professor Marcelo Sabates.
The study abroad program took a cohort of students to Mexico this summer and are preparing to take the next cohort to Argentina for J-term.
Díaz de Sabatés also teaches Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Women and U.S. Society, and Introduction to Latino and Latin American Studies courses.
She said the postponement of tenure appointments “was a totally unexpected, last-minute blow.”
She continued the situation “felt demoralizing, dehumanizing and embarrassing, and kept me in a high level of anxiety for too long.”
Díaz de Sabatés, who is an expert in college recruitment and retention, with particular interest in Latino students, said she’s “fired up” by Interim President and CEO Jerry Tarrer’s email stating that Columbia will start the process to become an Hispanic Serving Institution.
“That opportunity will provide Columbia with funds and support to better serve its students. I believe that my colleagues and myself have a lot to offer to make this opportunity a reality that will propel Columbia to the next step,” she said.
Lauren Downing Peters
Lauren Downing Peters, an associate professor in the School of Fashion, said the delay in appointment “took a toll” on her mental health. “It was upsetting to have this major life milestone — something I have been working toward, tirelessly for the last five years — delayed,” she said.
Downing Peters came to Columbia in 2018 after completing her Ph.D in Fashion Studies at the Centre for Fashion Studies. She knew she wanted to find a tenure track appointment and was “drawn to the opportunity to work at an arts school and to teach fashion design students.”
She teaches “Fashion Ethics & Aesthetics” and is the director of the Fashion Study Collection. She is the founding editor of The Fashion Studies Journal and her research and writings has contributed to several peer-reviewed journals.
Downing Peters said she’s “relieved to finally have this behind me” and she’s ready to start the next step in her academic career.
“I look forward to being able to play a more active and involved role in shaping the future of Columbia. This is a very important moment of transition and evolution for the college, and I will be eager to help with curriculum and diversity and inclusion initiatives in particular,” she said. “I am also eager to approach my research as well as my service work in the Fashion Study Collection with renewed energy and optimism.”
Molly Schneider
Molly Schneider, an associate professor in the School of Film and Television, began teaching at Columbia in the fall of 2018.
Shneider teaches “The History of Television,” “Television Studies: Anthologies and Limited Series” and “Critical Television Theory and Analysis” and recently published “Gold Dust on the Air: Television Anthology Drama and Midcentury American Culture,” which explores anthology dramas, TV History and American identity this past summer.
“I’m very proud of the work I have done to earn tenure over the past six years, and I’m relieved that I was ultimately granted that tenure after this long and difficult delay,” she said.
Schneider said she’s eager to move forward and is set to host “Introduction to the School of Film and Television” at the upcoming faculty development event day Aug. 19.
“I sincerely hope that no tenure applicant is ever put through this type of situation again, but I’m nonetheless happy to reach this major milestone in my career and eager to move forward as a tenured associate professor at the college. Most of all, I’m excited to continue working with our amazing students.”
Copy edited by Trinity Balboa
