September 29, 2005
By Valerie Orleans

At the university’s convocation earlier this month, President Milton A. Gordon proudly described the progress that Cal State Fullerton is making in hiring new faculty members, particularly women and minorities.

In reviewing statistics for the last five years, Gordon reported the hiring of 289 new tenure-track faculty members, 83 of which were men and women of minority groups (29 percent).

This fall, Cal State Fullerton hired 65 new tenure-track faculty members, including two that will begin teaching in spring and one next fall. Of these, 31 are non-minority women, and 16 are men and women of minority groups.

The successful number of hires — 65 out of 82 searches — the largest increase the university has experienced since 2000, was noteworthy, Gordon said, but not the complete story. As new faculty members are being hired, others are leaving.

Over the course of the same year, Cal State Fullerton lost 33 faculty members from its teaching ranks through retirement, participation in the CSU faculty early retirement program (FERP), resignations and deaths. Those losses bring the total net increase in new faculty to 32.

Stressing that the university has to continue to make strides to increase the faculty ranks, Gordon announced that Cal State Fullerton will commit $1.3 million in funding to conduct 100 tenure-track faculty searches every year through 2010.

With a success rate of 80 percent on university searches, this will enable Cal State Fullerton to hire at least 80 new faculty per year, Gordon said. The money allocated for the searches will assist with recruitment, start-up costs, moving costs, and so on.

The end result?

Cal State Fullerton should see a net increase of 200 to 250 new tenured/tenure-track faculty at the end of five years.

Retention of existing faculty members is equally as important as recruitment of new members, the president added. This year, there were 166 requests for market-equity increases. Of these, 63 were from assistant professors, 51 were from associate professors, 51 were from full professors and one was from a senior assistant librarian. The review process is now underway and, once completed, the number of equity increases will be announced by given category, Gordon said.

In addition, Human Resources has implemented systems to streamline the staff recruitment and hiring process and continues to offer its highly successful Employee Training and Development Program. The Faculty Development Center offers a variety of classes, such as the Teaching and Learning Academy, to assist the faculty.

Recognition programs are in place to honor faculty and staff members for exemplary service, and recently, the campus has begun offering an Employee Wellness Program that provides a variety of health and exercise programs.
Important in retention as well as hiring is affordable housing, which Gordon stressed is always a priority. With the success of University Gables and University Heights — which will soon begin construction — the university is now in the process of developing other housing options and finding other available sites for development.

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