A proposal under consideration by the Board of Regents would shorten the amount of time for new faculty seeking tenure.

A change in Regents regulations is on the table which would allow new faculty members to get up to three years of credit toward the six-year probationary period required before a new faculty member can be considered for tenure.

Under the current regulations, faculty members coming to Regency universities from other schools with less than three years of full-time instruction experience must teach for six years before consideration for tenure is granted.

Regents Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Charles Morris said the proposed change would allow those faculty members to receive credit of up to three years toward the six-year requirement.

The change would require the faculty member and university to evaluate the faculty responsibilities at the previous institution to determine the amount of credit.

Faculty members with more than three years of teaching experience currently need to teach only for three years before receiving tenure consideration.

Morris said the change has been made to make Regency universities more competitive in keeping and attracting faculty members.

However, the number of faculty affected by the change will be minimal. “I don’t think it would be very many,” Morris said.

The Joint University Advisory Committee (JUAC), a faculty advisory group to the Regents, said it approved of the measure because it would give greater flexibility for faculty members.

The Regents had a first reading of the proposal at last month’s meeting at Illinois State University in Normal.

According to the Chancellor’s report, ISU made the initial request for the change.

The Regents will vote on the measure during the December meeting at NIU.