Senate Committee on Faculty and the Academic Mission SCOF

The Senate Committee on Faculty and the Academic Mission ("SCOF") oversees and advises SEC on matters relating to the University's policies and procedures concerning the academic mission, including the structure of the academic staff, the tenure system, faculty appointments and promotions, faculty research, and faculty governance. In general, the Committee deals with the matters covered by the following sections of the University's Handbook for Faculty and Academic Administrators: I.E.-F., H.2., II.A.-D.

SCOF 2023-2024 Membership

• Ericka Beckman (SAS/Spanish and Portuguese)
• Warren Breckman (SAS/History)
• C. Jessica Dine (PSOM/Medicine)
• J. Margo Brooks Carthon (Nursing)
• Julia Hartmann (SAS/Mathematics)
• Emily Steinlight (SAS/English), CHAIR
• Amy Stornaiuolo (GSE)
• Ex officio:
  • Roger Allen (SAS/NELC), PASEF non-voting representative
  • Fabian Arzuaga (SAS/Contemporary Writing), Lecturer non-voting representative
  • A representative of the Senate Tri-Chairs

Specific Charges, 2023-2024

1. Address systemic racism and other forms of inequity by assessing and evaluating ways to change University structures, practices, and biases at the University, school, departmental, and individual levels (e.g., differential standards for faculty evaluation based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, department-level voting privileges, and biases implicit in quantitative methods for evaluating faculty).
2. In collaboration with the Senate Committee on Faculty Development, Diversity, and Equity (SCFDDE):
   1. Gather information (e.g., by convening one or more gatherings with school-level decisionmakers) to identify best practices on:
      1. appointment, promotion, retention or termination of full-time associated faculty and academic support staff; and
      2. the way full-time associated faculty and academic support staff participate in faculty governance in the different schools, with a specific attention to voting privileges; and
   2. Examine the conditions of faculty employment (including personnel benefits) for teaching faculty by school (across all faculty tracks) and their opportunities for career advancement at Penn, and
   3. Articulate and make recommendations that are guided by principles of equity and inclusion.
3. Review how community-engaged and public scholarship are recorded and evaluated across departments and schools in processes of promotion and tenure of the faculty and compile best practices.

• 2022-2023  joint report with SCSEP
• 2021-2022
• 2020-2021
• 2019-2020
• 2018-2019
• 2017-2018
• 2016-2017
• 2015-2016
• 2014-2015
• 2013-2014
• 2012-2013
• 2011-2012

Guidelines for Faculty Track Change Requests from Schools

For schools wishing to amend the faculty tracks laid out in the Faculty Handbook, the above Guidelines (approved by the Faculty Senate in 2011) must be followed for purposes of the Senate's review.  Any supporting documentatoin, including records of approvals in School faculty meetings, should be routed to the Office of the Provost, which then relays the information to the Senate together with a cover letter indicating the Office's position on the proposal. 

The documentation is then reviewed by the Senate Committee on Faculty and the Academic Mission (SCOF), which will reach out to the School with questions or clarification requests.  SCOF meets monthly between September and April.  Upon approval by SCOF, it is then reviewed by the Senate Executive Committee (SEC).  Upon SEC approval, the Senate's review of the proposal is concluded.