Tenured and Promoted Faculty Honored at Reception

On Sept. 8, Provost Sharon L. Gaber hosted a reception to honor the 46 faculty members at the University of Arkansas who received tenure or promotion in 2010. The event was hosted by the University Libraries and took place in the Helen Robson Walton Reading Room in Mullins Library.

Speaking at the event, Chancellor G. David Gearhart congratulated the attending honorees for their achievements, thanked them for their outstanding service, and spoke of the importance of good faculty to the success of the university. He noted the recognized faculty members “have shown passion, industry, and excellence in the course of your duties.”

Provost Gaber said she hopes it will become an annual recognition of the faculty’s advancement. She said, “Every year our faculty brings honor and distinction to the university through their research and scholarly pursuits. Receiving tenure is a tremendous accomplishment—it reflects a professional lifetime of hard work—and we thought it would be nice to commemorate the occasion.”

Dean of Libraries Carolyn Henderson Allen said, “I am pleased that Provost Sharon Gaber has asked the University Libraries to host this inaugural celebration honoring these faculty who have attained a personal milestone in their academic careers.”

To commemorate the event, Gaber and Allen asked each of the faculty members to nominate a book of significance to their lives or careers and to describe the book’s importance. The personal descriptions of the books collected from faculty range from appreciations of a scholarly book that was crucial to their research, one that inspired or encouraged its reader, to distant memories of a book read during childhood. An exhibit of those books and the comments of the faculty members who nominated them will be on display in the Walton Reading Room of Mullins Library through the end of October.

The application for tenure or promotion at the university is a rigorous process involving an intensive formal review of the candidate's record of research, teaching, and service. The university administration reviews those applications, then forwards selected candidates to the University’s Board of Trustees for final review.