History department faces faculty shortage

With six senior professors departing or departed within the past two years, the History Department is facing a faculty shortage in areas including Asian, European and American history. The department will conduct several searches for new faculty in coming semesters.

Three senior faculty members have retired or will retire in the span of two academic years, and two have accepted positions at other universities. "[The department] is in the process of recreating itself," History Department Chair Howard Malchow said.

The administration has authorized the department to hire a junior tenure-track faculty member in Chinese history, and a decision on a candidate is expected early next spring, Malchow said. A search for a senior Spanish Civilization professor has been under way since last year and may or may not be completed by the end of next year.

The department hopes to address two vacant French history positions by the end of next year.

The department would also like to hire a non-tenure track lecturer, on a one-year contract renewable for three years, to fill a position in Middle Eastern history. Deina Abdelkader has been teaching Middle Eastern courses on a year-by-year renewable contract. "We're taking the position and formalizing it," Malchow says. Abdelkader will have the option to apply for the semi-permanent position.

The International Relations Department and other programs with which the history department works will have major influences on the hiring process. "We have a lot to do with inter-disciplinary programs, and how we work with the IR department may affect some choices," Malchow said.

Shifting enrollment patterns, lobbying from student culture groups, and student evaluations will also affect the professor selections. "We take teacher evaluations very seriously," according to professor Gerald Gill, who teaches African-American and US history and works with the American studies program.

The loss of multiple professors within such a short time period is a result of Tufts' past hiring practices, Malchow said. "There were so many people who came into teaching in the 60's and 70's, and now there is a cohort of people going towards retirement," he said.

Others say Tufts loses faculty to schools that offer higher salaries. Last year, South Asian History professor Sugata Bose left to work at Harvard, and professor John Brooke, the former Arthur Jr. and Lenore Stern Chair in American History, transferred to Ohio State.

"Why?" Gill asked. "Well, some people cannot resist Harvard, and Brooke was offered a lot more money and our administration screwed up and never got around to matching the offer."

The department must examine whether to add depth to its existing departments or continue to "opt for global reach," Malchow said.

Second-year grad student Hilary Green, specializing in American history, would like the department to add depth in the area of the Civil Rights Movement. "I'd like to see two to three more American history professors," she said. "Preferably someone who's not a Ph.D., who has taught as an adjunct non-tenured track professor, someone with fresh innovative ideas."

Senior Nathan Machida, an IR major who took several history courses for his major, supports the recruitment of professors with more innovative teaching strategies. "Based on my own experiences, courses and lectures tend to be pretty dry," he said. "I would personally like to see the History Department recruit some more engaging professors who can make them come alive." Machida would also welcome new Asian history courses.

Professors have varying opinions on how to add to or change the department. The department is fairly flexible within its requirements for a tripartite offering of one-third European, one-third American, and one-third "world" courses, Russian and Modern Germany professor Daniel Mulholland said. "When push comes to shove, we're inclined to go with the person who is most interesting rather than a person in our pre-conceived definitions," he added.

Malchow says the final decisions will eventually depend on the History Department's evaluation of what is most important in replacing the old guard. "Take Howard Solomon," who retired last year, he said. "Which of what he taught is more valuable to us, early modern France or gender and sexuality? If gender and sexuality is more important, then we can be more flexible about the region."

The retirement of so many professors has interfered with ongoing plans to reconsider the curriculum in the past five years. At the same time, however, it has been an opportunity for growth, Malchow said. "It opens up a lot of questions. Sometimes you miss new blood, and this will be a 'greening' of the History Department."

The department also wants to use the transition time as a jumping-off point to garner more student interest in the history major.

Gill, who was named Massachusetts Professor of the Year twice in the past five years, is spearheading an effort to revive the history society as well as advise students on what they can do with the major. "Students have this impression that you can only go on and teach or go to law school," he said.

Gill would like to start a series of career workshops in conjunction with Career Services to inform students about careers in history.