Geology prof wants second shot at tenure

As the English Department faculty prepares to discuss English Professor Gregg Camfield's tenure case once again today, another professor is hoping that his tenure case will be reopened as well. Geology Professor George Boyajian, who was denied tenure just weeks before Camfield last spring, is attempting to improve and expand his portfolio to give his department enough evidence to resubmit his case. Boyajian, like Camfield, is beloved among his students and colleagues. By denying him tenure, the School of Arts and Sciences Personnel Committee rejected a unanimous recommendation from the tenured faculty of the Geology Department. "The department has been very supportive and very encouraging to me," Boyajian said. "The department is not the problem." The professor added that his students have also written letters and protested the decision. "But that's not the issue in this situation," Boyajian said. He said anything from his credentials to quotas could be at the root of the personnel committee's decision. At this point, the department is delaying its discussion of the case until Boyajian's improved portfolio is completed. "We want to delay as long as possible so my file is as strong as possible," Boyajian said. "There is substantial work that has finally come to fruition." He added that he received positive reaction when he presented his papers at a conference in New Orleans last week. "We'll have to wait and see what happens," he said. "I'd like to stay at Penn and I've been working long and hard for this but it's out of my hands." There is no specific timetable as to when Boyajian's case will come up for review again by his department. But Camfield's case is already at the top of the English tenured faculty's agenda. Last week, the group discussed the case and decided to wait until today's meeting to complete its analysis. According to English Professor Robert Lucid, the faculty needs to "come up with a sufficiently stronger and better case than the one we have already submitted and had rejected" in order to even resubmit it to the personnel committee. Lucid said student input is very important to Camfield's tenure case, especially since the case has been so strong. Both the English Undergraduate Advisory Board and the Undergraduate Assembly have issued statements advocating the resubmission of Camfield's case.

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