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UA dean disputes claim office hours are to blame
By Carol Biliczky
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Mar 22, 2008
A University of Akron professor says he lost his job as department head because he wasn't in his office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
''They have told me there is a policy, but they cannot produce it in writing,'' Howard ''Dewey'' Ducharme Jr. said. ''All of the faculty in my department are aghast.''
Ronald Levant, dean of UA's College of Arts and Sciences, rebutted Ducharme's allegations via e-mail.
''I do not see chairs as hourly employees and I would never expect them to 'punch a clock,' '' he wrote. ''I have encouraged an ongoing conversation . . . about how best to balance the need to be available to their departments as administrators while at the same time be flexible to pursue their scholarly duties.''
Levant declined to disclose why he relieved Ducharme of his duties, but said the issue of office hours ''was not the driver of that
decision.''
The controversy has boiled over into national publicity, with an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, the daily newspaper for college faculty across the country. On Friday, all department chairs at UA will meet to discuss the situation, according to a UA faculty member who asked not to be named.
Ducharme said that as department head, he worked 50 to 60 hours a week teaching, researching his specialty — ethics — and managing nine full-time and eight part-time faculty members.
He said he had one of the most vibrant philosophy departments in Ohio, with the number of student credit hours rising 207 percent in the past 13 years, including his 11 as chairman.
Ducharme is tenured, which means he has virtual lifetime employment as a UA professor.
He said he never knew he was supposed to be in his office all day, every day, until he got a call from Levant at home asking why he wasn't on campus.
After Ducharme wrote the 17 other department heads in the College of Arts and Sciences about the policy, he received a certified letter from Levant saying that he was being relieved of his management duties.
Faculty members were surprised and upset about the dismissal, said Priscilla Sakezles, an associate professor of philosophy.
''Dewey Ducharme has done an outstanding job as our chair, and we cannot see how he could possibly have been fired for job performance,'' she said in an e-mail. ''We all find it very suspicious that Dewey was fired just as we were supposed to get our say in his job performance.''
Several department chairs in Arts and Sciences refused to talk to the Beacon Journal because they said they fear reprisals from Levant. They asked that their names not be used.
One said Levant applied the 8-to-5 rule when it suited him.
''This has been awful,'' he said. ''Most chairs would see Dewey as a serious, hardworking person. Everyone would say he takes his job seriously.''
Ducharme said it would be impossible to do his job as an academician under Levant's policy.
''My stuff is really dense,'' he said. ''I can't keep up on that and sit at a desk for 40 hours.''
As department chair, Ducharme made $106,497, including his pay as a faculty member. As a professor only, his pay will drop to $82,406, which would include some money from his administrative stipend, according to Levant. The new pay must be approved by the UA trustees.
Ducharme's duties as department chair have been reassigned for now to William Francis, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Carol Biliczky can be reached at 330-996-3729 or cbiliczky@thebeaconjournal.com.
A University of Akron professor says he lost his job as department head because he wasn't in his office from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.
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