English Professor Winter Jade Werner has been granted tenure by the Wheaton College MA Tenure Board. This comes with a salary increase, as well as a title change, from ‘Assistant Professor’ to ‘Associate Professor’, and the decision was made following deliberations by President Dennis Hanno, Provost Renee White, and 5 other Wheaton professors, who make up the Tenure Board.
Werner mentioned that the tenure process was quite lengthy, with pretty much everything one does at their job being reviewed, from “letters from other Professors in your field” who note your contributions, to “student evaluations” and even one’s “record of service to the college.” Werner noted the importance of tenure in granting “protections for academic freedom.”
Professor Werner is a Victorian Literature Professor who teaches 3 courses at Wheaton currently: Approaches to Literature and Culture, English 101: Writing about Travel and Exploration, and 18th/19th century British Literature.
“I look forward to further exploring the digital humanities space at Wheaton because I am interested in alternate ways of thinking about literary criticism, beyond just writing essays” Werner said. “I would like to thank the Wheaton community for being so supportive and Professor Claire Buck for representing me in front of the Tenure committee. I’d also like to thank Professor Hyun Kim for being my out of department mentor,” she added.
According to Wheaton’s website, there are six members on the tenure committee board. It consists of the college president, the provost and four tenured faculty members. Newly tenured faculty members are not considered for the board until after their first sabbatical. Each year, the college publishes which faculty members are up for tenure.
For more information on tenure, students can visit the office of the provost’s page on the Wheaton website.