Academic Council approves new joint master’s degree, endorses report on updated faculty hiring process

Academic Council approved a new joint master’s degree in business, climate and sustainability (MBCS) and endorsed a final report on proposed updates to University hiring practices during its Thursday meeting.

The committee approved the joint program between the Fuqua School of Business and Nicholas School of the Environment in a near-unanimous vote.

“Over half of the biggest 2,000 companies in the world have made climate or net zero target commitments,” said Mary Frances Luce, interim dean of the Fuqua School of Business and Robert A. Ingram professor of business administration. “... Consumers care about this issue. Employees care about this issue.”

Plans for the new master’s program

The MBCS program aims to enroll approximately 100 students by 2027 and 200 students by 2030.

Provost Alec Gallimore has granted the program a three-year allocated cost waiver, and a projected 10 to 12 tenure track faculty will join the University as part of the new degree program.

Before voting, the council heard responses to questions from its Executive Committee. One question was raised about whether the program would actually “meaningfully address” climate change, or whether it would “just teach students to engage in greenwashing.”

“Entities are motivated to address climate issues, even absent direct regulation,” Luce responded, pointing to market pressures that are already in place. She added that “being sophisticated about climate goals and having real positive action is a source of competitive advantage,” arguing that companies are not incentivized to “harm their brands” by engaging in behaviors like greenwashing.

Faculty hiring reforms move forward

The council listened to a presentation from Abbas Benmamoun, vice provost for faculty advancement, on the final report from the committee on Reference Checking Practices for Faculty Hiring regarding new proposed hiring practices. The council provided feedback on the first draft of the report in its October meeting.

The University plans to roll out the program in spring 2025 requiring applicants for regular rank faculty positions to self-report any instances of misconduct or violations of University policy from the past seven years at their previous place of employment.

“We decided to set a seven-year limit on this to be consistent with the criminal background checking policy that we had,” Benmanoun said. 

Such reports must be submitted in a written attestation as part of the application process. After being shortlisted for a role, applicants will have to sign a consent form for the University to procure records of past investigations from prior institutions. Such information is then shared with a review panel of University administrators that will recommend a course of action to the provost.

The existence of an investigation is not, on its own, sufficient grounds to deny an offer to a finalist.

According to Benmanoun, finalists who receive an employment offer from the University must then attest in writing that they understand failing to disclose any such instances of misconduct by “making false or misleading statements or concealing information relevant to [their] application may be misconduct resulting in rescission or withdrawal of this job offer and/or termination of any faculty appointment.”

According to Benmanoun, not all schools will be subject to the pilot, with School of Medicine and Law School jobs excluded from the planned implementation process.

He also emphasized that the attestation is separate from a background check, as it focuses solely on policy violations and instances of misconduct that are not listed on a criminal record.

Several faculty members questioned the new procedures, particularly the self-reporting component of attestations and concerns about confidentiality for applicants.

“People, up to the point that they even have the job offer, they don't necessarily want to divulge to their other institution that [investigations] happened,” said Mohamed Noor, executive vice provost and professor of biology, in response. According to Noor, feasibility also becomes an issue, as other universities’ procedures may widely differ from Duke’s.

“For us, it's a question of what is feasible, given that we are setting this up from scratch here, and given the amount of work that might go into seeking those,” Benmanoun said, citing the need to balance hiring needs with a process that roots out problematic applicants. He also argued that sending the results of an investigation to search committees may create bias.

Benmamoun stressed that the proposed changes represent a pilot program and “not a final policy.”

“We don’t have anything like that at the moment,” he said. “This is something to start with and then learn from and see how we can improve on it as we move forward.”

Faculty did not hold a vote to advance the policy but did vote to endorse the report. Trina Jones, council chair and Jerome M. Culp distinguished professor of law, requested the committee return to provide updates on the pilot program’s progress.

In other business

The approval vote comes amid the council’s plans for reviewing existing master’s programs, which is scheduled to begin in January. The evaluation will consider the number of existing programs, research processes, costs, student outcomes and other functional aspects. Council members can propose additional criteria until Jan. 6.

Jones previewed the coming semester, which will include the election of a new chair and members of the Executive Committee. Council members will hear a presentation from Holden Thorp, former chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, on “changes in higher education in this uncertain moment” in April; an address from President Vincent Price in March at the annual faculty meeting and an update from the Committee on Academic Freedom, Responsibility, Free Expression and Engagement in April.

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