BOT awards tenure to Tomie Gartland and Ryan Schmidt

Two Cincinnati State faculty members were awarded tenure by a unanimous vote of the College Board of Trustees at the January 24 Board meeting.

The newly-tenured faculty members are:

Tomie Gartland – Program Chair, Computer Network Administration & Computer Support Major – Engineering & Information Technologies Division

• Tomie is a 1997 Cincinnati State graduate who served as an adjunct for several years prior to joining the full-time faculty.
• She has redesigned and enhanced several Computer Programming courses, including adding instructional videos. 
• She piloted a hybrid version of the IT 100 Programming Foundations course during the COVID-19 period of primarily-remote instruction, and has continued to enhance the course with instructional videos.
• Tomie has been active in outreach to prospective students and has participated in recruiting events on campus and through visits to high schools and other external organizations.
• She has served on several College committees and as a faculty advisor for the President’s Ambassador’s program. She also was part of the initial group of Cincinnati State faculty who earned ACUE Effective College Instruction Certification.
• Tomie earned a bachelor’s degree in Information Technology from the University of Cincinnati and a master’s degree in Business Education from Ball State University.

Ryan Schmidt – Department Chair, Physics & Physical Sciences – Humanities & Sciences Division

• Ryan spearheaded acquisition of new equipment for the Physics and Physical Sciences labs, and then updated over 40 lab exercises to incorporate new equipment and techniques.
• He created more than 40 “virtual labs” for use in five physics courses, and transitioned all Physics and Physical Sciences courses to remote delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• He implemented use of open-source (free for students) textbooks for Physics and Physical Sciences courses.
• Ryan has served on several College committees, and recently was elected as an officer of Cincinnati State AAUP, serving as Member-at-Large.
• He has been a volunteer for outreach events including Academic League, Science Bowl, and the Ohio Academy of Science State Science Day.
• Ryan holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of Minnesota-Duluth and a master’s degree in Physics from the Ohio State University.

Prior to the Trustees’ vote, Provost Robbin Hoopes described the review process that precedes a recommendation for tenure. Dean Doug Bowling (Engineering & Information Technologies) and Dean Geoff Woolf (Humanities & Sciences) described some of the faculty members’ contributions to the College and provided their support for the award of tenure.

How tenure is achieved:

To be eligible for tenure, a Cincinnati State faculty member must complete five years of full-time service.

Then, eligible faculty members complete a five-month review process. During that time their qualifications and contributions to the College are examined by the Faculty Tenure Committee, the division Dean, the Provost, and the President. The Board’s vote is the final step in the review process.

The process steps leading to tenure are defined in the AAUP contract, which states that tenure is awarded in recognition of “demonstrated excellence and consistent contributions” to the College.

Following the award of tenure, a faculty member may use the title “Professor.”