JILLIAN SMITH/PERSPECTIVES EDITOROne of the highest honors a professor can be awarded at Cabrini is being granted tenure.
All professors, during their first year as a new faculty member up until the time when they can apply for tenure, holds their breath, hoping that they won’t do anything to ruin their chances for this esteemed honor.
This past February, Dr. Nicholas Uliano, assistant professor of romance languages, finally let out a sigh of relief. Actually, more like an elated scream of joy.
Tenure is a life-long contract in which a professor may not be released unless under extreme circumstances.
Cabrini’s board of trustees unanimously agreed upon Uliano’s tenure.
“I don’t think that there are words which describe the way I felt at that moment; I know that I was incredibly happy,” Uliano said.
Cabrini’s tenure application is a strenuous process.
Faculty members able to apply are evaluated on “the basis of their teaching, their service to their department and to the College, and their scholarship.”
Along with this, faculty must prepare a tenure portfolio, which includes letters of recommendations from former students, colleagues and scholars who are familiar with the applicant’s work.
Next, the portfolio and work is reviewed by a group of Uliano’s peers called the Promotion and Tenure Board.
After they have met, the board then meets with the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Once the board and the Vice President are in agreement, they then write a letter to the president of the college stating whether Uliano’s tenure be granted or denied.
The president, the vice president and the chair of the promotion and tenure board then present their case for tenure to the board of trustees.
Finally, the board of trustees makes the decision whether or not a faculty member receives tenure.
Once a decision has been reached, the applicant is notified immediately.
“Hearing President Iadarola’s words, ‘Congratulations, Nick! The Cabrini College board of trustees unanimously approved your application for tenure’ was definitely a life-changing moment in my professional career, one which I will remember vividly for a long time to come.”
Uliano has been a main contributor to the globalization of the campus, specifically in the development and growth of international education.
In 2002, Uliano took on the role of coordinator of study abroad, and since then Cabrini has gone from a “campus where few students included an international education experience as part of their undergraduate career to a campus where many more of our students have spent some time abroad while at Cabrini.”
Since Uliano has been in charge of the study abroad program, the school now has Cabrini-affiliated programs in Australia, Italy and England, a chapter of the Phi Beta Delta honor society for international scholars, scholarship grants available for study abroad and a new program of short-term study abroad courses each spring semester.
“Of course, my first love is teaching Spanish,” Uliano said. He enjoys teaching the language and especially enjoys teaching Spanish to future school teachers.
Being granted tenure is only the beginning for Uliano.
He plans to “remain a contributing, valued and productive member of the Cabrini College community.”
“At that moment I had become fully vested in furthering the mission, the core values, and the educational objectives of this very special community, Cabrini College.”
