Provost Teresa Abi-Nader Dahlberg has appointed M. Francyne Huckaby, PhD, as Associate Provost of Faculty Affairs beginning January 1, 2022. Huckaby is interim dean of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies and professor of curriculum studies in the College of Education.
In this new role, Dr. Huckaby will lead the University’s mission to support a flourishing faculty of teacher-scholars within a culture of inclusive excellence. She will collaborate with deans, Faculty Senate and the Provost’s Council to support recruitment, hiring, mentoring, development, and promotion and tenure to provide continuation of excellence for faculty throughout their careers at TCU. She will foster clarity and equity in Academic Affairs’ policies and practices. She will work closely with the Associate Provost for Academic Planning, Budgeting & Operations to support faculty through all aspects of hiring, merit review, promotion and tenure. To further align areas of faculty excellence, the Koehler Center for Instruction, Innovation and Engagement, which currently reports to the Vice Provost, will report directly to this position.
“This important role requires a collaborative leader who can get to work immediately, who knows TCU’s existing policies and procedures, and who has deep understanding of faculty concerns, needs and career trajectories. Dean Huckaby fits all of those requirements and more,” Provost Dahlberg said. “She will provide mentoring and support to strengthen faculty onboarding, lead the examination of promotion and tenure policies, oversee the Faculty Workload Equity Model pilot program, connect faculty with professional development, and support TCU’s accreditation reaffirmation as it relates to faculty affairs.”
Dr. Huckaby is a curriculum theorist who holds a PhD in Higher Education Administration. In addition to serving as interim dean and associate dean for the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Dr. Huckaby is professor of curriculum studies and core faculty for Women and Gender Studies, Africana and African American Studies, and affiliated with Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies. Formerly, she served as director of the Center for Public Education.
“I am excited to return to my early interest in championing the careers of university faculty. TCU is proving its commitment to faculty through this position’s focus on mentorship, tenure and promotion, workload, and policy clarity and equity,” Dr. Huckaby commented. “I look forward to working more closely with the Koehler Center and faculty across campus.”
Dr. Huckaby’s work as a teacher-scholar has focused on creating openings and spaces for anti-oppressive discourses and practices. Her books include Researching Resistance: Public Education after Neoliberalism (2019), which received honorable mention for Outstanding Book from the American Educational Research Association Curriculum Studies Division, and Making Research Public in Troubled Times: Pedagogy, Activism, and Critical Obligations (2018). Her work appears in International Review of Qualitative Research, Qualitative Inquiry, International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Educational Philosophy and Theory, and Journal of Curriculum Theorizing. She is a member of the American Educational Research Association, American Educational Studies Association and Professors of Curriculum, and is immediate past president of the Society of Professors of Education.
As Dr. Huckaby steps into this new leadership role, her faculty position will be returned to the College of Education and a new associate dean’s position will be allocated to SIS. She will assist with the transition to the new dean of SIS.