Linguistics moves towards becoming its own academic unit following vote at faculty meeting

Faculty voted unanimously to approve the Linguistics Program becoming its own independent academic unit at their meeting on Monday.

Previously, the program was known as the “Program in Linguistics in the Council of the Humanities,” but now it will stand alone as the “Program in Linguistics.” The Program in Linguistics also now has the capacity to host tenured and tenure-track faculty appointments outside of the Council of the Humanities.

This change also relocates the program from the humanities to the social sciences for “purposes of representation on Faculty committees.” For now, however, the Linguistics Program will remain a program, rather than a department. Currently, students wishing to major in linguistics must apply for an independent major.

Dean of the Faculty Gene Jarrett wrote in the memo proposing the change that the shift “would provide the administrative framework for future recruitment, research, and teaching, while aligning the program more directly with its future academic vision.”

This change was first proposed in the 2023–2024 academic year. In a memo presented to the Academic Planning Group on Nov. 7, 2023, Linguistics Chairs described a theoretical expansion “touching on such areas as phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics,” according to Jarrett.

The Office of the Provost, the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, and the Office of Human Resources all collaborated directly with the Program in Linguistics and the Council of the Humanities to work towards the change.

During the faculty meeting, the Committee on Appointments and Advancements for the Professional Researchers and Professional Specialists was renamed to the Committee on Appointments and Advancements for the Academic Professionals.

The committee, nicknamed C7, “advises the Dean of the Faculty on appointments, promotions, salaries, and terminations of academic professionals at Princeton and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory,” according to the memo voted upon.

The inclusion of the “Academic Professionals” language emerged due to a new position, “Academic Research Manager,” which was approved during the 2024–25 Academic Year. Now, “Professional Researchers,” “Professional Specialists,” and the newly-defined role, “Academic Research Managers,” are all included within the umbrella term of “academic professionals.”

The faculty also voted to shift the selection process for C7’s members from an ad-hoc selection process by the Office of the Dean of the Faculty to a nomination one. Nominations will be carried out by the Committee on Committees.

Additionally, the Faculty Committee on Classrooms and Schedule proposed the 2029–30 academic calendar, which was voted upon and approved at the meeting.

Isaac Bernstein is a staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’ He is from Pittsburgh, Penn., and typically covers academic department happenings, faculty and graduate student research, and alumni news. He can be reached at ib4473[at]princeton.edu.

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Wednesday, November 5

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Linguistics moves towards becoming its own academic unit following vote at faculty meeting

Faculty Room, Nassau Hall.

Isaac Bernstein / The Daily Princetonian

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Linguistics moves towards becoming its own academic unit following vote at faculty meeting

Faculty Room, Nassau Hall.

Isaac Bernstein / The Daily Princetonian

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