Bernabei & Kabat represents an American University professor who was denied tenure in May of 2012. Maria Ivancin is suing for age discrimination after teaching in the School of Communication’s Department of Public Communication for 10 years.
Despite significant support from other influential members of American University, Provost Scott Bass claimed she failed to show the significant impact of her work on the profession or society and lacked “top-tier” publications. Ms. Ivancin claims Mr. Bass breached her contract by using the requirements for the scholarly tenure tract as opposed to the professional tenure tract elected by Ms. Ivancin. Ms Ivancin joined AU at the age of 47 after having an extensive career elsewhere resulting in many publications she claims were discounted by the provost.
Ms. Ivancin’s story was recently covered by the American University paper, The Eagle. In addition to the feature article The Eagle ran an editorial discussing the case.
