For university professors, having children while building a career is a big challenge.

“Your biological clock and your tenure clock are ticking simultaneously,” said Lisa Wolf-Wendel, mother of two and an associate professor of teaching and leadership at Kansas University.

A proposed policy at KU aims to take make balancing home and work a little bit easier for faculty. The University Council will take up the issue today.

Wolf-Wendel and Donna Ginther, KU associate professor of economics, have written a policy that would automatically stop the tenure clock for one year for both men and women faculty welcoming a new baby, whether adopted or by birth.

Princeton University in August took a similar step. Other schools, including the University of Michigan and the University of Missouri, also are tackling the issue.

“What I would like is for KU to be in that vanguard of universities that are making this possible,” said Barbara Romzek, interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. “I don’t see any reason for us not to be up front on this.”

For many, the trek toward tenure begins around age 33 or 34, coinciding with the time when many families start having children.

In the six-year process toward tenure, faculty must show they have they have the academic, research and teaching credentials for tenure.

Lisa Wolf-Wendel, a KU professor, reads to her children, Adelaide Wendel, 6, left, and Lilly Wendel, 3 at Hilltop Child Development Center. Wolf-Wendel is working on a new policy at Kansas University to make it more family-friendly for moms and dads on maternity leave.

“It’s a very high-stakes thing,” Wolf-Wendel said.

KU’s current policy allows for a one-year pause on the tenure clock, but it isn’t automatic. Wolf-Wendel said some tenure-track faculty view asking for a break as an admission that they can’t cut it.

“There’s fear of asking for assistance,” she said.

Megan Greene, assistant professor of history, said she was glad the policy proposals included men because many fathers are quite involved in their children’s lives.

“It seems to be just as important,” she said.

Anita Levy, associate secretary in the department of academic freedom and tenure with the American Association of University Professors, said there is a trend nationwide toward such efforts.

“In the past five years or so : the recognition of the difficulties and the need for policies has become greater on college campuses,” she said.

The policy ultimately will need approval from KU’s provost and the Board of Regents.

Provost David Shulenburger said he wants to know how faculty feel about the policy.

“I think it’s generally a good idea, but I’m interested in the he faculty reaction,” he said.