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Chapter Five: Table of Contents
5.1 Preamble and General Policy
5.2 Authorization of Full-Time Faculty Positions
5.2.1 Initial Authorization of Positions
5.2.2 Reauthorization of Vacant Positions
5.2.3 Guidelines for Review and Allocation of Tenure-Track Faculty Positions
5.3 Review of Tenure-Track Positions
5.3.1 Scheduled Review
5.3.2 Discretionary Review
5.3.3 Appeals Related to Regular and Discretionary Reviews
5.4 Faculty Selected for Full-Time Administrative Positions
5.5 External Candidate Appointed as Provost and Granted Tenure with That Appointment
5.1 Preamble and General Policy19
This Chapter of the Handbook addresses the authorization of full-time faculty positions, under which is included initial authorization and subsequent reauthorization, classification of positions as Visiting or Tenure Track, and review of Tenure-Track positions in terms of planning considerations.
Prior to the allocation process, the President informs the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee of the number of full-time faculty positions that can be allocated in the cycle. The Academic Planning and Allocation Committee then is charged with making recommendations to the Administration on all full-time faculty authorization decisions. The Committee will conduct its studies and formulate its recommendations on all positions and transmit these recommendations to the Provost and President. Recently vacated positions are addressed in Section 5.2.2 below. For those vacancies which arise too late to be included in the review, the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee normally will recommend to the Administration that the vacancy be filled with a one-year appointment and postpone the reauthorization decision until the subsequent authorization process.
The Academic Planning and Allocation Committee, working with the Provost, shall develop appropriate guidelines that it shall use to arrive at its recommendations. These guidelines will be approved by the Faculty and submitted to the President for approval and published so that any proposal for a new position can be constructed appropriately (see Section 5.2.3 below).
Final responsibility for all authorization decisions lies with the President, who shall use the established procedures in Section 5.2. and guidelines (see Section 5.2.3) in reaching decisions. It shall be part of such procedures that the President will not act contrary to a recommendation by the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee without first meeting with the Committee to explain the intended action and hear the Committee’s argument in rebuttal.
5.2 Authorization of Full-Time Faculty Positions
5.2.1 Initial Authorization of Positions
This section refers to initial authorization of new full-time positions within existing departments or programs of the University. Such new positions may be proposed by a department, by programs, by collaborating groups of faculty, by any standing committee, or by the Academic Administration. Proposals for a new tenure-line faculty position will be evaluated by the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee during the semester when the Committee is considering the positions.
The Academic Planning and Allocation Committee will consult directly with the proposing group and/or department before submitting its recommendation to the Provost and President.
Following its consultation with the department or proposing group, the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee will issue a written recommendation to the Provost and President regarding whether the position should be allocated. If the Provost disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation, the Provost may communicate to the President in writing an explanation of the specific reasons for the differing recommendation.
The President shall make a final decision on whether the position should be allocated. The President will not act contrary to a recommendation by the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee without first meeting with the Committee to explain the intended action and hear the Committee’s argument in rebuttal.
5.2.2 Reauthorization of Vacant Positions
When any position on the full-time faculty shall become vacant for any reason except paid or unpaid leaves, the position must be reauthorized before it can be filled. For these purposes, a Visiting Faculty position shall be construed as vacant at the expiration of its stated period of authorization. Please see the Phased Retirement Program policy (Section 3.13.2.2 ) for information on how allocation process applies to faculty participating in the program.
When a position, as described above, becomes vacant, the department shall immediately inform the Provost and submit within four weeks of being notified of the vacancy, a Vacancy Memorandum to the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee. The brief memorandum shall include a description of the vacated position, the year the position was allocated and filled, and, if the department believes the vacancy should be considered for immediate reauthorization, evidence for the immediate reauthorization. This kind of reauthorization should happen only under extraordinary circumstances and be supported by specific evidence supporting the recommendation. Extraordinary circumstances include a vacancy relatively soon after allocation and those that threaten the basic functioning of a department or program and delivery of courses required for students in or outside of the department. Examples include a position being vacated by a faculty member a relatively short time into their appointment and instances where multiple positions being vacated around the same time. The Academic Planning and Allocation Committee will affirm receipt of the memorandum.
Within two weeks of receiving the Vacancy Memorandum, the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee, utilizing the criteria for regular position allocations and additional criteria supporting the argument for extraordinary circumstance, may make a written recommendation for immediate authorization to the Provost and President. The proposed immediate reauthorization will be shared with faculty who will be given one week to submit feedback. The Committee reserves the right to recommend position allocation in diverse ways that meet the needs and strategic importance of the position to the department and University, but should do so in a transparent manner supported by evidence.
The Provost should review APAC’s recommendation and feedback from faculty on the proposed reauthorization and make a recommendation to the President. If the Provost disagrees with the Committee’s recommendation, the Provost may communicate to the President in writing an explanation of the specific reasons for the differing recommendation.
The President shall make a final decision on whether the vacant position should be authorized. The President will not act contrary to a recommendation by the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee without first meeting with the Committee to explain the intended action and hear the Committee’s argument in rebuttal.
5.2.3 Guidelines for Review and Allocation of Tenure-Track Faculty Positions
Decisions as to whether to authorize new tenure-track faculty positions or reauthorize vacant ones require the consideration of different kinds of data and circumstances, and are always conditioned by the number of faculty the University has decided it can support.
The following categories of factors, detailed in the current Academic Planning and Allocation Committee Request for Faculty Position form, will be taken into consideration:
- Mission
- Cost-Effectiveness and Marketability
- Program Quality
The order of their enumeration should not be taken to indicate their order of priority. Neither should it be presumed that all three categories will be weighed equally in making particular decisions.
The number of available positions will be made available by Academic Affairs to the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee on or before October 1 of the academic year. Thereafter, the Committee will send a memorandum to the full-time faculty, communicating the number of available positions and information about pre-proposals and/or full proposals for faculty positions.
If a pre-proposal model is used, pre-proposals are due no later than February 1, followed by communication with departments. Full proposals will be submitted by April 1. Committee recommendations will be forwarded to the Provost, then to the President, by May 1 and announced to full-time faculty within two weeks. If a full-proposal-only model is used, the deadlines shift earlier: Full proposals will be due February 1, followed by communication with departments. Decisions shall be forwarded to the Provost, then to the President, by April 1, and announced to full-time faculty within two weeks. APAC reserves the right to adjust the above dates as necessitated by the circumstances. When dates are adjusted, APAC will communicate the revised dates via a memorandum to the full-time faculty.
In a review of tenure-track positions, a decision to change the status of a tenure-track position will be made only when the circumstances initially supporting that status have changed significantly. In that review, the Committee and the administration shall use those criteria previously outlined. The burden of proof for change in status lies with those proposing the change.
5.3 Review of Tenure-Track Positions
5.3.1 Scheduled Review
During the fall semester prior to the scheduled tenure evaluation of an individual occupying a tenure-track position on the faculty, a position review will be conducted in the manner described below. The department(s) in which the position resides will be directly consulted as set forth below.
- No later than the early fall semester, the Provost (or the Provost’s designee) will assess the continuing need for each tenure-track position scheduled for tenure review.
- On the basis of the Provost’s assessment, the Provost will advise the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee on the findings and conclusions.
a. In cases in which the Provost has concluded that the tenure-track position be confirmed, the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee may join the Provost in a joint recommendation to the President, or, if the Committee chooses, conduct its own study of the position before determining its recommendation to the President.
b. In cases in which the Provost has concluded that the tenure-track designation should not be continued, the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee will evaluate the position before any recommendation is transmitted to the President.
c. In cases in which the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee evaluates the position, the evaluation will be conducted insofar as possible with other position evaluations (initial authorizations or reauthorizations) being carried out by the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee during the academic year. During the review, the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee will consult directly with the department or program in which the tenure-track position resides before the Committee makes any written recommendation to the President.
3. In arriving at recommendations, the Provost and the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee will utilize the guidelines set forth in Section 5.2.3 above.
4. As a result of this review process, the University may:
a. Confirm the tenure-track status initially assigned to the position, in which case the tenure evaluation will proceed as scheduled.
b. Terminate the position at the end of the probationary period of the individual occupying the position.
c. Convert the position to a Visiting Faculty position, effective with the end of the probationary period of the individual occupying the position.
It is expected that the actions in (b) and (c) above will be taken only under extraordinary conditions or in cases in which a decision has been made to phase out the program of which the position is a part.
5.3.2 Discretionary Review
At any time during the probationary period of a person occupying a tenure-track position on the faculty, the Provost may charge the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee to review the position, or the Committee on its own initiative may conduct such a review. Insofar as possible, the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee will conduct such a review while evaluating other faculty positions for that year. During the review, the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee will consult directly with the department(s) or program(s) in which the position resides before the Committee makes its recommendation to the Provost and President.
Following the discretionary review, the President may:
- Continue the tenure-track position. Normally the scheduled review still would be carried out prior to any tenure evaluation of the individual occupying the position.
- Terminate the position. The individual occupying the position would be notified of the termination of the position and would be offered a terminal appointment in accordance with current policies on notice of termination.
- Continue the position as a Visiting Faculty position. The person occupying the tenure-track position would be eligible to occupy the Visiting Faculty position for no longer than the duration of that individual’s probationary period.
It is expected that the actions in 2 and 3 above will be taken only under extraordinary conditions or in cases in which a decision has been made to phase out the program of which the position is a part.
5.3.3 Appeals Related to Regular and Discretionary Reviews
Either the department, the program, or the individual faculty member may appeal a decision to terminate a tenure-track position or convert a tenure-track position to a Visiting Faculty position as follows:
- If a tenure-track position is terminated or converted to a Visiting Faculty position, the department may appeal directly to the President. The President’s decision in consideration of the appeal is final.
- A faculty member whose position either has been terminated or converted to a Visiting Faculty position may appeal the decision. There shall be only two reasons for appeal:
a. Allegation of the violation of academic freedom.
b. Allegation that established procedures or guidelines were not followed.
In the case of violation of academic freedom, the appeal shall be to the Faculty Personnel Committee (see Section 3.14.2 ). In case of allegation of procedural violation, the appeal shall be to the Executive Committee of the Faculty (see Section 3.14.3 ).
The faculty member’s written appeal must be filed with the appropriate committee within 10 in-session days of receiving the President’s decision.
5.4 Faculty Selected for Full-Time Administrative Positions
1. If a tenured member of the faculty of the University is selected for a full-time administrative position, the faculty member’s academic department or program will receive a tenure-track replacement position. The search committee will be responsible for informing candidates of the conditional nature of the tenure-track position (see 3). The probationary period for the tenure-track replacement position will be six years and no credit given for prior service.
2. The faculty member who accepted the full-time administrative position (hereinafter “faculty-administrator”) will retain tenure; however, the faculty-administrator will not be included in the official faculty count and will not be paid out of the faculty salary line in the operating budget.
3. Full-time administrators with tenure will be eligible to return to faculty status in accordance with the procedures below.
a. If the full-time faculty-administrator decides to return to the faculty position before the probationary period for the replacement faculty member has expired (i.e., before the tenure decision has been made), then the replacement position will be discontinued and the person occupying the position so informed. The replacement faculty member will be given notice according to Section 3.13.3.1 .
b. However, if the replacement faculty member has received tenure by the time the full-time faculty-administrator elects to return to the faculty, then the returning faculty member will not be included in the official faculty count, either for the department or for the University. The returning faculty member’s salary will not be paid out of the faculty salary line in the operating budget.
c. If the replacement faculty member has received tenure by the time the full-time faculty-administrator elects to return to the faculty, it is the department’s responsibility to determine teaching assignments that best suit the needs of students, the department, and the University. Both the returning full-time faculty-administrator and the replacement faculty member should be aware that their teaching assignments may vary from the ideal for their expertise and education, and that they may be asked to retrain in order to meet the department’s needs most appropriately.
4. In the event that the full-time faculty-administrator, having returned to full-time teaching, resigns or retires, or the faculty member in the replacement position resigns or retires, then the vacated position will be discontinued. If the department wishes to apply for a continuing position, it must apply for such a position as a new position, and the position must be included in the official faculty count.
5.5 External Candidate Appointed as Provost and Granted Tenure with That Appointment
1. A Provost who is awarded tenure at the time of initial appointment on the basis of having held tenure at another accredited higher education institution will not be included in the count of authorized faculty positions and will not be paid out of the faculty salary line in the operating budget.
2. At the time of resignation or dismissal from office, the Provost may join the faculty in the department and at the rank determined at the time of hire. The Provost will not be included in the count of authorized faculty positions, either for the department or for the University. The Provost’s salary will be established by the Board of Trustees in accordance with Article III, Section 1 of the Code of Regulations, but will not be paid out of the faculty salary line in the operating budget.
3. It is the department’s responsibility to determine the former Provost’s teaching assignments that best suit the needs of students, the department, and the University. The former Provost who is joining the department should be aware that the teaching assignment may vary from the ideal for the Provost’s expertise and education, and that the Provost may be asked to retrain in order to meet the department’s needs most appropriately. In the alternative, the services of the former Provost may be utilized outside the department through other assignments, depending on the needs of the University. In such a case, that individual may be assigned other duties, such as teaching, research, service, and/or administrative responsibilities, depending upon the needs of the University and the expertise of the faculty member. However, the individual’s tenured status shall not be affected despite such assignments.
Footnotes In This Chapter
[19] It is understood that the Provost, the Academic Planning and Allocation Committee, and the President will have the decisions described in this chapter made at the earliest possible time in each academic year, if possible by December 1.
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