Excellence in Faculty Appointments

Appointment processes for Continuing Contract Faculty shall reflect the University’s overriding commitment to enhance academic excellence and to provide students with the best available educational experience. Thus, each Continuing Contract Faculty appointment and reappointment shall be evaluated in the light of the contribution it makes to the distinct excellence of the school, including its educational and training programs, and shall exemplify the University’s commitment to appoint and retain the best faculty in all disciplines.

Hiring Plan and Process

1. [Duration of contracts]. Continuing Contract Faculty appointments that provide for the possibility of extended periods of employment support continuing involvement with students and colleagues and provide an appropriate and desirable element of job security. Thus, wherever possible, schools are encouraged to reduce reliance on one-year contracts. However, in addition to providing schools with an essential degree of flexibility, one-year contracts may be programmatically and academically desirable in a number of schools and academic programs within schools; school policies shall include a rationale for a Continuing Contract Faculty title(s) that carries a one-year appointment.

2. [Strategic hiring plan].  Full-time contract faculty members are to be hired within the context of the school’s long-term strategic planning for faculty academic programming, which is approved by the Provost. This is true for one-year as well as multi-year contracts. 

3. [Hiring practices]. Hiring practices for Continuing Contract Faculty shall be transparent and fair. The process shall include involvement of department and school committees and deans, in accordance with school governance processes. Schools are expected to include Continuing Contract Faculty in the hiring process for full-time contract faculty.

Reappointment and Promotion

1. [Eligibility and Criteria for Reappointment and Promotion.]

a. Faculty appointed under both one-year and multi-year full-time contracts may be eligible for reappointment. Contracts will specify whether this is the case. Schools are encouraged to provide regular written feedback to faculty on multi-year contracts regarding their performance.

b. Each school shall establish clear processes for reappointment and promotion. Each school shall set exacting standards embodying the highest levels of achievement that ensure the distinct excellence of the school’s educational and training programs. Review for reappointment and promotion shall consider curricular and structural changes and improvements in academic programs. Even in those cases in which a candidate satisfies the appropriate standards of achievement, the decision to reappoint or promote may be impacted by curricular and structural changes and improvements in academic programs.

c. Where a position is to be eliminated at the end of the contract term and there is no similar position open, there is no reappointment process; however, the faculty member may request a performance review for career development to be conducted within a time framework specified by the school.

Reappointment for Multi-Year Full-Time Contracts of Three Years or More.

1. These guidelines distinguish between reappointment processes governing multi-year full-time contracts and one-year full-time contracts

2. In the case of multi-year full-time contracts of three years or more, reappointment requires a formal review process. The process shall be conducive to ensuring that candidates for reappointment and promotion exhibit the highest level of performance and achievement – whether in teaching, the creative arts, or traditional scholarship and research.

3. Review for reappointment/non-reappointment is conducted in the penultimate year of the initial term of appointment and shall be completed by the end of that penultimate year. In the event of a decision to reappoint, the Continuing Contract Faculty shall complete the remainder of the faculty member's term and shall be reappointed, normally, for another multi-year term. In the event of a decision to not reappoint, the contract faculty member shall be notified of the intention to not reappoint no later than August 31st of the penultimate year, and shall continue to be under contract for the final year.

4. Each school process for review of full-time multi-year contracts of three years or more, including promotion reviews, must include:

• a review committee, which is advisory to the dean and/or unit head, and rules determining how the committee is to be constituted;

• a statement of the academic criteria in the areas of teaching, program development, the creative and performance arts (where appropriate), department and school service, and research and scholarship (where appropriate) that will guide the committee’s evaluation;

• the criteria of assessment in effect at the time, which shall be available to the faculty on the web;

• a published and widely available calendar for department/school-level reviews and communication to faculty members that accords fair and timely notice of a review to take place and of its outcome. Schools may have different administrative calendars; however, all schools shall provide adequate notice for individuals to pursue alternative employment in the event of a negative decision;

• the grounds for stopping the contract clock for reasonable cause, e.g., medical, personal, as qualified caregiver for child, spouse, parent, registered domestic partner, or by contractual stipulation or negotiation.  “Qualified caregiver” means day-to-day responsibility for the care of a child, parent, spouse, or registered domestic partner for a substantial portion of the period; and

• the grounds for grievance and appeal as laid out in this document below.

5. In addition to formal reviews at the time of potential reappointment, each Continuing Contract Faculty member on a multi-year contract of three years or more shall annually submit to dean an activity report, comparable in scope to reports required of tenured/tenure track faculty (T/TTF) but as appropriate for Continuing Contract Faculty appointments, whose format shall be designed in accordance with school policy as in effect at that time.

6. In addition, schools may wish to carry out formal performance assessments from time to time in the course of multi-year appointments that are longer than three years

Reappointment for Continuous Service on One-Year or Two-Year Full-Time Contracts.

1. Though no reappointment can proceed without a performance assessment, numerous factors render the sort of formal review appropriate for multi-year appointments inapt in the case of faculty on one- or two-year contracts being considered for reappointment. Each school must formulate a policy that provides for appropriate assessment criteria adequate to determine whether reappointment is warranted. Criteria may include evaluation of classroom performance, review of curricular materials, and the like.

2. As is the case in multi-year contracts, eligibility to be considered for reappointment does not guarantee reappointment.

3. Continuing Contract Faculty may be reappointed to a series of one-year or two-year full-time contracts. In the first semester of the third year of continuous appointments, a Continuing Contract Faculty member shall be subject to formal review comparable to those to which faculty members on longer multi-year contracts are subject. The process governing third-year reviews of faculty on continuous contracts shall include:

• a review committee, which is advisory to the dean and/or unit head, and rules determining how the committee is to be constituted;

• a statement of the academic criteria in the areas of teaching, program development, the creative and performance arts (where appropriate), department and school service, and scholarship (where appropriate) that will guide the committee’s evaluation;

• the criteria of assessment in effect at the time, which shall be available to the faculty in print and on the web;

• a published and widely available calendar for department/school-level reviews and communication to faculty members that accords fair and timely notice of a review to take place and of its outcome. Schools may have different administrative calendars; however, all schools shall provide adequate notice for individuals to pursue alternative employment in the event of a negative decision. Normally, a Continuing Contract Faculty must be notified of the intention not to be reappointed no later than March 1st of the final year of the contract, if the appointment is to be terminated on August 31st. Normally, a Continuing Contract Faculty whose period of appointment is due to terminate on a date other than August 31st must be notified of the intention not to be reappointed no later than 180 days prior to the termination date;

• the grounds for stopping the contract clock for reasonable cause (e.g., medical, personal, as qualified caregiver for child, spouse, parent, registered domestic partner, or by contractual stipulation or negotiation). “Qualified caregiver” means day-to-day responsibility for the care of a child, parent, spouse, or registered domestic partner for a substantial portion of the period; and

• the grounds for grievance and appeal as laid out in this document below.