Contact Person: Oliver Walter, Dean (owalter@uwyo.edu)
Department morale. Department heads have major influence on departmental morale. With inevitable exceptions, your department will reflect your optimism or pessimism. Faculty, particularly young faculty, as well as staff, will take their cues from you. The best department heads are those who have positive attitudes, not those who wallow in self-pity and believe themselves the victims of forces beyond their control.
Recognize accomplishments. It is a rare person who does not appreciate being recognized for doing a good job. Recognize accomplishments of faculty, staff, and students privately and publicly.
Information. Share information, important dates, and good news with your faculty and staff. A department e-mail distribution list is a convenient way to get the word out. For instance, the Deans’ Office sends out minutes of department head meetings. You can easily re-send them electronically. The same applies to the minutes of the Central Committee. Moreover, faculty and staff should almost always know about important decisions and your rationale for these decisions. The operation of your office should be transparent and transparency is accomplished by providing faculty and staff with information.
Regular department meetings. Generally, it is wise to schedule a faculty meeting each month. Often, faculty complain about meetings, but you risk far greater ire if you do not meet with your colleagues on a regular basis. Department meetings are an opportunity for you and the faculty to communicate with each other face-to-face. One-on-one meetings are fine, but there is no substitute for meetings in which discussions can take place among all the faculty. It is also wise, if not essential, to keep minutes for department meetings and to send them to all department faculty and staff. And, of course, keep a file of past minutes. Invariably, questions will be raised about decisions that occurred during a meeting.
Share administrative responsibilities. Departmental service is expected of all academic personnel. Sharing administrative responsibilities with your academic personnel lessens burdens of the position for you and also improves faculty understanding of the complexity of administration. Effective department heads are able to delegate!
Keep the dean informed. Tell the Dean's Office about your accomplishments and those of your students and faculty. Frankly, department prestige is an important factor in budget allocations, faculty awards, etc., and prestige is based upon faculty and student achievement. It pays to advertise accomplishments. The Dean should be kept informed of problems, for instance budget problems, cases of sexual harassment, legal issues, and serious personnel issues, etc. Department heads are responsible for notifying the Dean's Office of the names of their faculty's spouses or companions so that proper etiquette can be observed when invitations are sent out.
Records Management. Keep a hard copy of any/all agreements with the dean. Also, copies of memos, e-mails, etc. generated by the Dean’s Office should be retained. The American Heritage Center can be contacted for rules on official archives management.
Communication via e-mail announcements. Announcements, Central Committee meeting agendas and minutes as well as Department Head agendas and minutes are posted on the administrative web site. These are then easily accessible to you and your faculty. Announcements are located at: http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/a&s/Policy/Admin_Info.asp
For other guidelines, see General Guidelines for Leading a Department.
A job description identifies the duties of each tenured or tenure-track faculty member, extended-term-track academic professional and research scientist. These specify the proportion of effort to be spent on each activity. Part B of the job description describes basic performance expectations to which department heads may add relative to the academic's type of appointment. Together, the job description, performance expectations, and the department's research expectations or professional development document form the basis of the performance evaluation. All documents are required for T&P packets, extended-term review, and post-tenure review. Sample A&S job descriptions (normal research load; heavy research load; no research load) are available at Job description examples.doc. First-time employees will receive these documents along with a cover letter signed by the dean and department head by October 15.
Job descriptions are not immutable and should be revised, if needed, following the regular review process. And all changes should be signed by the faculty member and the head and approved by the dean. However, there will be occasions in which a faculty member chooses not to sign a justifiable modification in a job description. Make a reasonable effort to reach an accommodation with that faculty member, but in the end the department head’s signature and the Dean's trump a faculty member’s failure to sign.
Office Hours:
UniReg 807 mandates, "As part of their normal workload responsibilities, faculty will maintain scheduled office hours in accordance with their college's policy." The College of Arts and Sciences policy:
a. Keep office hours. At least three hours per week are required and should be posted on your office door. Post a note on the door when you cannot meet office hours and inform the departmental staff.
b. When a student is visiting, focus on the student – do not continue working on your computer.
Each January faculty and academic professionals are asked to provide a summary of their activities during the previous calendar year. The Annual Update Form is used. The form is pre-filled for each person with the list of courses taught during that period. The faculty member should check the course list for any errors. (The courses are obtained from BANNER and the information your department has entered into BANNER.) The information on these forms is the data for your evaluation of the person.
You are asked to evaluate academic personnel during the reappointment, tenure, and extended-term promotion processes, for post-tenure review, and in the biennial review of all academic personnel. You may, of course, ask for the assistance of a faculty committee in the preparation of the evaluations. In all cases, however, you are expected to provide the dean with your own written evaluation that addresses faculty performance on all aspects of the job description and the performance expectations. The key to an effective evaluation process is the clarity of expectations. The reviews should be forthright and honest and should encourage high-quality performance. Although it may be personally difficult, you must report failure to meet departmental expectations. Close consultation with those being evaluated is essential.
When a department head has a faculty or academic professional spouse or permanent companion in the department, I have asked that any review of the spouse or companion be delegated to a committee within the department. An associate dean should sit on all such committees during the review of the spouse or companion. This includes, but is not limited to, tenure and promotion decisions as well as salary decisions and recommendations on sabbaticals. Department heads must NOT be directly involved in any evaluative decision about their spouse or companion. And, obviously, the department head in these cases must not write the biennial review.
The College of Arts and Sciences has instituted a standardized vita format which is required for the reappointment, tenure and promotion packets. The standardized vita is to be used by faculty applying for special funding, internal grants and when department heads nominate them for awards. Link here to find the Tenure-Track Standardized Vita.
These evaluations are most important. Never take them lightly. Department heads' evaluations weigh very heavily in the T&P process. Because the process is complex, you should study the regulations carefully. Academic Affairs has posted a Preparation Packet on their web site that is very informative. Remember that you are responsible for the administration of the process at the department level. The academic personnel under review and the department staff will assist you, but ultimately, you are responsible. There are few administrative tasks more important than T&P — take them seriously! The quality of T&P packets reflects on you.
1. For those who have been given time to tenure in their appointment letters, no skips will be approved.
2. If all levels below the university level unanimously agree that there should be a skip, Academic Affairs would be very unlikely to veto this recommendation and thus require a review. If any level requests a full-scale review, there will be a full-scale review. If a majority of faculty recommend skipping, but a sizeable minority recommend full-scale review, there should be a full-scale review.
Departments and program may increase the number of academic personnel eligible to participate in the department’s T&P process under the following conditions:
1. A majority of the voting academic personnel approve each addition.
2. The Dean must review and approve the additions.
3. The additions are given three year terms—terms renewable assuming the above process.
4. The additions consider all cases for reappointment, tenure and promotion before the department or program during their terms of appointment.
5. The votes and comments of the outside group are clearly differentiated and labeled in the T&P packet, so they are separate from the votes and comments of the regular faculty.
The deadline for packets for
promotion to full professor within the college comes quickly in the fall. Packets are to be compiled
according to the checklist supplied by the Dean’s Office for faculty and
academic professionals (Academic
Personnel Checklist.doc). The Dean’s Office supplies binders and index tabs
for all new hires. Complying with deadlines is essential. A&S deadlines may
differ from those of the university. See
Unireg 803
http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/legal/Uniregs/ur803.htm for faculty and
Unireg 408
http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/legal/Uniregs/ur408rev2.htm and its appendices for
academic professionals. Additionally, in rare
circumstances, faculty/academic professionals may request a temporary stop of
their tenure/review clocks. The process for requesting and reviewing such
requests is contained in
clock stoppage. Also see the Academic Affairs clock stoppage
memo.
Faculty Senate passed a resolution in support of a revision to the current
Academic Affairs policy on extending tenure and extended-term clocks for faculty
and academic professionals (See the revision dated 4/10/08 on the following web
page
http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/acadaffairs/T&P/). For a variety of reasons, we
strongly discourage early tenure or promotion. 3. Voting participation and
responsibility a.
Should Administering the Process
1. Those who may wish to be considered for full professor should be informed
of the need for peer review of their teaching in the spring prior to the fall
review.
2. Department heads should remind faculty who are eligible for promotion
to full professor to inform the department head of this intention in the spring
prior to the fall review. The Dean's Office has a meeting in the spring
for anticipated full professors.
All candidates for tenure or promotion are required to have outside
reviewers. The procedures for selecting the reviewers can be found in the file
Outside Reviewers per Unireg 803. These procedures must be followed without
deviation. Please remind candidates that letters from personal friends,
dissertations advisors, co-authors, and so on will not carry as much weight as letters from
experts in the field of study without personal connections. Letters from
well-known, high profile researchers within the discipline will carry more
weight.
administrators
vote on questions of policy within their department or on tenure and
promotion, etc.? Clearly, if he/she the
administrative position is in the hierarchy to which the unit reports, the
administrator should not vote in the department. On the other hand, if the
administrator is outside the reporting lines, the question is more complicated.
Faculty who move into administrative positions do not lose their formal status
as members of that unit and it could be argued, therefore, that they retain
their voting rights within a department. However, we believe it is not wise for
an administrator to vote within a department or program unless that
administrator interacts with the department on a consistent basis through
teaching, research or department service.
b. A&S has no problem with Academic Professionals voting on tenure track faculty and tenure and promotion cases, provided they have the permission of the candidate. It’s extremely important for departments to take a consistent approach within the department. In other words, it would be highly inappropriate to change the department rules from year to year, or from candidate to candidate. Some departments for reasons of consistency or lack of time may wish to continue the current practice through this academic year. Some departments already have been discussing the issue, and may change the current practice. If that is the case, please follow these three steps:
Have a discussion to determine what the academic personnel in the unit think. See if you can reach a consensus policy.
If you decide that ETT APs can vote, make sure that each candidate indicates such in the letter where they allow tenure track faculty to vote. Candidates have the right to include or exclude lower ranks of academic personnel according to Unireg 803.
Change the forms on the ballots and tally sheets. They currently do not have the AP category on tenure track faculty reappointment, tenure, and promotion ballots or on the tally sheet.
If you have questions, please contact Audrey Shalinsky
c. At the department discussion of a candidate, it is very appropriate to review precisely what people are to vote on --- that is, what year review it is and if there are two parts to the vote. As packets are reviewed and voted upon in January, be sure that the voting comments are a helpful part of the process. Many votes have two parts --- reappointment and whether to skip; tenure and promotion; or extended term and promotion. Ballots should clearly state the voter's position on all relevant questions. For example, state in the first sentence:
I vote yes to reappointment and to skip review in year 3. OR
I vote yes to reappointment, however, I vote to review in year 3. OR
I vote in favor of tenure and promotion to associate professor for XXXXXX.
In the following, the terms "primary-department" and "primary-head" refer to the department and head of the department in which the candidate has the majority of their academic appointment. While secondary-unit refers to the other unit to which the candidate has the remainder of the appointment. This terminology and protocol also applies to a situation in which an obligation to a secondary unit is a formal part of the written job description even when the appointment is technically not joint. An example of the latter is a specific teaching obligation to an interdisciplinary program that is included in the written job description. In addition, some academic personnel have primary homes in academic units but also have obligations to non-academic units including such entities as WyGISC or instrumentation facilities. The department home is the primary unit and the non-academic entity is secondary for the purposes of reappointment, tenure, promotion, and extended term.
1. The primary department will be responsible for the supervision of the production of the candidate’s packet. The primary-department will provide the secondary-department or program with a copy of the candidate's T&P packet (Packet 1 primarily and Packet 2 if relevant) two-weeks prior to the primary-department T&P meeting in which the candidate will be discussed.
2. Faculty associated with the secondary-department/program/facility will review the candidate's packet in relation to the relevant portion of the job description. They may schedule a meeting to discuss the candidates' T&P packet. They will provide written feedback to the secondary-head/director/committee chair.
3. The secondary-head/director/committee chair prepares a written evaluation of the candidate, in the form of a letter, based on packet review and comments from faculty in their unit. The secondary-head/director/chair sends a copy of this written evaluation to the primary-head, for inclusion in the candidate's packet before the primary-department meets to discuss the candidate's reappointment, or tenure, and/or promotion or extended term. The letter from the secondary head provides a minimum standard of participation by the secondary unit.
4. Upon the invitation of the primary department head, the secondary-head/director/chair attends the meeting in the primary-department where the candidate's T&P packet, reappointment, or tenure, and/or promotion is discussed to respond to questions from the primary department faculty to clarify content in the secondary unit’s letter.
5. Both primary and secondary unit evaluations are included in the T&P packet prior to being sent on to the College level.
6. If a candidate for tenure and promotion so chooses, upon written request to the primary and secondary heads, external letters that evaluate the research contribution to the secondary area in addition to the primary area may be solicited in a process that conforms to the one delineated in Unireg 803.
1. Upon the request of the candidate, the secondary program director may review the candidate’s tenure and promotion packet(s) and provide a written evaluation, in the form of a letter, for inclusion in the candidate’s packet before the candidate is evaluated by the home unit.
2. If the secondary head’s letter is included in the candidate’s packet and upon the invitation of the primary head, the secondary head attends the meeting in the home department where the candidate’s reappointment, tenure, promotion, or extended term is discussed to respond to questions to clarify content in the secondary head’s letter.
Evaluate each tenured faculty and extended-term academic professional member in writing on a biennial basis. (Evaluation form.doc) As noted above, the department head may seek the assistance of a faculty committee. The department head may send the committee’s recommendation to the dean, but the department head is expected also to provide a thorough review.
Unlike the T&P process, we are somewhat less bureaucratic and directive when it comes to the biennial faculty evaluations (see faculty post-tenure evaluation instruction document) . However, you should discuss your evaluation with each faculty member and encourage the faculty member to submit a response to the review if the faculty member does not agree with your assessment. This written response should be included with the head's assessment that is sent to the dean.
The university’s post-tenure review process is described in Post-Tenure Review Implementation on the Academic Affairs policy site at http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/AcadAffairs/PolicyStatements/ptr_implementation.doc . Also see http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/legal/Uniregs/ur808.htm and http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/legal/infocirc/1998-2.htm.
In A&S, the practice is to give a faculty member warning before entering the post-tenure review process. For example, suppose a person is reviewed in this year and found to be below expectations in one or more job dimensions. The person then will be reviewed again the next year. Only if the person is below expectations in one or more job dimensions in the second year, too, will s/he enter the post-tenure review process.
The Dean will return the evaluation to the department head following his/her review. The faculty member under review must receive a copy of the completed review and should sign.
A. Student evaluation of teaching:
Because teaching evaluations are an integral part of the tenure and promotion and biennial review processes, it is important that we follow a standard procedure that informs students of the rationale for evaluations, provides them with adequate time to provide a reasoned assessment of a teacher, and protects them from the “perception” of retaliation if their assessment is negative. No one should be able to question the validity of the student evaluations by reference to a flawed process.
The Teacher Effectiveness Evaluation System is described in Unireg 800 http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/legal/Uniregs/ur800.htm. The College of Arts & Sciences has implemented a procedure that requires use of a Student Teaching Evaluation Form consisting of two parts. Part I requires the student to provide a written evaluation while Part II uses a NCR bubble sheet to score multiple choice answers. The administrator of the evaluation is required to read a prepared statement to the class before the evaluation begins. NCR bubble sheets are scanned by the department secretary to create a report http://microlab.uwyo.edu/Documentation/OMR/asteval.htm .
Temporary instructors are required to have student teaching evaluations given in all sections of every course taught per year. The Department Head may request other teaching evaluations if s/he thinks it is necessary. Retired faculty who return to teaching on a part-time basis should be evaluated on the same schedule as is mandated for their rank by UNIREG 800 at the time of retirement.
B. Peer review of teaching
Unireg 800 also mandates “a documented professional (peer/colleague or department head) review of untenured instructors during their fourth year of teaching at the University, or one year prior to the year of decision on tenure, whichever comes first. This review must utilize such items as course syllabus, tests, texts used, course structure and content, and observed teaching performance as well as student evaluations of teaching.”
In addition, the College of Arts and Sciences requires peer review of teaching in years 2 and 6. Guidelines for conducting these peer reviews can be found as Peer Evaluation Guidelines.
C. Actions to maintain high quality teaching
For the most part we determine teaching quality through the normal processes of peer review, self evaluation, and student evaluations. But not every course is evaluated by students every semester. So what if the department head has reason to believe that the teaching in a course that is not evaluated by students is below the expected standard?
Information about such a situation might come to the department head from other faculty or from students who register complaints with the department head. The challenge is to determine whether the complaint(s) represent problems or are only the opinion(s) of one or a few people. Actions that the department head might take include but are not limited to, the following:
1. Have a meeting with the instructor. Convey the concerns/complaints by saying something like, "At least some (X) of your students think....." This is meant to be non-threatening; it allows the instructor to address the complaints/concerns in an informal manner.
2. Do a mid-term (unofficial) evaluation with the class. Arrange a time with the instructor. Explain to the instructor that the intent is to try to determine if complaints are valid.
The evaluation could be done by the head eliciting comments from students about what is going well in the course and what, if anything, is troublesome AND, if problems are identified, asking for suggestions about ways that things could be improved. The head would need to be certain that there is consensus among the students, that a complaint/concern is not from just one or a few students. The head could then discuss the findings with the instructor.
The evaluation could be done by a member of the A&S Teaching Committee. If problems are identified, the committee member would make suggestions for resolving the issues. The findings will be shared with only the instructor and the head.
Arrange to have an official student evaluation administered in the class during the regular end-of-semester evaluation process. Give the instructor the option whether to not to include the evaluation in his/her official record.
3. If the instructor disagrees with any aspect of the evaluations described above, the instructor may register an appeal with the A&S Dean.
9. Memorandum of Understanding between AHC and the College of Arts & Sciences
AHC faculty regularly teach courses for departments in the College of Arts & Sciences. The teaching responsibility is assumed above and beyond the AHC faculty members' regular professional duties, but it benefits both the AHC and the departments in question. Please read and comply with the remuneration policy established in the Memorandum of Understanding whenever utilizing the AHC faculty in any academic semester. The Proposed Teaching Faculty Appointment Agreement is to be used in individual cases.
Contact persons: Oliver Walter, Dean (owalter@uwyo.edu) or Merrie McElreath, Business Manager, (merrie@uwyo.edu)
Hiring academic personnel within the college is a multi-level process. General Principles below explains position reallocation and the process for proposing positions. General Guidelines lists college policies, while Spousal Support outlines the considerations for this situation. See Academic Affairs hiring guidelines for important reminders including the university's Principles for the Scholarly Study of World Religions. Additionally, details on the entire college process, from the presentation to the Central Committee to making the offer, are contained in the document Steps in Recruiting Academic Personnel (Note-This document was revised 7-21-06.).
All vacant positions revert to Academic Affairs, and university-wide reallocation is a possibility. Accordingly, each college submits a prioritized list of proposed academic searches to Academic Affairs each spring for approval. Normally, approvals will be announced during summer, and searches can begin in early fall.
Some department heads wonder why a position approved for a search cannot be filled immediately and instead must not be filled until an academic year has passed. The reason for this is that the funds accompanying the position were anticipated and allocated for temporary replacements during the academic year the search is taking place.
Request for hire documents and narratives are placed on-line and are available to A&S department heads and directors for review and comment. In addition the college’s Central Committee hears proposals for faculty/academic professional positions, and then the committee recommends a prioritized list to the dean. See hiring process.doc for information regarding preparation of documents for presentation to the Central Committee. The dean presents his recommendations to the vice president for Academic Affairs.
a. Under unusual circumstances, the dean will consider arguments for filling a position immediately. Approval will be rare because funds from CPM are used to fund part-time temporary faculty and clerical staff.
b. Positions that become vacant as a result of tenure denial will be returned to the college, providing the department faculty and/or the head have recommended against tenure.
c. Departments will make every effort possible to identify and attract the very best candidates available. Departments which fail to do so forfeit hiring opportunities.
d. All hires will be made at the assistant professor level (or probationary assistant extended-term academic professional lecturer or research scientist), unless there is a very compelling reason to do otherwise.
e. Start-up costs will be split between the department and the Dean’s Office; and in the case of large startups of $10,000 or more, the Research Office. A department head will negotiate the terms with the associate dean for budgets (see Steps in Faculty Recruiting.doc). The Research Office will NOT pay for moving expenses, therefore, these startup costs must be covered by the college and/or the department.
f. If the unit has made good-faith efforts to fill the position and the search has failed, the college will request from Academic Affairs to continue the search for one more year.
g. The college is committed to affirmative action and seeks to hire candidates from under-represented groups. Contact the dean for information on the university’s Women and Minorities Hiring Pool.
h. Searches for temporary faculty are designed ad hoc by the head and the dean. The standard teaching load for full-time temporary facultyAPLs is 12 hours per semester. Temporary appointments do not contain a research component. Offer letters are sent by the head after receiving approval for the salary and conditions from the dean. Offer letters to temporary instructors must include a statement that there is no guarantee of employment beyond one year, or specified terms of employment.
Increasingly, prospective faculty, as
well as existing faculty, request assistance in locating employment for a
spouse. If we are to retain productive faculty and attract the best available
faculty, we must be sensitive to these requests. When spousal support appears to
be an issue, the head should contact the dean immediately. (http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/acadaffairs/PolicyStatements/guide_dom_part_0506.doc)
To accommodate those seeking spousal support the college may: 1) split
tenure-track lines giving one-half of the line to each party, 2) request that
Academic Affairs cover one-half of the spouse for one or two years (which
requires A&S and/or the department to come up with half a salary), and 3) provide
part-time teaching for a specified time. Please see point number 2 in the
Exceptions to Advertising Policy. (exceptions
to advertising memo.doc)
The degree to which requests for spousal support can be satisfied is dependent upon resources and the willingness of academic units to cooperate. Please see Rules on spousal hires. As we are all well aware, personnel funds are very limited. Moreover, faculty are protective of their hiring prerogatives. Finding positions outside the college has proven exceedingly difficult. Thus, spousal support requires complex negotiation and, unfortunately, success cannot be guaranteed. However, the dean will assist departments in seeking solutions to the spousal support problem. Requests must be made in writing with appropriate supporting materials such as a vita, teaching evaluations, letters of recommendation, etc. In all cases, the spouse must be deemed academically qualified by the "receiving" department. In no case will the dean impose a spouse on a department.
We all should recognize that a responsive spousal accommodation policy is in the best interest of the university if we are to attract and retain the highest quality faculty. But if such a policy is to work successfully, parochial interests must sometimes succumb to the greater university interests. If departments expect their spousal request to be honored, they must be willing to honor requests from other units.
On occasion it is appropriate to appoint adjunct faculty and clinical staff following guidelines established in Trustee Regulation V.C.4. The process to follow for making those appointments are detailed in the document, Adjunct and Clinical Staff Appointments.
On 26 January 2006, The President’s Executive Council adopted the following policy governing the hiring of people convicted of crimes: http://www.uwyo.edu/AcadAffairs/PolicyStatements/criminal_hiring_policy_06.doc
It is the policy of the university not to hire any person convicted of a crime the nature of which is reasonably related to the applicant's fitness for the job. No person convicted of a felony of any nature shall be hired without the approval of the hiring unit's vice president or the Director of Athletics, if appropriate. Further, it is against university policy to hire any person who has been convicted of (1) a felony involving violence or (2) a sex crime against a minor or involving violence. The Vice President for Administration shall determine whether a conviction falls into either of categories (1) or (2).
Academic applicants should complete the Disclosure and Certificate of Applicant form. Any forms that prompt questions should be sent to the Dean.
6. Changing Departments
Though there is no official policy related to faculty members changing designated departments, e.g. moving from Geology to Statistics, or form Ag Economics to A&S Philosophy, Academic Affairs (Myron Allen e-mail dated Oct 11, 2006) drew up a summary of principles to keep in mind:
The receiving department and dean of the receiving college have to approve of the transfer.
The Office of Academic Affairs has to approve of the transfer.
In cross-college transfers there's often a fiscal issue: the receiving college usually reimburses the sending college for the loss of the position. The two affected deans are welcome to develop a different arrangement, though.
If it's an intra-college transfer, the dean can decide whether there's a fiscal issue that needs to be resolved within the college.
Unless there's something truly bizarre and extraordinary going on, the faculty member retains current rank and tenure status.
The faculty member's title undergoes the obvious change, e.g. from Associate Professor of Plant Sciences to Associate Professor of Art. (Except for endowed chairs and honorary titles approved by the Trustees, all tenure-track professorial titles have the form X Professor of W, where X can be Assistant, Associate, or nothing, and Y is the name of the department.)
It's possible to change the faculty member's salary and appointment type (AY or FY) on the basis of a change in duties.
It's not absolutely necessary for the faculty member to want the change in assignment, but it sure helps. If there's a problem with poor performance, a transfer is among the least appropriate of ways to deal with it.
Be sure new hires attend faculty orientations.
All new faculty and academic professional lecturers (temporary and permanent) must attend the UW New Faculty Orientation hosted by Academic Affairs.
New tenure-track/tenured A&S faculty and extended-term-track/extended term academic professionals must attend A&S New Faculty Orientation sessions as scheduled.
Contact persons: Oliver Walter, Dean (owalter@uwyo.edu) or Merrie McElreath, Business Manager (merrie@uwyo.edu)
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General Disputes and Complaints |
Civil Rights Violations, Employment discrimination, Program discrimination, Sexual harassment, and Retaliation |
Violence in the Workplace |
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STAFF: The University recognizes the right of staff employees to express differences of opinion and to seek fair and timely resolutions of employment disputes. A dispute is a dissatisfaction which occurs when an employee considers that any condition of employment is unjust or inequitable or hinders effective operations. Employees should use the exclusive internal process to provide University Staff employees a prompt and efficient review and resolution of disputes. Employees who feel they have a dispute should contact the Employee Relations Office of Human Resources. See UniReg 174 Appendix B FACULTY: Faculty can seek prompt and efficient dispute resolution. Faculty who consider any condition of employment, including actions or inactions by others as unjust, may seek redress through UniReg 35. This process calls first for informal resolution, and if unsuccessful, the faculty member then consults with the Faculty Conciliator. STUDENT: General disputes related to academic life should be referred to the cognizant department head or the Dean's office. See Actions to maintain high quality teaching.doc |
Violations of civil rights of students, staff, and faculty will not be tolerated and prompt remedial action will be taken. The university has adopted a policy of investigative guidelines to UniReg 5 for responding to civil rights complaints including discrimination, sexual harassment. Refer complainants to the Employment Practices Office (766-3459), the Dean of Students or to any other academic or university officer. Reprisals for reporting discrimination or sexual harassment will not be tolerated. If a faculty member receives a complaint concerning discrimination or sexual harassment, the faculty member should report it to the Employment Practices Office and follow the procedures included in Unireg 5 and the Investigative Procedures developed by the Employment Practices Office. | The University is committed to protecting the rights and safety of all members of the University community. Every member of the University community has a responsibility for understanding, preventing, and responding to violence in the workplace. The University desires to create a work environment for faculty and staff and an educational environment for students that fosters career and educational goals based on factors such as ability, performance, and equal opportunity. UniReg 44 outlines a procedure for reporting acts or threats of violence. The university has policies in place to handle situations with regard to student(s) who manifest a life-threatening behavior constituting a clear and present danger, see Information Circular 2005-1 .
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The head is responsible for maintaining general oversight of departmental grading. Faculty are justifiably jealous of their grading prerogatives, and, thus, this review should not be heavy-handed. Because we place so much emphasis on student teaching evaluations and student retention, there is an inevitable upward pressure on grades, leading to grade inflation. Overall for the A&S College, lower division grade averages are around 2.5; upper division, around 3.00; graduate, around 3.5. If, over a series of classes, an instructor consistently grades substantially above these averages, it might be wise for the head to discuss standards with him/her.
The Dean’s Office provides the Grade Differential Index (GDI) for each class taught in every department. This index compares the grade averages of students in a class to those received by these students in other class during the same semester. One would certainly expect considerable variation from class to class. But, again, if the instructor consistently awards grades higher than the students are receiving in their other classes, the head may wish to discuss this with the instructor. Copies of the Grade Differential Index are placed in the reappointment packets.
All benefited faculty and academic personnel accrue sick leave and may be eligible for bereavement leave. The sick leave benefit is earned at the rate of 8 hours per month of service. The benefit should be used when it applies. Remind your academic personnel to report sick leave when it is used.
Short-term or emergency leaves with pay, leaves without pay, sabbatical leaves and professional development leaves are topics of Chapter 5 in the Trustees' Regulations http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/legal/trustreg/chapv.htm. In general, the deciding factor in granting leaves is the benefit to the university.
This regulation states, in part, “a. Emergency or Short-term Leave With Pay. When one finds it necessary to be absent from regular duties at the University for a period not exceeding two (2) weeks, s/he shall secure approval from the immediate supervisor for the absence. A temporary Leave for more than two (2) weeks, but not to exceed four (4) weeks, may be granted for good cause upon written recommendation of the appropriate administrative superior and with the approval of the President.
An individual making application for such Leave should submit a statement suggesting a plan for carrying on his/her work during the absence. Any Leave in excess of four (4) weeks, except for illness, shall require approval by the Trustees.”
Leave without pay may be granted normally for no more than one year. The university has become increasingly reluctant to grant leave without pay unless related to academic development. Faculty should not make concrete plans for a leave without pay before it is approved by Academic Affairs.
A document outlining these specifics can be found in the faculty leaves.doc. Please note that the Trustee Regulations cite “regular duties,” which for nearly all faculty are teaching, advising, research, and service (committee work, etc.). The completion of these duties implies on-campus presence during the academic year (or other term of appointment). There may be cases where a faculty member, with departmental approval, adjusts his/her teaching responsibilities to free-up a semester for specific research or other appropriate activities. These situations fall within the “gray area.” However, if a faculty member is not teaching but remains on campus to be available for advising, committee work, and general availability to students, the faculty member probably would not be required to seek a formal leave. However, if the faculty member is off campus for more than two weeks, a formal request for leave must be submitted.
Directions for sabbatical and professional development leave appear in early fall with a dean's office deadline near the end of September (see Sabbatical Guidelines memo.doc and Sabbatical-memo.doc). The application form is available on the forms page from Academic Affairs at http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/AcadAffairs/Forms/index.asp. The department head's supporting letter must specify how teaching will be replaced and the budget. The Central Committee recommends a ranking of the sabbatical applications to the dean. The committee listed the following preferences to guide its ranking:
Well-written and understandable proposals, which include specific plans.
Full-year sabbaticals.
Cost-effective coverage of applicant’s teaching.
Sabbaticals in which the applicant will not reside on his/her home campus. Evidence of formal connections with another institution will be viewed positively.
If applicant has received previous sabbaticals, evidence of subsequent accomplishments resulting from the sabbatical or sabbaticals.
Applicant’s academic accomplishments.
The Central Committee will be sensitive to the needs of faculty couples and family situations.
As a result of Academic Plan II Action Item 43 (which states that International Student Services will develop a comprehensive institutional approach that resolves issues of workers compensation and supplementary health insurance for employees temporarily assigned to work abroad) a process has been established whereby UW employees are mandated to notify the Office of Risk Management whenever traveling abroad for work-related efforts. The department head is responsible for assuring that their personnel comply. Refer to the Risk Management web site and the International Programs web site and click on faculty/foreign travel for links to the appropriate on-line notification processes.
The consulting policy of the university allows nine-month faculty to consult 39 days per academic year as long as consulting does not interfere with the faculty member's duties and responsibilities at the university. (See the Trustees' Regulations Chapter 7.) Request permission to consult BEFORE consulting begins using the forms included in the Policies Governing Outside Consulting and Other Professional Work document. These forms with directions are available on the Academic Affairs web site. The head is responsible for approving the request and signing this form before sending it to the Dean's Office.
Information on supplemental pay and consulting rules should be included in offer letters. The Practical Guide document may be enclosed as an attachment. In particular, fiscal year hires need to understand that they are not eligible for supplemental pay from the university. There are very limited circumstances in which an exception may be granted on a non-recurring basis. Note that this rule applies to everyone who is here on a full-time fiscal year appointment, whether tenure track or non-tenure track, visiting professor or distinguished chair, etc.
In compliance with UniReg 178 and Trustee Regulation VII.D.7., rules have been developed for use and reimbursement for the use of university facilities in Information Circular 1996-1.
Along with consulting, conflict of commitment sometimes becomes a problem and needs to be addressed. Conflict of commitment is addressed in a policy statement Policies Governing Outside Consulting and Other Professional Work which includes the form to obtain approval for outside consulting (answer Section D). The head is responsible for signing the consulting form before it is sent to the Dean's Office. The form states that the project is in compliance with Unireg 172, Conflict of Commitment.
Contact persons: Oliver Walter, Dean (owalter@uwyo.edu), Merrie McElreath (merrie@uwyo.edu), or Sharon Brown, Staff Assistant, (sbrown@uwyo.edu)
As funds permit, the university finances base-salary awards. The guidelines for merit salary decisions vary from year to year. But, in general, these decisions are made on the basis of faculty performance and comparison within a discipline. Historically, heads rank academic personnel and staff, and forward those recommendations to the dean.
Promotions. Ten percent increases to the base-salary are automatically awarded to faculty and academic professionals who are promoted (i.e., from assistant to associate professor and AP, from associate to full professor, and associate AP to senior AP).
Counter-Offers. In rare circumstances, base-salary adjustments may be considered if a faculty/academic professional receives an offer from another institution of the same or higher standing as UW. Negotiations for counter-offers are the purview of the dean. The head should contact the dean.
The college strives to award extraordinary merit awards in three categories—research, teaching, and advising—each year. These carry cash bonuses of $1,000. Department heads are strongly encouraged to nominate deserving candidates.
Department heads nominate eligible faculty, academic professionals, and staff (staff given advising responsibilities are eligible for nomination). All nominations are due in Dean’s Office in early fall semester. Specific guidelines can be found at Extra Merit Memo. These awards are one-time payments — they are not added to the salary base.
The rules for retirement and Emeritus/Emeriti status for faculty appear in Section VII of the Trustees Regulations
http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/legal/trustreg/chapvii.htm. Any employee who has completed twenty-five (25) years of service with the university or who has attained the age of 60 with fifteen (15) years of immediately preceding university service or who elects an early retirement program authorized by a state statute shall be designated “Retired” at the time of retiring. This retirement often is referred to as a "Board Retirement."
Board Retirement
The benefits for a Board Retiree are described in http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/HRBenefits/brdretireben.htm These benefits apply to both academic personnel and staff.
Emeritus/Emeriti Status
The Trustees' Regulations in Section VII http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/legal/trustreg/chapvii.htm also define "emeritus" status for academic personnel. The emeritus designation may be conferred upon academic personnel who retire after long and distinguished service to the university. For faculty, minimal qualifications normally will include tenure, associate rank, fifteen (15) years of service, and extraordinary performance in one or more of the following: teaching, advising, research/creative endeavors, professional and/or public service, or administration at the University of Wyoming. For academic professionals, minimal qualifications normally will include an extended-term appointment, associate rank, fifteen (15) years of service, and extraordinary performance in one or more areas of their job duties. See modifications to the policies governing emeritus status approved by the UW Board of Trustees January 2003.
Nominations for emeritus status are initiated by the department head and/or dean; the nomination shall then be forwarded through the appropriate university officers who add their recommendations. The President shall then forward his/her recommendation to the Trustees.
Distinguished Emeritus Professorship
The college has established the A&S Distinguished Emeritus Professorship to honor an eminent faculty member's career of exceptional contributions in research, teaching, and/or service. A faculty member preparing to retire or recently retired, who wishes to continue his/her research, teaching, or service activity for at least one more year is eligible. All nominations are due in the Dean's Office by March 30 for consideration for the following academic year. The award carries a $1,000 honorarium, and the department receives $1,000. The specific guidelines can be found at Distinguished Emeritus Professorship.
Rules adopted by the Trustees make it possible for academic personnel and staff to retire and return at less than half-time in the same position. The rules are described in documents at http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/HRBenefits/reemploymentretireerule12.htm. Persons interested in retirement should consult the Retirement Section of the Human Resources Department (X6-2437).
The retiree and the department head should work on a written plan for work during a maximum, two-year period. The written plan must then be submitted to the dean for approval. The appointment may be renewed.