3359-9-02. General academic and administrative personnel matters

(A) Categories of full-time faculty. The full-time faculty of the university of Akron comprises all university employees who have been appointed as full-time faculty by the board of trustees. The following constitute categories of full-time faculty of the university of Akron and the responsibilities of those within each category:

(1) Regular faculty.

(a) The regular faculty is composed of all full-time faculty who have been awarded indefinite tenure or are eligible to be awarded indefinite tenure. Such faculty hold the rank of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, or the title of distinguished professor.

(b) Members of the regular faculty generally have a full range of responsibilities, including teaching, research, scholarship and other creative professional work, and service to the unit, the university and the public.

(2) Non-tenure-track bargaining unit faculty.

(a) Non-tenure-track bargaining unit faculty are full-time faculty who are not regular faculty and subject to the collective bargaining agreement. expectation for these faculty positions is that they will continue as long as the university identifies the need for them, and that if the university's needs or goals change, such positions may be modified or eliminated. These faculty, some of who may hold a three-year appointment, may reasonably expect that they will not be terminated without just cause. However, satisfactory performance cannot guarantee reappointment.

(b) These non-tenure-track faculty are categorized into three rank levels. The initial ranks are college lecturer and instructor, the intermediate ranks are associate college lecturer and associate instructor, and the highest ranks are senior college lecturer and senior instructor. Faculty holding a college lecturer rank shall primarily have teaching duties, while faculty holding an instructor rank shall have teaching duties as well as service and/or research duties appropriate to the current needs of the academic unit. The specific duties of college lecturers and instructors shall be specified clearly in the appointment letter.

(c) In particular, the instructional load for college lecturers includes instructional support activities related to a specific course, with a limit of three different course preparations per semester. Instructional support activities include lecture preparation, assignment preparation and grading, holding office hours, supervising recitation instructors associated with the course, and similar activities. Activities that are not assignable to college lecturers include student advising and laboratory administration. Non-tenure-track bargaining unit faculty required to engage in these or other activities, such as scholarly research or college level service committees, must be classified as instructors and must receive an appropriate teaching load credit to support those activities.

(3) Other non-tenure-track non-bargaining unit faculty. The non-tenure-track non-bargaining unit faculty comprises all adjunct, temporary, visiting, research, and school of law faculty, including clinical professors of law and professors of legal writing.

(a) Clinical professors of law and professors of legal writing. Such faculty hold the title of clinical professor of law, associate clinical professor of law, assistant clinical professor of law, professor of legal writing, associate professor of legal writing, or assistant professor of legal writing. The expectation for these faculty positions is that they will continue as long as the university identifies the need for them, and that if the university's needs or goals change, such positions may be modified or eliminated.

(b) Research faculty. Such faculty hold the title of research professor, associate research professor, or assistant research professor. The expectation for these faculty positions is that they will continue as long as the university identifies the needs for them, and that if the university's needs or goals change, such positions may be modified or eliminated.

(c) Similar titles and expectations for adjunct, temporary and visiting faculty positions shall exist.

(B) Appointments and tenure.

Without limiting the authority of the board as conferred and defined by law to act in such matters upon its own motion, the following principles and rules shall govern the appointment and position status of university faculty:

(1) University faculty shall be appointed by the board upon recommendation of the president of the university. The appointment shall normally be for an initial period of one year, but the board may make the initial period longer than the first year in appropriate circumstances, as determined by the board.

(2) Non-tenure-track bargaining unit faculty and other non-tenure track faculty shall be subject to annual reappointment and shall receive annual notices of reappointment if their continued service is desired, except that the board may grant longer appointments for such faculty as set out below.

(3) The board may grant fixed-term appointments longer than one year to non-tenure-track faculty. During the term of such appointments, these appointments may be terminated only for just cause related to the performance of the incumbent or for programmatic or economic reasons related to the characteristics of the position (as opposed to the characteristics or performance of the incumbent! Except as set out in paragraph (B)(4) of this rule these appointments create no expectation of appointment, and the board may decline to reappoint an incumbent in its sole discretion.

(4) The board may grant fixed-term appointments as set out in paragraph (B)(3) of this rule with a presumption that the incumbent will be reappointed unless the incumbent's performance does not support reappointment or unless the position is terminated for programmatic or economic reasons. Such appointments do not constitute tenure and do not establish any of the rights or protections of tenure beyond the rights or protections described in paragraphs (B)(3) and (B)(4) of this rule.

(5) The period of one year means that the faculty member has an academic year appointment unless otherwise noted and the faculty member's services are required according to the period specified in paragraph (F) of this rule.

(C) Academic administrators with faculty status:

(1) Faculty status for administrators.

(a) University of Akron faculty members who assume administrative positions within the university shall retain an academic appointment in a department, school, or college in which they have been granted indefinite tenure.

(b) Persons who are recruited by the university to serve exclusively or primarily in the academic administrative positions may also be granted an appointment at appropriate academic rank in the department, or. where appropriate, school, or college of their discipline. They may also apply for indefinite tenure in that faculty position.

(2) The search committee for the administrative position shall present the full vita of each finalist to the tenure committee of the department that the search committee deems suitable and give the department committee an opportunity to interview the candidate. A professorial appointment in that department shall not be made without the concurrence of the departmental tenure committee and (with the exception of the appointment of a dean of the same college) the dean of the college.

(3) If an administrative academic appointment is made, the administrator may apply to the departmental tenure committee for indefinite tenure. The procedures to be followed shall be those adopted by that department or. where appropriate, school, or college, for its faculty members, but the following criteria shall be taken into consideration:

(a) Because the administrator has been performing other duties since leaving a full-time teaching/research assignment, the record of accomplishment in the discipline shall be judged in comparison with faculty members with similar years of academic experience at the time when the administrator left a full-time teaching/research assignment.

(b) Because an administrator may not be current with recent developments in the academic discipline, the committee shall consider if the candidate could function as a typical member of that department within one year after relinquishing the administrative appointment.

(D) Evaluations. Evaluations of the competencies of each faculty member are made at least annually to determine effectiveness in the performance of duties, and these evaluations shall be transmitted to the faculty member by the department chair or dean. These evaluations are based upon the evidence of appropriate scholarship, the quality of teaching, professional demeanor, the amount and value of continued advanced study, the worth of research and publications, professional recognition received, and service to the university and community.

Replaces: 3359-9-02

Effective: 2/1/2015
Promulgated Under: 111.15
Statutory Authority: 3359
Rule Amplifies: 3359
Prior Effective Dates: 11/04/77, 11/27/79, 01/30/87, 12/22/89, 07/20/90, 05/22/91, 09/21/95, 08/09/96, 09/15/98, 10/14/01, 06/25/07, 10/22/10, 11/12/11