Auxiliary Faculty Reappointments
Deadline: April 2, 2012
All auxiliary faculty appointments are subject to University Policies 6-300, 6-302, and 6-310. Policy 6-300 provides that appointments to the auxiliary faculty are for limited terms only. All auxiliary faculty appointments end automatically each June 30 unless the appointment is made by means of a written contract for a fixed term of up to five years. Departments may choose not to reappoint auxiliary track faculty members at the end of each year in the absence of such a contract, or at the end of a multi-year contract. Most auxiliary faculty appointments (Adjunct, Clinical, Lecturer, Research, and Visiting) are made for one year at a time. Thus most of the current (2011-12) auxiliary faculty appointments are scheduled to end on June 30, 2012(see University Regulations 6-310). To have these appointments approved by senior administrators, the Senate, and Trustees by that time, we need your appointments in my office by April 2, 2012.
The existing data and business processes within the PeopleSoft system have enabled us to streamline and improve the auxiliary faculty reappointment process. Rather than receiving from us a spreadsheet of your current auxiliary faculty to start the reappointment process, you can now run a Peoplesoft query and produce your own list.
You will need access to the Human Resources Information Library (HRIL) to run your auxiliary faculty query. If you are a payroll reporter for your department/unit you already have this access. If you do not have access to the Human Resources Information Library please contact your HR Representative who will help you obtain access to HRIL so that you may run your queries.
PROCESS:
1. Departments will access the HRIL and run the following query: AUXILIARY FACULTY TABLE. This query should generate an accurate and current report of all auxiliary faculty appointments within your department as represented in Peoplesoft.
a. LOG IN TO CIS
b. Locate the “HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT” applet
c. Click on “Human Resources Information Library”
d. Open the “FACULTY” folder
e. Click on AUXILIARY FACULTY TABLE query.
- Use this report to prepare a ballot for the faculty vote, adding new faculty hires, the new rank of auxiliary faculty recommended for promotion, and the new category of any auxiliary faculty changing categories, e.g., from Lecturer to Adjunct or vice versa. You may also delete the names of currently listed faculty who will not be reappointed for reasons other than poor performance. In accord with University Policy 6-310, the department should have followed a process established in a college or department policy to review the credentials of new hires and the performance of faculty to be considered for reappointment, reappointment at a higher rank, or non-reappointment due to low performance. The results of that review process should inform the faculty vote on each individual on the ballot. According to Policy 6-302, the vote should be a secret ballot. If you have questions about the performance review or voting process, contact Jennifer Allie at Jennifer.Allie@hsc.utah.edu
- Once the faculty and the department chair have made their recommendations on each individual, please use the auxiliary codes located on Table 1 below to identify the status of each faculty member on your report. Please list new hires at the bottom of your report for voting.
- Once suggested changes are approved to the annual auxiliary faculty list you will need to complete an e-form to make all of the necessary corrections/additions/or non-renewals. In comments on e-form please indicate date of faculty vote and action requested (e.g. non-reappointment, promotion, MY contract). For all categories with the exception of the Reappointment (R) status, you must include supporting documentation on the EFORM as outlined in Table 1 below. Reappointment (R) [continue in same status] does not require an e-form or any documentation.
- Following submission and approval of all e-forms, you will need to run a subsequent HRIL Auxiliary Reappointment Table report which should now reflect the changes made as part of the auxiliary reappointment process for 2012-13.
- Once you have verified that all changes to faculty status, ranks, names, etc. have been made in the Peoplesoft system email copy of final report signed by Dean and chair to Janette.Cundey@hsc.utah.edu before April 2, 2012.
- If you have faculty with multi-year contracts please attach copies of the multi-year contracts to the final list.
- Non-renewals (NR) will still need to be ended on FYSC.
The final auxiliary report submitted to the Office of Faculty and Academic Affairs serves as the sole verification of appointments for which e-forms would not be routed through Academic Affairs (e.g., changes in pay or FTE for faculty being reappointed in the same rank and category as this year). We would like to remind you that the policies governing appointment, promotion, and renewal of auxiliary faculty also requires you to report the date of the vote by the Department Faculty Appointments Advisory Committee and the actual vote on each of the faculty members appointed. (UREG 6-302, http://www.regulations.utah.edu/academics/6-302.html).
To assist you in the departmental voting process, we have worked with the MBM office to allow for an online vote. If you wish to use the MBM system, please follow the following steps:
- Export query to Excel.
- Add new hires to excel report. If you have faculty that you feel should be on the current report, but are not added, please add them to the list for vote.
- If you are proposing Multi-Year contracts for any faculty please add end date reflecting the term of this contract.
- Change rank in report for those that you are proposing promotion.
- Indicate NR on those faculty that are not going to be re-appointed
- Email file to mbmoffice@hsc.utah.edu.
- MBM will upload the file in E-Survey to automatically generate a ballot that you can send to all voting faculty within your department. The MBM Office will notify you when the upload is complete and is ready for your use.
- Notify the MBM Office when the vote is complete. Votes will be tallied into a final report and sent to you.
Notice of Non-reappointment
In this continuing period of tight budgets, it is especially important to be aware of University Policy 6-311, which states: “Any auxiliary instructional faculty member (lecturer or clinical) who has served as a faculty member on a full-time basis continuously for three or more years shall be given at least three months notice of non-renewal of appointment unless particular contractual provisions otherwise govern.” For most faculty members with July 1-June 30 appointments, this means they must receive written notice no later than March 31. I highly recommend both a written notice and a personal conversation in this situation to minimize the chances of misunderstanding and also convey the bad news as humanely as possible. I also urge you to give as much prior notice as possible to auxiliary faculty who are not formally covered by this policy if you are not reappointing them.
Required Documentation
Offer Letters
We urge you to use written offer letters to all new and returning auxiliary faculty members because that is the best way to avoid misunderstandings about the terms of employment or unpaid appointments. For paid auxiliary faculty it is essential to have an offer letter stating their terms of employment and pay, which the faculty member signs and accepts. It is especially important to note when faculty members’ appointments are contingent on the availability of funds. Stating the expectation of satisfactory performance is especially important when appointments run for more than one year. Even with unpaid multi-year appointments there may be expectations to articulate that constitute the reason for the appointment. The Faculty Development website includes some sample offer letters for auxiliary faculty for you to individualize (http://www.admin.utah.edu/facdev/sample_docs/aux-fac-one-year-offer.doc) and an employment agreement that spells out broad terms of university policy (http://www.admin.utah.edu/facdev/sample_docs/aux-fac-employment-agreement.doc). Offer letters and more information for the School of Medicine appear at http://medicine.utah.edu/facultyadmin/forms/index.htm
Background Check
New employees subject to the Criminal Background Check requirement (.75 FTE or more for faculty or academic staff) must legally have written notice of it at the time they are offered employment. Thus, all offers of employment to new covered faculty must include the following language:
Utah state law requires the university to perform a background check on new employees. This offer of employment is conditioned upon your successfully passing a pre-employment criminal background check.
The Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs has agreed to pay the cost of the background check for full-time instructional (but not Research) faculty in most departments and colleges. In the School of Medicine the cost is borne by the departments.
Letters of Recommendation
We have reviewed the requirement for letters of recommendation for the Colleges of Health, Pharmacy, Nursing, and Eccles Library with the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs for clarity and rationale. The School of Medicine should refer to requirements for letters of recommendation as listed on the SOM Faculty Administration website.
For the Colleges of Health, Pharmacy, Nursing, and Eccles Library, all paid auxiliary faculty appointments still require two letters of recommendation for initial hire, reappointment at a higher rank, or change from Adjunct to any of the other categories. The purpose of letters of recommendation is to document that persons proposed for appointment to the University of Utah faculty are respected by external peers as well as the internal peers who are voting for their appointment. While this requirement may seem different from references submitted by candidates in a competitive search, that we do not currently require competitive searches for auxiliary faculty appointments makes the verification of professional reputation all the more important for maintaining the high quality of University of Utah faculty. Please discuss appropriate sources of letters of recommendation with prospective faculty members. These might include graduate program advisors or colleagues in professional associations, as well as relevant previous employers and disciplinary colleagues. The letters should be signed and on letterhead; PDFs are fine.
Under all but extraordinary circumstances, both letters of recommendation for appointments in Academic Affairs departments must come from outside of the appointing department. In the case of paid Adjunct appointments, one of the two letters may come from within the University of Utah. For other auxiliary categories, the department may request waiver of the requirement for two letters from outside of the University in the circumstance that the proposed faculty appointee has conducted all of his or her recent professional activity within the University of Utah. The burden rests on the department (using the comment box provided in the e-form) to make such a case based on the appointee’s CV. The burden of proof is especially high for initial appointments above the rank of Assistant Professor.
New appointments and/or promotions in rank will receive a letter of notification from the President. If the department does not receive a copy of a presidential letter for a new appointment, please contact Heather Call. Please recall that a letter will not be sent by our office for individuals who are recommended for reappointment in the same rank. The only university-level notification will be included in the comprehensive list distributed electronically to deans and department chairs in July. Each college or department, however, is expected to provide its own notice to reappointed faculty, especially if paid, and retain a copy of those letters in the department.
Please remember that the proper title for a person hired to teach a course, but who is neither appointed to the faculty nor a current graduate student, is Associate Instructor. “Adjunct Instructor” is a faculty title, appropriate for someone who is formally appointed to the faculty, whose primary professional affiliation is not at the University of Utah or in the appointing department, and who lacks the educational or professional credentials to be appointed as Adjunct Assistant Professor.” Also please remember that the category "Visiting" should not be used for an individual for longer than three years.
Please submit the final HRIL report with date of vote and tally of votes for each faculty member signed by your Department Chair and Dean in PDF format via email to Janette.Cundey@hsc.utah.edu. Both Chair and Dean (unless single-department college) need to sign and date the final report, indicating their approval of all the 2012-13 auxiliary faculty appointments.
The electronic copy of your final reports for 2012-13auxiliary faculty appointments with Chair and Dean signatures are due to our office before April 2, 2012. If you have a conflict with this due date, please contact Jennifer as soon as possible.
If you have any questions concerning the preparation of your 2012-13 auxiliary faculty appointments (to be effective July 1, 2012), please contact Janette Cundey at 587-7882.