I. Roles and Responsibilities of Faculty Members

Preface

Faculty members play a special role in the life of the University as teachers, mentors, scholars, and participants in academic governance.  The terms of their appointments and duties are different from those of other University employees.  The following sections explain the different kinds of faculty appointments and the duties of faculty members.

Appointments

There are five faculties of the University: Arts and Sciences, Business, Leadership, Law, and Continuing Studies. Each shall consist of the President, the Provost, the Dean (as appropriate), and all with faculty rank as Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, or Instructor, including librarians and directors who hold faculty status, and not including faculty members holding visiting or part-time appointments.

Full-time faculty members are appointed in a department or school where their responsibilities include full-time teaching, advising, scholarship, and service to the University (unless temporarily assigned other tasks approved by their dean or the Provost).  Certain benefits, such as eligibility for tenure, are restricted to members of the full-time faculty as explained elsewhere in this handbook.

Faculty rank, as Instructor, Assistant or Associate Professor, or Professor, is given in a specific department or school to those whose primary responsibilities are teaching, advising, and scholarship.  Other individuals may be appointed to teach full-time or part-time on term or temporary appointments for a stated period of time. Such individuals may be assigned faculty rank as an adjunct or visiting member of the faculty.  In the School of Arts & Sciences there are a number of faculty with the title of Director. Such individuals are affiliated with an academic department and teach in that department, although they may have a job description that involves a mixture of teaching and administrative duties. They are not eligible for sabbaticals, but otherwise have benefits similar to those of other full-time faculty.

Professional librarians hold faculty status.  Certain other positions directly involved in academic programs may hold faculty status by action of the faculty following the recommendation of the Committee on Faculty Status.  Faculty status gives them both voice and vote in University faculty meetings, eligibility to serve on faculty committees, to serve as student advisors, and to participate in P.E.T.E. programs; and it acknowledges that they play an active role in the intellectual activities of the University.  By action of its faculty, any school may include professional librarians as part of its faculty.  Faculty status does not carry with it eligibility for tenure or sabbatical, nor does it automatically carry with it faculty rank (Professor, Associate, Assistant Professor, or Instructor), since faculty rank is in a specific academic department, nor does it carry eligibility for other benefits normally assigned to full-time teaching faculty.

Part-time faculty shall consist of those persons who are hired on a semester basis or less, and who contract to teach courses which are specified in their letters of appointment.  The total number of credit hours taught at the University in one semester by a part-time faculty member cannot equal or exceed the number of credit hours defined as a full-time, normal teaching load.

Duties and Responsibilities of the Faculty Members

Each faculty member is expected to maintain the highest personal standards of character and conduct, to keep abreast of his or her academic discipline through continuing study, research, and/or participation in the activities of his or her professional organization, to strive to improve the effectiveness of his or her teaching, to take a sympathetic interest in the progress and development of each of his or her students, to keep accurate records of academic standing of each student in his or her classes, and to hand in promptly all reports of grades and other information required by the deans, the Registrar, the Provost, or the President.

Each faculty member is expected to meet his or her classes as regularly scheduled.  In case any faculty member is kept from his or her duties by illness or other disability, the faculty member must inform the chair of the department and/or the appropriate dean in advance, if possible, so that arrangements may be made for assignments or a substitute instructor.  If a faculty member finds it necessary to incur an extended absence from his or her regular duties, the faculty member must seek approval from his or her dean.  In addition, each faculty member is expected to maintain adequate office hours so that he or she may be available to the students for conferences.  Each faculty member is expected to participate in the faculty-student advisory program.

Each faculty member is expected to attend all meetings of the University faculty and the faculty of the school in which the member teaches, to attend commencements and convocations, to serve loyally and diligently on faculty committees, to assist the chair and colleagues of the member's department in carrying out the program of the department, and to cooperate fully with the trustees, the President, the Provost, and the deans in promoting all the interests of the University.

Each faculty member is expected to continue to teach until the end of the session for which his or her services were engaged.  Any faculty member who wishes release from his or her obligation to teach for the following session is expected to make a written request to his or her dean, usually by April 15th preceding the opening of the next session.

During the regular academic session faculty members must secure the approval of the Provost whenever they assume additional work for which they receive compensation (other than modest honoraria for activities directly related to their scholarly work.).  This is normally allowed provided they do not engage in any occupations that conflict with their University duties, reflect poorly upon the University, or require more than the equivalent of one day per week.  No faculty member may run for or hold political office without prior consultation with and consent of the President.