University of Puget Sound
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FACULTY CODE
Revised: October 2, 1997

CHAPTER II - APPOINTMENT AND PROMOTION

PART A - APPOINTMENTS

Section 1 - General Rules

Rules governing all appointments are:

  1. Faculty members are appointed on the basis of their qualifications as professionals in their fields.

  2. The terms and conditions of faculty appointment shall be as provided in this faculty code and as contained in an annual written contract signed by the president or the dean, and by the faculty member. This code and the contract shall comprise the entire agreement between the parties. Extensions or modifications of the terms of an appointment or special understandings shall be in writing and become part of the contract. In case the provisions of a contract conflict with this code, the contract shall control. Specific exceptions to the code shall be identified in the contract and be made known to the faculty member and the head officer.

  3. Schools, departments and programs shall develop criteria for all faculty appointments and work closely with the president and the dean in developing policies in this area.

Section 2 - Categories of Faculty

  1. Tenure-line faculty members are those appointed to the ranks of assistant professor, associate professor, or professor, who are eligible for reappointment and promotion to higher rank, and ordinarily are eligible for tenure consideration.

    1. A non-tenured appointment is subject to renewal on an annual basis. Initial tenure-line faculty appointments are usually without tenure.

    2. A tenured appointment is continuous unless terminated for reasons specified in Chapter V (p.20)

  2. Non-tenure-line faculty are all those persons who have teaching responsibilities but are not classified as tenure-line faculty. Persons appointed as instructor, emeritus faculty, adjunct faculty, visiting faculty, lecturers, or other positions that might be created pursuant to Section 1.c above are normally to be considered non-tenure-line faculty. Non-tenure-line faculty are appointed on a contract basis. Such contractual relations may continue indefinitely but shall not lead to tenure. Utilization of non-tenure-line faculty positions shall be periodically reviewed by the Academic Standards Committee. (See Appendix A (p.29) for memo of understanding on utilization of instructors and other non-tenure-line faculty.)

    1. Instructors are full-time or part-time faculty members who are employed essentially as teachers, normally to teach lower level or prerequisite courses.

    2. Emeritus faculty are retired faculty members. Some may be designated to teach by the Board of Trustees upon being nominated by the dean, after being recommended to the dean by the faculty member's department or school.

    3. Visiting faculty are temporary faculty members, who may be appointed visitors in any rank for a specified period.

    4. Lecturers are those persons appointed, usually part-time and usually temporarily, to fill specific needs in the curriculum.

    5. Adjunct professors are those persons who, because of particular professional skills and stature, are appointed to specific teaching and/or research responsibilities. This appointment may be honorary, and may be continuous at the discretion of the university.

Section 3 - Initial Appointment

  1. Initial faculty appointments at the university may be for periods of one, two, or three years.

  2. Qualifications for initial appointment are training appropriate to the position to be filled, promise in teaching, successful participation in professional activities, and personal qualities conducive to success in performing the duties for which appointed. (See Section 1, c. p.7.)

Section 4 - Initial Appointment Procedure

Initial appointment is made by the president after the following actions have been taken.

  1. Before the search begins, the head officer (refers to a department chairperson, school director, director of a program or a dean of a school) must consult the dean concerning: (1) The level of the appointment; (2) appropriate salary range and fringe benefits; (3) a job description, including the areas of expertise needed and course load; and (4) possible recruitment activities, attempting to identify recruitment sources which might effectively generate minority and female candidates in addition to traditional recruitment sources.

  2. When the dean has approved the search, the head officer advises the Director of Human Resources and Affirmative Action3 of the need to begin a search, presenting the position description (a. (3) above) to be used for the position vacancy announcement and the proposed recruitment plan (a. (4) above). The Human Resources Office4 will prepare and distribute all position vacancy announcements and will place advertisements in newspapers or professional publications. If the head officer and/or other members of the department send letters to colleagues requesting referrals, copies of these letters should be forwarded to the Human Resources Office for recruitment documentation.

  3. When a head officer is to be hired, the dean, in consultation with the school/department, may designate a search committee. In a large department/school, a search committee may be designated from within the department/school. In a small department/school, the dean, in consultation with the department/school, may augment department/school personnel with other faculty.

  4. Candidates will be advised to submit their credentials to the Human Resources Office. The Human Resources Office will record relevant data for auditing purposes, forward the credentials to the head officer or chairperson of a search committee and send letters acknowledging receipt of credentials to the candidates.

  5. The department/school or search committee shall submit the files of the top eight to ten candidates in the order of priority to the dean for his review; the dean will then meet with the head officer or search committee chairperson to select the top three or four candidates for interview.

  6. The head officer or chairperson of the search committee should make arrangements for campus interviews of the top candidates. The schedule is to include: (1) An open talk/lecture on campus; (2) meetings with members of the department, interested members in related departments, students in the department, the benefits coordinator in the Human Resources Office, the dean and the president; and (3) an informal meeting open to all members of the university community.

  7. The head officer or search committee chairperson, in consultation with department faculty and students, should select an individual and make a recommendation to the dean and the president. The president shall normally adopt the recommendation of the head officer or search committee chairperson. If such adoption is not forthcoming, the president shall forward the reason for not doing so to the school, department, program or search committee. After further review, the head officer or search committee chairperson shall resubmit a recommendation from the school, department, program or search committee. The president will be responsible for the final decision.

  8. When the employment process is complete, all candidates' credentials are to be returned to the Human Resources Office. If offers of employment are made to more than one person, candidates' reasons for nonacceptance of the offers are to be documented as well as reasons for not hiring candidates interviewed but not offered employment. All search-related data will be maintained by the Human Resources Office for two years as required by federal law.

Section 5 - Reappointment

Tenure-line faculty members serving on non-tenured appointments shall be considered for reappointment during the term of appointment. If the decision is reached not to reappoint, notification will be given in writing at the earliest possible time, and in accordance with the following standards:

  1. Not later than March 1 of the first academic year of service, if the appointment expires at the end of that year; or, if one-year appointment terminates during the academic year, at least three months in advance of its termination.

  2. Not later than December 15 of the second academic year of service, if the appointment expires at the end of that year; or, if an initial two-year appointment terminates during an academic year, at least six months in advance of its termination.

  3. At least twelve months before the expiration of an appointment after two or more years in the institution.

Section 6 - Grounds for Non-Reappointment

The university may refuse to reappoint non-tenured faculty for any reason not forbidden by this faculty code. (See especially Chapter II, Part A, Section 1a. (p.7) and Chapter III, Section 2a.(3) (p.11). Upon written request by faculty members who are not reappointed, the dean shall inform them in writing of the reason they were not reappointed.

PART B - PROMOTION

Section 1 - Times for Promotion

Tenure-line faculty are normally considered for promotion to the next higher rank at the following points in their time of service at the University of Puget Sound.

  1. Assistant professors, during their sixth year in that rank at the university; and

  2. Associate professors, during their sixth year in that rank at the university.

Section 2 - Special Situations

Leaves of absence are generally included in computing time for promotion provided that the work done on leave has a direct correlation to one's academic and professional responsibilities. This procedure must be approved in advance by the faculty member's head officer and the dean.

Section 3 - Criteria for Promotion

Faculty promotion shall be based upon the quality of a person's performance of academic duties. Specifically, decisions whether to promote shall be based upon the quality of the faculty member's performance in the following areas, listed in order of importance: (1) teaching; (2) professional growth; (3) advising students; (4) participation in university service; and (5) community service related to professional interests and expertise. Because the university seeks the highest standards for faculty advancement, mere satisfactory performance is no guarantee of promotion. In addition, appointment in the rank of associate professor and professor normally requires a doctoral, or other equivalent terminal degree. Advancement to the rank of full professor is contingent upon evidence of distinguished service in addition to sustained growth in the above-mentioned areas. Promotion shall be made only after evaluation of the faculty member in the manner provided in Chapter III of this code.

Section 4 - Early Consideration for Promotion

A faculty member who wishes early promotion and believes grounds exist for it shall request it in writing to the head officer and the dean. The dean shall then initiate the evaluation proceedings.

3 Editorial change effective 11/10/94

4 Editorial change effective 11/10/94

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