Specialized Faculty Task Force Report – Final

Appendix 2:  Survey Of Other Campus Unit Bylaws

LAS — http://www.las.illinois.edu/faculty/policy/bylaws/

No explicit mention of clinical faculty, but it states the Dean can appoint non-tenured instructors to the Faculty on the advice of the executive committee (see below, emphasis is mine):

“III. MEMBERSHIP AND VOTING RIGHTS

1. The Faculty consists of those members of the academic staff who are tenured or receiving probationary credit toward tenure, with the rank or title in the College of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, the Dean, the President, the Chancellor, the Provost, Directors of Schools within the College, and such other members of the University Faculty as the Chancellor may assign thereto. Administrative staff are members of the Faculty only if they also hold such faculty appointments. The Dean of the College, on the advice of the College Executive Committee, may add to the Faculty a representative of any other department or group as may be entitled to representation by virtue of participation in the program of instruction in the College. In making this appointment, the Dean will consult with the executive officer of the department or group thus entitled to representation. The Executive Committee of the College, in consultation with the Dean and in accordance with University Statutes shall determine the Faculty membership and voting rights of those with academic rank or title in the College who are not tenured or receiving probationary credit toward tenure.
2. All members of the Faculty as defined in paragraph A shall be entitled to participate in meetings of the Faculty by voice and by vote.
3. Administrative staff bearing the title of Associate Dean, Assistant Dean, and Associate Director or Assistant Director of a School within the College and who are not included within the definition of members of the faculty in paragraph A, together with Emeritus Faculty, Visiting Faculty, and student representatives on standing committees, shall be accorded voice but not vote at Faculty meetings.

GSLIS — http://www.lis.illinois.edu/about-gslis/policies/bylaws

No explicit mention of clinical faculty, but they mention research faculty.  See emphasis below:

A. Membership

The Faculty consists of the President of the University, the Chancellor and the Provost Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs of the Urbana-Champaign campus, the Dean of the School, and those members of the academic staff of the School with the rank or title of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, or instructor or lecturer who are tenured or receiving probationary credit toward tenure and have an appointment of 50% or more in the School. Other administrative staff, including Associate and Assistant Deans of the School, are members of the Faculty only if they also hold faculty appointments.

The Executive Committee may in exceptional circumstances request faculty approval of annual appointments of other individuals as specified in Article II, Section 3, a2 of the University of Illinois Statutes. Research professors (at any rank) who are not tenured or receiving probationary credit toward tenure also have a vote as members of the faculty. Members of the academic staff with the rank or title in the School of emeritus, visiting, affiliate or adjunct shall have voice but not vote at the meetings of the Faculty. Associate and Assistant Deans of the School who do not hold faculty appointments shall have voice but not vote at meetings of the Faculty. The master’s, CAS, and doctoral students shall each nominate one of their number to represent that group at Faculty meetings.

EDUCATION — https://www.library.illinois.edu/staff/specialized-faculty-task-force-report-final/

Does explicitly mention clinical faculty; but they do not have voting rights.

Membership

1. The following paragraphs define the faculty for purposes of college-wide elections and governance. Departments may adopt more inclusive definitions for purposes of departmental elections and governance.

2. The faculty consists of those members of the academic staff (a) with the rank or title in the College of professor, associate professor, or assistant professor; (b) who are tenured or receiving probationary credit toward tenure; (c) receive part or all of their salary from the College; and (d) may include the Dean, the President, the Chancellor, the Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs, directors of schools within the College, and such other members of the University faculty as the Chancellor may assign thereto. Administrative staff are members of the faculty only if they also hold such faculty appointments.

3. All members of the faculty as defined in paragraph A.2 shall be entitled to participate in meetings of the faculty by voice and by vote.

4. The following non-faculty members may speak at meetings, but not vote: retired faculty members; those with a nonsalaried or nontenure-track appointment in the College or in any unit of the College having the rank or title of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, or instructor, including those with the modifier “clinical,” “research,” “adjunct,” or “visiting”; or assistant or associate deans of the college who are not included within the definition of faculty members in paragraph A.1.

5. All faculty appointments, reappointments, and nonreappointments shall be governed by the Statutes

 

FAA — http://faa.illinois.edu/Faculty+and+Staff/Administration/FAA+Bylaws

Bylaws have some funny language about instructors, lecturers, and APs who also have a professorial title.  Not sure what to make of it, see emphasis below:

III. Faculty and Other Members of the College

The faculty comprises:

1. Persons holding an appointment of fifty percent or more in the College as professor, associate professor, or assistant professor, who are tenured or receiving probationary credit toward tenure.
2. The Dean and Associate and Assistant Deans of the College, provided they also hold appointments with the rank or title of professor, associate professor, or assistant professor and are tenured or receiving probationary credit toward tenure.

Persons holding at least a fifty percent appointment in the College as an instructor; as a lecturer; or as an academic professional who also hold the title professor, associate professor, assistant professor, instructor, or lecturer in the College shall be known as members of the College for purposes of governance and are granted: vote in College elections; voice at College meetings; and eligibility to serve on elected and appointed College committees. This provision does not take precedence over voting privileges as determined by each unit for elections held in those units, but applies only to elections held by the College. Faculty with joint appointments with units inside and/or outside of the College can only be elected and appointed to committees as representatives of their “home” unit on campus (school, department, other).

ENGINEERING

Engineering started a bylaws revision in spring 2015 and will be looking at LAS as one model.  They have used the Research Faculty track for a few years.  Research Faculty can supervise PhD students but aren’t voting members of the faculty.

LAW

Law is in the process of a large scale revision of their bylaws.  Regardless of whether the current process moves forward, the Library will want to review the new revisions as party of the MoU revision process.

SOCIAL WORK –

Social Work is in the process of a large scale revision of their bylaws.  It may be worthwhile to follow-up with them if the Library moves forward.  Social Work does list “Associate” Clinical Faculty in the directories so has made appointments at that rank and may have established a promotional review process.

Appendix 3: Bylaws Committee Report

The Library Bylaws Committee was asked by John Wilkin to review the Library Bylaws in consideration of the new Provost Communication 25 (Employment Guidelines for Specialized Faculty Holding Non-Tenure Systems Positions), Provost Communication 26 (Promotion to Teaching, Research or Clinical Associate or Full Professor Titles), and Provost Communication 27 (Shared Governance for Academic Units).

We are attaching a copy of the Library Bylaws with highlighted text where changes or edits would be required for the inclusion of Specialized Faculty.  During our review, we summarized some comments and questions that may need further discussion by the Specialized Faculty committee and/or the Library faculty.

Overall, we found there were discrepancies in the terms “Library faculty” and simply “faculty”.  Clarification of the terms is recommended across the entire document.

Article III Section 1 Membership and Governance Part B. Extended faculty.

§  Bylaws may need to add “instructor”, “lecturer”, “teaching”, and/or “clinical”

§  Would specialized faculty have voting privileges?

§  Be counted toward a quorum at Library Faculty meetings?

Article V, Section 2, Part A. Executive Committee

§  EC membership is currently only for tenure system faculty as specified in Art. III, Section 1A

§  Effects of EC Divisional representation by Specialized Faculty.

Article VI. Structure

§  Section 1. Part A.  Will Specialized Faculty become part of the one Library faculty structure?

§  Section 2. Part A. Can Specialized Faculty hold Assistant/Associate University Librarian positions?

§  Section 2. Part B.  Staff Director positions?

§  Section 3. Part C.  Division Coordinator positions?

As some of the above positions are directly involved in supervisory or tenure processes, how is that managed?

Article VII. Committees

§  Specialized faculty membership on elected committees: NEVP, Bylaws, AC (see Division Coordinator above).

§  Specialized faculty membership on Appointed Committees:  CDC (and CDC interns)

Specialized faculty membership on committees which are currently based on tenured status (FRC, PTAC, Grievances) need to be addressed.  Provost Communication 25 Section V.  Evaluations specifies policies and procedures for performance evaluations are structured with Provost Communications 21 and 22, but also incorporated into existing unit evaluation processes.

Additionally, Provost Communication 25 Section VI. Grievances indicates that specialized faculty have access to department, unit and campus grievance procedures.

Article X. Mortenson Center

§  Mortensen Center membership is currently only for tenure system faculty (Art. V, Sect. 2, Pt. A)

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Library Bylaws Committee

Karen Hogenboom

Mary Schlembach (chair)

Heather Simmons

 

Appendix 4:  Key excerpts from Communication 25, 26 & 27

COMMUNICATION #25: EMPLOYMENT GUIDELINES FOR SPECIALIZED FACULTY HOLDING NON-TENURE SYSTEMS POSITIONS:

http://provost.illinois.edu/Communication/25/ProvostCommNo25_SpecializedFaculty.pdf

Guiding principles – p. 2

• Departments shall identify the responsibilities and privileges that are appropriate to extend to specialized faculty within their units, given that specialized faculty do not receive the full panoply of statutory rights and privileges afforded to tenure system faculty.
• Departments shall have bylaws that clearly identify the roles, responsibilities, and privileges of specialized faculty.
• To optimize performance and to meet objectives, hiring units must inform specialized faculty what the job duties and performance expectations are for their positions.
• Identifying promotional paths creates opportunities for specialized faculty to invest in long-term careers at Illinois, thereby providing needed stability for these employees and ensuring the high level of excellence required in these positions.

Clinical professorial appointments p. 7

Clinical Faculty:

• Specialized faculty appointments for individuals who provide instruction that draws on and provides specialized knowledge gained from practical experiences in a discipline or profession
• Clinical faculty are focused primarily on teaching both in and out of the classroom, but they may also contribute to the University’s public engagement mission and conduct research.

Offer letters p. 10

Job descriptions can provide greater details about duties and performance expectations, but offer letters must provide at least a general statement of the duties associated with the position. Additional issues that should be addressed either in the offer letter or by separate communication include:

• Service expectations, if any
• Expectations regarding attendance at departmental meetings
• If applicable, expectations regarding office hours and course preparatory time
• Access to office space, staff or other institutional resources

Appointment: p. 11

Typically, the duration of a specialized faculty appointment is for a period of time that is one year or less.⁴ Specialized faculty may, however, be re-appointed on an on-going basis, either for consecutive appointments or as otherwise dictated by the department’s needs. Each reappointment requires an offer letter and a written acceptance from the candidate for the appointment to be processed.

⁴ Multiple year appointments are available under certain circumstances, discussed in more detail in the following section and Provost Communication No. 17.

Pursuant to the University of Illinois Statutes, academic units may develop policies for offering longer employment contracts to certain categories of employees.⁵

⁵ Per University of Illinois Statutes, Article X, Section 1.a. (6-7), certain academic staff eligible for multi-year contracts are defined as Adjunct Faculty (Adjunct Assistant Professor, Adjunct Associate Professor, or Adjunct Professor), Associate (Clinical Associate, Research Associate, including Postdoctoral Research Associate, or Teaching Associate), Clinical Faulty (Clinical Assistant Professor, Clinical Associate Professor, or Clinical Professor), Research Faculty (Research Assistant Professor, Research Associate Professor, Research Professor), Instructor and Lecturer.

Unit involvement and governance p. 13

Tenure system faculty can adopt bylaws that extend certain faculty privileges to non-tenure system academic staff members.

After careful consideration and pursuant to a vote of the tenure system faculty, departments should develop consistent practices and policies related to specialized faculty appointments, including but not limited to, (a) attendance and participation in departmental meetings, (b) eligibility and expectations for service, and (c) participation in curricular discussions and decisions. Departments using the promotional tracks outlined in this document should consider involving specialized faculty in the review process for promotions of specialized faculty members. It is important, however, to ensure that significant tenure system faculty involvement occurs in promotion reviews of specialized faculty and any decisions impacting the academic mission of the unit.

 

COMMUNICATION #26: PROMOTION TO TEACHING, RESEARCH OR CLINICAL ASSOCIATE OR FULL PROFESSOR TITLES:  http://provost.illinois.edu/Communication/26/index.html

Overview p.2

Although these promotions do not include tenure, departments are encouraged to provide multi-year contracts with appointments to the ranks of associate and full teaching, research and clinical professors. Given that these appointments carry with them the title of professor, the University uses a rigorous multi-stage process of review that involves external evaluation for promotion of specialized faculty in these tracks. Each year, academic units determine which specialized faculty members should be considered for promotion. Departments and colleges should be selective in their recommendations to promote faculty. Annual review meetings are an appropriate time to discuss whether and/or when a promotional review should occur.

Each department must develop written criteria and procedures for specialized faculty promotions.…Faculty committees should review and make recommendations regarding promotions at each administrative level, but how faculty committees are constituted is left to the discretion of the unit and should be outlined in the unit bylaws, policies and procedural documents. Those governing unit documents should set the unit schedule for preparation and review of promotions. Units should consider involving specialized faculty in the review process but, as noted in Provost Communication No. 25, it is important to ensure that significant tenure system faculty involvement occurs in promotion reviews of specialized faculty

General Guidelines for Promotion p.3

Promotion from the assistant to the associate rank within all three of these appointment tracks, however, requires that the individual has accomplishments that show real promise of making an impact both within the unit and beyond, either through scholarly publications, invited talks, externally funded research, or other related activities involving their discipline, pedagogy and student interactions. A recommendation for promotion, either to the associate or full level, should be based upon an assessment that the candidate has made contributions of an appropriate magnitude and quality in the specialized area(s) of teaching, research, or clinical instruction that are required of the specific appointment and consistent with the rank.

p.3-4

In the promotion review of specialized faculty, particular consideration should be given to the performance of the individual in the main area of the candidate’s job duties as set forth in the appointment paperwork and job description. Because of the specialized nature of each appointment it is essential that a statement of the candidate’s job duties and expectations, including percentage of effort expected for teaching, research and service, at the time of appointment (and at any subsequent time if changed during the period under review), be provided to the internal committees reviewing the promotion request and to external reviewers. Please note that it is expected that the appointments in the teaching professor track and clinical professor track will have at least 50% of effort assigned to teaching. Similarly, appointments in research professor track are expected to have at least 50% of effort assigned to research. Nevertheless, appropriate consideration also should be given to contributions made across the other university missions, as dictated by the structure of the candidate’s appointment and job duties. Explicit criteria for judging the quality of performance must be developed by the candidate’s department at the time of appointment, and there should be ample evidence that these criteria are being met in an exemplary fashion.

Criteria  p.4

The promotion of specialized faculty members to teaching, research and clinical associate or full professors is a selective process that involves significant rigor, including the creation of a dossier with letters of support from inside and outside the unit. The promotion criteria will differ based on the specialized focus of the appointment (i.e., teaching, research, or clinical tracks. Decisions about whether to promote a specialized faculty member ultimately rests in the guidelines established in the departments. Typically, it will require a number of years, roughly five or six years, for individuals to build a record that establishes that the criteria for promotion have been met. It is expected that, in the normal course, the time interval from the initial time of appointment to the first promotion and from the first promotion to the next would entail an equal amount of time and effort. It is important to note that although the expectation is that specialized faculty members will be given a number of years to build a record towards promotion, units should annually evaluate job performance and can make a decision to not reappoint a specialized faculty member for either performance or budgetary reasons at any time. Units must be careful not to make promises or guarantees of continued employment that are inconsistent with the non-tenured status of specialized faculty members.

Clinical Associate Professors and Clinical Professors p.5

Clinical professorial appointments are the specialized faculty appointments that are most heavily determined by the academic department’s discipline and related professional field. Each department must evaluate and determine the appropriate role, if any, of clinical professorial appointments in their unit. Clinical faculty are primarily engaged in providing instruction and do so from the perspective of a practitioner, either within a traditional classroom setting or a lab or other applied learning environment. Because clinical professorial appointments are so closely aligned with specific disciplines, the criteria for these appointments must be carefully developed and communicated at the departmental level. Each department must evaluate and determine minimum criteria within their units that are appropriate to warrant a clinical professorial appointment at each rank of assistant, associate and full.

In general, promotion to associate clinical professor and clinical professor is based on the level of education, degree obtained, years of experience in the relevant field, areas of expertise, and specialized knowledge necessary to fill curricular needs. A recommendation for promotion to clinical associate professor or clinical professor should have supporting evidence that the candidate has met the criteria laid out in the departmental promotional policy. At a minimum, promotion to a clinical associate professor must be based upon an assessment that the candidate has made contributions of an appropriate magnitude and quality in the discipline and in the teaching and learning in the unit and campus, demonstrating a high likelihood of sustaining contributions to both. Note that an individual may also be contributing to scholarship in his or her specific discipline or field, although this is not a campus-level requirement of the title. A clinical professor may also be involved in department, college or university service. The expectations for research and service should be clearly articulated by the department at the time of appointment and the evaluation of the candidate’s activities is governed by those express expectations.

COMMUNICATION #27: SHARED GOVERNANCE FOR ACADEMIC UNITS:  http://provost.illinois.edu/Communication/27/Communication_27_Shared_Governance_for_Academic_Units.pdf

Guidelines on Information Sharing and Transparency

At a minimum, unit bylaws specify:

• definition of unit faculty
• rights and privileges granted by the tenure-track faculty to unit specialized faculty, affiliate or zero-time faculty members, students, or staff

 

 

Appendix 5:  Update of the Executive Committee’s “Distinctions in Expectations and Responsibilities between Senior Library Specialist, Library Operations Associate, Academic Professional, and Library Faculty Positions” to include clinical faculty

Original document URL:

https://www.library.illinois.edu/staff/administration/policies/distinctions-in-expectations-and-responsibilities-between-senior-library-specialist-library-operations-associate-academic-professional-and-library-faculty-positions/

 

Only new or edited sections shown; Task Force additions shown in green

The Academic Professional’s primary role is to engage in professional activities that directly support Library activities and services, but which do not necessarily require an advanced degree or extensive experience in the field of library and information science. The duties of the AP may require an advanced degree or extensive experience in some other field. The shape of the position and the range of responsibilities are determined by the needs of the unit as defined by the supervisor. While academic professionals function with a degree of independence and autonomy, their activities are directed toward providing key support for the services and policies instituted by the Library.  APs are encouraged to exercise their investigation time options, up to 10% as negotiated between the AP and the supervisor (http://www.library.illinois.edu/administration/human/resources/investigationtime.html).

Academic Professional functions, organizational relationships and responsibilities are noted in Standard #49919 (http://nessie.uihr.uillinois.edu/pdf/pape/coord.pdf) and Standard #49920 (http://nessie.uihr.uillinois.edu/pdf/pape/special.pdf) by Academic Human Resources. The specialized body of knowledge that is expected of an academic professional is the hallmark of the position and is acquired through appropriate academic degrees and/or work experience of a depth sufficient to provide a foundation for expert knowledge and ability in a field. All academic professional staff are expected to meet the requirements and guidelines found in relevant Provost’s Office (http://www.provost.illinois.edu/communication/) as well as those found in the Academic Staff Handbook (http://www.ahr.illinois.edu/ahrhandbook/default.html).

Clinical Faculty contribute specialized knowledge and skills gained through advanced degree work in combination with practical experiences in the field of library and information science and/or other pertinent disciplines. Clinical faculty are focused primarily on librarianship, but they may also contribute to the University’s service and/or public engagement mission and conduct research.[1]  Specific expectations for research and/or service will be reflected in the responsibilities of the position to which the individual has been appointed, following the guidelines in Communication 26, with at least 70% of effort given to librarianship.

Expectations of clinical faculty can be found in Provost Communication #25, Employment Guidelines for Specialized Faculty Holding Non-Tenure System Positions (provost.illinois.edu/communication/25/ProvostCommNo25_ SpecializedFaculty.pdf). Promotional paths for clinical faculty and the criteria and expectations for promotion are outlined in Provost Communication #26 (https://provost.illinois.edu/policies/provosts-communications/communication-26-promotion-to-teaching-research-or-clinical-associate-or-full-professor-titles/).

Tenure System Faculty bring advanced degrees in library and information science and/or other pertinent disciplines into their roles providing leadership and strategic direction to all library activities.  A critical function of the tenure system faculty, both individually and as a whole, is to set policy within the Library and to help shape the larger academic policy on Campus.  They both investigate and create best practices in the field through varying combinations of their librarianship, research, and service activities. Tenure system faculty lead and design innovative and collaborative programs, services, and teaching initiatives.[2] In addition, tenure system faculty members engage in service work that benefits the Library, the campus, the community, and the profession.

All tenure system tenured and tenure-trackfaculty members are expected to meet the requirements and guidelines found in Article IX of the Statutes, Communications Number 9 and Communication Number 13 from the Office of the Provost, found in relevant Communications from the Provost’s Office (http://www.provost.illinois.edu/communication/) and those found in the Academic Staff Handbook (http://www.ahr.illinois.edu/ahrhandbook/default.html).

All Library faculty, both clinical and tenure system, work within the overarching Library administrative structure and under the parameters set forth in their job description to design, implement, and support Library activities and services. Under these parameters, faculty function autonomously and independently within their positions while at the same time they work collegially and cooperatively to fulfill the mission of their unit, the Library, and campus. Library faculty members have a responsibility to work with members of their units to achieve the articulated goals for that unit and the Library as a whole.

Library faculty members define their own research agenda, including both theoretical and applied research. The Library provides basic support, including research time and a small travel budget, to enable the development of this research agenda, and faculty members are encouraged to seek additional support from University and external sources to fulfill their research responsibilities.

The distinctions between these position classifications are real, definable, and sustainable. Careful adherence to the principles of the positions can provide both protection and opportunities for all members of the community to meet the needs of the Library.