Faculty multi-year appointment contracts

Purpose:

To provide the criteria for and the process to be used in awarding three- and five-year multi-year appointment contracts to 9-month, 10-month, and 12-month teaching faculty, counselors, and librarians. Professional faculty and administrative faculty serve only one (1) year or shorter appointments and are not awarded multi-year appointment contracts. The procedures for implementation of this policy are provided below.

Procedure and/or Process Definitions:

Eligible faculty: for the purposes of multi-year appointment, those employees who hold faculty rank, teach in 9-month, 10-month, or 12-month positions, hold counselor or librarian positions, and who are employed in unrestricted full-time appointments.

Multi-year appointment: : in the case of a reduction in staff for faculty (layoff), an appointment that provides the opportunity for an extended call-back period for the affected faculty member in case a position in the same teaching field/discipline becomes available after they have been laid off and during the remaining period of the multi-year contract. Multi-year appointments are three (3) or five (5) years in duration and are not affected by change in faculty rank.

Multi-year appointment dates: July 1 through June 30, irrespective of whether the rank and salary proposal covers a 9-month, 10-month or 12-month period. The faculty employment contract will specify the period of college service, the faculty member’s rank, and annual salary amount.

Probationary teaching appointment: is normally for the fall and spring semesters of the first academic year of employment. Faculty whose initial appointment occurs at any time other than the fall semester must still serve a two (2) semester (fall/spring) probationary appointment. Summer may not be used as a probationary period.

Year of service: full-time salaried employment for two (2) academic semesters (fall and spring), the salary for which is chargeable to a single fiscal year’s budget. Employment for less than this period does not constitute a year of full-time employment and will not count towards the time eligibility period for multi-year appointment. .

Procedures:

1. By January 10 each year, the Office of Human Resources generates a list of eligible faculty from the college’s automated personnel system. By January 15, the list is verified and sent to the college’s vice presidents of academic affairs and enrollment management and student success, with a copy to the president and the vice president of finance and administration.

2. The vice president of academic affairs, in consultation with the vice president of enrollment management and student success, uses this list to assist with the process of electing Multiyear Appointment Committee members. The vice presidents of academic affairs and enrollment management and student success are also provided with the list of last year’s committee members to avoid (if possible) the repeat of the same members. The vice presidents of academic affairs and enrollment management and student success ensures elections are held by the teaching faculty, counselors, and librarians and the appropriate number of representatives are provided for further recommendation to the president. The vice president of academic affairs, in consultation with the vice president of enrollment management and student success, will use the two (2) lists as reference material to appoint one administrator to the Multi-year Appointment Committee.

3. Recommendations of Multi-year Appointment Committee members are due to the president by February 1 annually.

4. The college’s Multi-year Appointment Committee will consist of one (1) member from each of the following disciplines/units:

   • Humanities and Social Sciences
   • Health Professions
   • Business
   • Library, Information Services and Academic Support
   • Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
   • Automotive Technology and Skilled Trades
   • Office of Dean of Students/Advising Services
   • Any administrative unit

5. Additionally, the president will use the list of eligible faculty to advise each faculty member, in writing, of their eligibility for multi-year appointment. Faculty will be requested to indicate their desire for multi-year appointment consideration to the president by an established date. This step is to be completed annually by February 1.

6. After notification to the president, eligible faculty who wish multi-year consideration must do the following:

   1. request a letter of recommendation from their respective dean or supervisor to be sent to the Office of Human Resources; and

   2. ensure that they have completed all requirements of the faculty evaluation process.

7. Deans and/or supervisors are to do the following:

   1. review the VCCS policy requirements listed in this policy, section III, G;

   2. develop a letter of recommendation in support or non-support of the eligible faculty member based on each of the VCCS policy requirements;

   3. ensure the letter of recommendation is submitted to the Office of Human Resources no later than early February; and

   4. ensure that the appropriate faculty evaluations have been submitted to the Office of Human Resources.

8. Based on the recommendations received from the vice presidents of academic affairs and enrollment management and student success, the president will name and notify the Multiyear Appointment Committee by February 7. The president will also contact last year’s chair to request that person to convene the first meeting and to review the committee’s charge and responsibilities regarding the implementation of the multi-year appointment process.

9. The Multi-year Appointment Committee convenes by the established date and elects a new chair. The chair, with assistance from the associate vice president of human resources, will review the procedure, including the Timeframe for Multi-Year Appointment Contract Process, related documentation (i.e., recommendation from supervisor, probationary list of academic programs), and the Multi-Year Criteria Rating Form, to be used to determine each faculty member’s eligibility for multi-year appointment. Determination of eligibility will also require review of official faculty evaluation files housed in the Office of Human Resources.

10. The Multi-year Appointment Committee completes its work and provides a written report, with assistance from the Office of Human Resources, to the vice presidents of academic affairs and enrollment management and student success of those recommended/not recommended for multi-year appointment by the end of February.

11. The vice presidents of academic affairs and enrollment management and student success review the report of those recommended/not recommended for multi-year appointment, conducts a personal interview with each recommended faculty member, and provides a written report to the college president by March 15.

12. By the third week of March, the president will review the report of recommended candidates, and conduct further personal interviews, if desired. The president renders the final decision regarding the recipients of multi-year appointment contracts.

13. By the last week in March, the president forwards the final decisions of the multi-year appointments to the Office of Human Resources to generate the appropriate multi-year appointment contracts.

14. The president will provide a letter of award to each faculty member receiving a multi-year appointment contract. Letters of non-award will also be provided to each faculty member not recommended for the multi-year contract. Award letters and non-award letters will be issued with the multi-year appointment contracts prior to the end of March. Immediate supervisors and the respective Executive Cabinet member will be copied on the above mentioned letters.

15. On or before March 31 each year, the president informs VCCS Human Resources that the college has completed the annual multi-year appointment process.

Other Information:

Multi-Year Criteria Rating Form

Timeframe for Multi-Year Appointment Contract Process

Reynolds Policy No. 3-36, Faculty Multi-Year Appointment Contracts