CLINICAL AND OTHER TERM FACULTY AT LMU: RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE THEIR WORKING CLIMATE AND MORALE AT LMU Faculty Senate Ad-hoc Committee on Clinical Faculty: Rebeca Acevedo, Associate Professor, Modern Languages & Literatures Beth Brewer, Assistant Professor, Specialized Programs in Urban Education Rob Burchfield, Associate Professor, Animation John H. Dorsey (Committee Chair), Professor, Civil Engineering & Environmental Science Jamie Hazlitt, Librarian, William H. Hannon Library George Hess, Professor, Management Paul Humphreys, Professor, Music Wojciech Kocyan, Clinical Assistant Professor, Music Shane Martin, Dean & Professor, School of Education Irene Oliver, Professor, Elementary & Secondary Education Todd Shoepe, Clinical Assistant Professor, Health & Human Sciences Ex-Officio Members: Rebecca Chandler, Vice-President, Human Resources Abbie Robinson-Armstrong, Vice-President, Intercultural Affairs A Report Submitted to the Faculty Senate April 3, 2013 INTRODUCTION In March 2012, the Faculty Senate’s Ad Hoc Committee on Clinical Faculty submitted their report1 to the Senate on the use and status of clinical faculty at LMU. The use of these faculty members, and associated policies regarding their hiring, assessment, promotion, termination and involvement in governance is inconsistent among the colleges and schools. After reviewing recommendations from the Clinical Faculty Task Force (2009), associated reviews by the Faculty Senate and CAO regarding recommendations from the Task Force, the ad hoc committee submitted the following short- and long-term recommendations: Short Term 1. Develop Performance Standards for clinical faculty. 2. Implement a grievance protocol for clinical faculty. 3. Encourage clinical faculty to be involved in departmental governance, except for voting on issues of rank and tenure. Clinical Faculty at LMU: Recommendations Toward Improving their Standing and Effectiveness. A report submitted by the Ad Hoc Committee on Clinical Faculty to the Faculty Senate, March 8, 2012. 1 1 Long Term 1. Create a committee to continue working on the issue of Clinical Faculty at LMU with members representing tenure-track faculty from each school/college, the library, clinical representatives, and a university administration representative. The Committee’s charge would be: a. Determine policies for Clinical Faculty members among the Schools and Colleges. b. Implement a survey and listening sessions focusing on (but not limited to) the hiring, responsibilities, governance, promotion, and termination of Clinical Faculty at LMU. c. Gather similar information regarding Clinical Faculty from other universities of similar size and scope of operations. d. Distribute results to the Faculty Senate and Administration. 2. Provide language amending the Faculty Handbook using data from the activities mentioned above. At the Faculty Senate meeting on March 8, 2012, the report was presented and recommendations discussed. A motion2 was passed by the Senate to form a new committee as recommended by the report, and for the committee to continue working to study and implement recommendations made in their first report. A new committee was convened comprising several returning members, and expanded to include faculty from all colleges and schools including clinical faculty. The work of the committee, reported herein, focused on developing and conducting a survey of clinical faculty at LMU, determining policies regarding the use, hiring and promotion of clinical faculty among the various colleges and schools, and then providing recommended language to amend the Faculty Handbook (FH). Although the focus of this committee was on clinical faculty, other term faculty positions were considered where appropriate with regard to their definition and roles at LMU. Figure 1 depicts a breakdown of faculty positions presented in the FH. In this figure, those positions in red font indicate where the committee has made recommended changes to the language of the FH to clarify definitions (e.g. Clinical Professor, Affiliated faculty in Residence), or recommend that a new position be established (e.g. Research Faculty). In the following sections, we will present information gathered from the colleges and schools on how clinical faculty are used along with any information on hiring, assessing, promotional and termination policies. This information will be followed 2 Motion 3. The Faculty Senate moves to endorse the creation of a committee to conduct a survey of term faculty at LMU, as recommended in the report, and empowers the Senate Executive Committee to convene this committee in a timely manner. Vote: 23 for, 0 against, 0 abstentions; #3 passed. 2 by the results of the Qualitrix survey (Appendix 1) delivered to all clinical faculty members on campus along with a summary of the Listening Sessions (Appendix 2). PART-TIME FACULTY FULL-TIME FACULTY TENURE-TRACK • • • ASSISTANT PROFESSOR ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR PROFESSOR LECTURER ADJUNCT PROFESSOR TEACHING ASSISTANT TERM INSTRUCTOR • INSTRUCTO R • SENIOR INSTRUCTO R VISITING PROFESSOR • INSTRUCTO R • ASSISTANT • ASSOCIATE • PROFESSOR CLINICAL PROFESSOR • ASSISTANT • ASSOCIATE • PROFESSOR RESEARCH FACULTY OTHER FACULTY EMERTIUS AFFILIATED (IN RESIDENCE) • ARTIST • EXECUTIVE • PROFESSOR • SCHOLAR • WRITER Figure 1. A breakdown of faculty positions at LMU. Positions in red font indicate recommended changes in the Faculty Handbook to clarify or add the position (see Appendix 3 for proposed amendments to the FH language). Finally, we will discuss our recommended changes to the FH with language presented in the latest revision dated October 25, 2012 (Appendix 3). This report will conclude with a final set of recommendations for the Faculty Senate. CURRENT PRACTICES AT LMU During the spring 2012 semester, information was gathered by committee member Dean Shane Martin regarding current practices and policies regarding the use of clinical faculty. Information was compiled based on interviews and information supplied by the Deans or their representatives. The following is Dean Martin’s report: Recruiting & Hiring Across the colleges and schools recruiting and hiring of Clinical Faculty are done in a similar fashion as the recruitment and hiring of Tenure-line faculty, with some nuances. Recruiting is primarily local, but at times national, depending on the position. The Program Directors and/or Department Chairs develop job descriptions, with approval of the Dean or the Dean’s delegate. While all hiring involves some type of a search and consultation with the faculty, searches are both national and local, depending on the position and the timeline. Not all searches have a designated search committee. Sometimes the Clinical Faculty position becomes vacant during the summer and must be filled during a period when Tenure-line faculty members are not on contract. In these cases the Program Director or Department Chair leads the process and consults with available faculty. The search process involves review of dossiers, letters of recommendations, 3 teaching evaluations, professional qualifications, evidence of scholarship or creative works (if applicable) and service. In all cases, the Dean makes the final decision on hiring Clinical Faculty. One exception to the above is in the American Cultures Program, where an Associate Dean also interviews potential Clinical Faculty members. Evaluation The Department Chair does this and in some departments it is done in collaboration with the Program Director (if applicable). Some but not all schools and colleges require a Faculty Service Report for Clinical Faculty. Several Deans acknowledged that it would be a good University-wide practice for the Provost’ Office to generate a modified FSR for Clinical Faculty. Non-renewal and Termination Policies There are no specific written University policies for determining non-renewal or termination of Clinical Faculty, other than what is in the Faculty Handbook, which applies to Tenure-line Faculty. This is an area of great liability for the University. There have not been many occasions for termination of Clinical Faculty, but nonrenewal can occur for a variety of reasons including changes in the needs of a particular academic program. The decision on renewal or non-renewal is made by the Dean and involves consultation with the Department Chair and/or Program Director. The Deans would like to see more specific policies in the Faculty Handbook concerning non-renewal or termination of Clinical Faculty. Assigning Ranks There are no specific written University policies in the Faculty Handbook for the initial assigning of rank or for the advancement in rank for Clinical Faculty. The current practice varies, but involves the Dean making a decision upon a recommendation from the Department Chair. Currently, the Dean’s office must assign a rank on the H.R. forms for the initial hiring of Clinical Faculty. Most Clinical Faculty members are at the assistant level. Several Deans would like to see the College/School Rank and Tenure Committee involved in the process of awarding the advancement in rank to Clinical Faculty. Other Term Faculty The other Term Faculty positions that are currently used include: Visiting Faculty, Professor in Residence, Affiliated Faculty, and Artist in Residence. The Deans also see the need for a range of other types of faculty positions, such as Research Faculty, that were outlined by the original joint task force of the Deans’ Council and Faculty Senate that first took up this issue a number of years ago. There is urgency to the need to include these faculty titles in the Faculty Handbook, as the University is currently using or will need to use these titles. In some cases, as noted during the Listening Sessions and comments from Faculty Senators, practices occur other than those reported by Dean Martin. For example, it was pointed out that that in one college, clinical faculty positions often do not 4 belong to individual departments. Rather, the line belongs to the college, and it could be reallocated at the will of the Dean. Such examples demonstrate the need for better defining policies associated with clinical faculty members. Concern also was expressed that use of clinical and other term faculty solely for teaching was moving LMU away from its Teaching-Scholar model. It was emphasized to the committee that definitions for clinical and other term faculty be clearly articulated in the Faculty Handbook, and that use of these positions be wisely allocated so as not to jeopardize our Teaching-Scholar model. QUALITRIC SURVEY A survey was designed to collect information from the University’s clinical faculty about their experiences regarding hiring, governance, promotion, and any other relevant matters regarding their treatment and morale. Twenty-two questions were compiled as a Qualitrix survey, and administered through the University’s Human Resources office via e-mail from October 12 through November 3, 2012. Out of the 51 clinical faculty members, 35 completed the survey for a participation rate of 69%. Results of the survey, presented in Appendix 2, indicated that the majority of clinical faculty members reside in the School of Education (34%) followed by the College of Communication & Fine Arts (23%) and Bellarmine College (23%). The majority of clinical faculty members teach, most carrying 4/4 loads. However, many also are engaged in a variety of other activities including research, advising, conducting fieldwork, and administrative duties. The main issues of concern among these faculty members are pay equity, lack of clear promotional guidelines, having secure positions, and not being able to apply for University grants. There was a wide variation in the degree to which clinical faculty shared in departmental and university governance. On a positive note, the majority of respondents felt that they were connected to the University, and respected by their colleagues. Based on this survey, key areas that need to be addressed include: 1. Clarity on roles of clinical faculty. Proposed changes to the FH (Appendix 3) better defines the role of this position. 2. Responsibilities clearly defined. As of 2012, all contracts for clinical faculty clearly define their roles and responsibilities. 3. Participation in governance. As proposed in changes to the FH, clinical and other term faculty should be invited to participate in faculty meetings, but are not obligated unless required in a contract. 4. Promotion protocols need to be clearly defined. Proposed changes to the FH include procedures for assessment and promotion. 5. Stability of positions. The stability of positions is based on programmatic needs coupled with budgetary climates. Given these uncertainties, Chairpersons and Deans need to clearly communicate to clinical faculty the status and possible future changes in programs. LISTENING SESSIONS The goal of the listening sessions was to supplement information gathered during the Clinical Faculty Survey. We realized that capturing the thoughts and feelings of 5 our clinical faculty members regarding their working environments and concerns would be difficult using only the survey questionnaire, so two listening sessions were held on October 30 and November 7, 2012 at the Collins Faculty Center to gather additional information. The following questions were posed to them at the beginning of each session: 1. How would you improve your working climate? 2. Is this climate conducive to meeting your work goals? 3. Is there mutual respect among faculty? 4. How would you improve respect among all faculty members? 5. Is there anything else you’d like to tell us that was not covered in the survey, or captured in the posed questions? Attendance was small with two clinical faculty members attending the first session, and five during the second. Regardless, the attendees enthusiastically discussed many important points, many of which substantiated findings from the survey questionnaires (Appendix 2). The most notable points made during the sessions were: 1. Better compensation should be made for clinical faculty members. 2. Performance standards and expectations should be incorporated into contracts. 3. A path for promotional need to be clear. 4. Issues dealing with reappointments and the status of programs that can affect reappointment need to be transparent and effectively communicated to faculty. 5. There needs to be opportunities for clinical faculty to apply for LMU grants. 6. To make positions more secure, follow the model employed by Santa Clara University (a clinical faculty member enters the university on a 1-yr contract, then renewed as a 3-yr contract based on proven performance). The following points gleaned from the above surveys and Listening Sessions have been incorporated into proposed changes to the FH (Appendix 3): 1. Recruiting and hiring should be done within each department according to program needs, and faculty should be part of the process. 2. All clinical and other term faculty members should complete some form of an annual review similar to the Faculty Service Report completed by tenuretrack faculty. 3. Policy on the termination or non-renewal of contracts for clinical faculty needs to be more clearly defined in the FH. 4. The Dean assigns the rank for a new clinical professor. Promotion in rank ideally should involve the department’s faculty and the college or school’s pre-tenure review committee. 5. A variety of other term faculty positions are used throughout the University, and there is a need for a position of Research Faculty. These titles need to be included in the FH. 6 Proposed Changes to Section 1 of the Faculty Handbook (Revised Edition, October 25, 2012) Based on information collected from the survey and listening sessions, and that compiled in the first report of this committee, we have made proposed amendments to the language in the recent-most edition of the Faculty Handbook (Appendix 3). Table 1 provides a summary of these revisions for each section of the FH. Table 1. Recommended changes to the Faculty Handbook and other actions regarding term faculty at LMU. Proposed language for each FH section addressed in this table are given in a draft of the FH provided in Appendix 3 of this report. Faculty Handbook* Recommendation Comments Section to Amend Clarify definitions for term faculty. 1.C. 1-4 Term Faculty Modified Section to clarify definitions for Term Faculty: 1. Sr. Instructor position merged with Instructor; 2. Visiting Professor added appointment ranks; 3. Defined Clinical and associated ranks along with terms of appointment; 4. Added position of Research Faculty. Affiliated faculty. 1.E.2 Add new section (2) spelling out various "Resident" faculty positions. Hiring policy--Include departmental faculty and Chairs in recommending hires for clinical faculty positions. 1.F.2 Policies on Appointment, Term Faculty Added new section for Term Faculty--Appointments made in consultation with faculty and chair; meet objectives of department/College/School considered; experience recognized as applicable towards promotion. Develop an annual review process for term faculty. 1.H. Standards…Review of Faculty Added sentence on evaluating term faculty. The Provost's Office should draft a FSR form tailored for clinical faculty. Modified Faculty Service Reports sent to term faculty. 1.I Procedures for Merit Review Amended language to include term faculty. Develop promotion policy and procedures. 1.J. Policies on Promotion Add new Section 1.J.2 for clinical faculty. Specify in FH that term faculty have no tenure. 1.K Policies on Tenure Modified topic sentence to state that tenure is not granted to term faculty. Encourage all term faculty to participate in governance (except for issues of R&T). 1.O. General Statement on Faculty Responsibilities Specific Faculty Responsibilities. Amended language encouraging term faculty to engage in governance at the department and university levels except for issues on tenure. Voting by term and other faculty now addressed in Section 1.S.8 (Faculty Voting Procedures). Term faculty submit modified FSRs 1.P Specific Faculty Responsibilities. Added sentence to second paragraph stipulating that all term faculty submit modified annual Faculty Service Reports describing their performance. Allow clinical faculty to be considered for summer session teaching. Allow term faculty to apply for travel funds as appropriate for their responsibilities. 1.S.6 Summer Session Teaching Edit opening sentence to include all full-time faculty (except Visiting Professors on one-year contracts). 1.S.7 Policy on Travel Encourage term faculty to participate in departmental activities and governance. Allow term faculty to be eligible for LMU grants and technology programs as appropriate for their responsibilities. Arrange for representation of term faculty on Faculty Senate Inclusion of all term faculty in all faculty social events 1.S.8.b Faculty Voting Procedures Edit opening sentence to include all term faculty. Add statement to end of sentence that term faculty are encouraged, but not obligated, to be active in departmental activities and governance. Include term faculty in all communications to university faculty Not addressed in FH Not addressed in FH Not addressed in FH Not addressed in FH 7 Will directly benefit students and other faculty joining research programs; encourage interdisciplinary projects. Faculty Senate should add two representative for clinical Faculty; similar protocols as done for Librarians. All full time faculty should be equally valued and recognized through social events. All full time faculty should receive communications from the administration except for matters pertaining to rank & tenure. * Revised Ed. 2012, Updated October 25, 2012 Extensive changes were made to §1.C where term faculty positions are defined (Table 2). Here we modified each subsection (1-4) to focus on it’s respective faculty position, better defined clinical faculty, and added the position of Research Faculty. In the subsection for Clinical Faculty, we emphasized that these faculty have substantial professional and practical expertise in their fields. Language was added regarding hiring practices, ranks, and contractual periods. Table 2. Characteristics of term faculty. Position Description Purpose Terms & Limits Ranks Instructor Teaching position, typically carrying a 4/4 load. Provides teaching support for the department. 1-yr contract, may be renewed unlimitedly. Instructor, Sr. Instructor Clinical Faculty members with substantial expertise as professionals outside the sphere of academe. Provide specialized skills and knowledge to academic programs; may direct specialized programs. Terms may range from 15 yrs with indefinite renewals. Clinical Professor, Clinical Associate Professor, Clinical Assistant Professor. Visiting Professor, Visiting Associate Professor, Visiting Assistant Professor. Research Professor, Research Associate Professor, Research Assistant Professor. Visiting Primarily teaching. Replace faculty on sabbatical leave. 1-2 yrs; longer under exceptional circumstances Research Faculty focusing on research activities; may conduct limited teaching. Bring external research funding, resources, and expertise to the University. Terms may range from 15 yrs with indefinite renewals. Occasionally, scholars wish to conduct research or other scholarly pursuits at LMU utilizing external funds. To accommodate these scholars, new position of Research Faculty was added to the section (§1.C.4.). These faculty members may engage in limited teaching to take advantage of their expertise, and are encouraged to include other LMU faculty and students in their research activities. Adding this position provides more flexibility to the University in bringing in funding and expertise to be shared with other faculty and students. Other scholars and artists having special expertise have been appointed to fulltime positions on a temporary basis. Examples include Artist in Residence, Scholar in Residence, or Executive in Residence, a position unique to the Business School. We have added §1.E.2. that accounts for these positions. Sections F through J of the FH deal with policies on hiring, evaluation and review, and promotion of faculty. Language in these sections has been amended to spell out policies for term faculty (new §1.F.2). Here we have emphasized that these positions are to be developed in response to department and program needs, and that the hiring process would be analogous to that used for tenure-track faculty. In essence, the chairperson and faculty conduct a search followed by interviews, 8 recommendations are made to the Dean with a final recommendation forwarded to the Provost. Once this general policy has been adopted and included into the FH, then the Vice President for Intercultural Affairs and Vice President for Mission and Ministry will design and implement university-wide Guidelines for Recruiting and Hiring full-time and term faculty. During the process of developing these new guidelines for recruiting and hiring term faculty, the Vice Presidents will take an inclusive approach by vetting a draft version with Deans and faculty focus groups. The University's Legal Counsel will approve the final version of the Guidelines, and they will be inserted in the institution's official document, Recruiting and Hiring Teacher Scholars for Mission. In §1.I, Procedures for Merit Review, we have indicated that all term faculty members should submit some form of a Faculty Service Report to determine their performance. The chairperson would use this report to determine the effectiveness and excellence of teaching along with other contractual obligations, and to make recommendations to the Dean for merit pay. In turn, this report would enable the faculty member to chronicle his/her teaching and other professional experience for future promotions. With regard to promotion, and additional section for Clinical Faculty has been recommended for in §1.J Policies on Promotion. Here we specify that promotion procedures for clinical be similar to those for tenure-track faculty. After six years of proven performance, a clinical faculty member would be eligible for promotion in rank. That person would submit an application for discussion and voting by departmental faculty. The chairperson then would submit the department’s recommendation to the Dean and the College’s/School’s Pre-Tenure Review Committee. This committee would review the application and department’s recommendation, submitting their recommendation to the Dean, who in turn, submits a final recommendation to the Provost. Specific faculty responsibilities of the FH are presented in §1.P. In the opening statements of this section, we have included language pointing out that duties of term faculty are to be included in their individual faculty contracts. Their performance on how they achieved these duties will be assessed based on their submitted faculty service reports, forming the basis for merit pay and possible promotion. Several changes were made to various subsections under §1.S (Specific Privileges of the Faculty). These included clarifying that full-time faculty members (except Visiting Professors on academic-year contracts) are eligible to teach summer sessions (§1.S.6), they can apply for travel funds to promote their professional growth and expertise provided departments funds are available (§1.S.7), and are encouraged to vote on departmental issues except for those pertaining to rank and tenure (§1.S.8). 9 The Table of Contents has been modified to reflect these changes. Also, throughout the FH, the phrase Chief Academic Officer has been replaced with Provost, and the term he/she with s/he. RECOMMENDATIONS The following are the final recommendations from our committee: 1. Amend the Faculty Handbook with regard to clinical and other term faculty using the language provided in Appendix 3. We recommend that the Faculty Handbook and Academic Life Committee of the Faculty Senate study the proposed language in Appendix 3, and then begin procedures to amend the FH. 2. The term 'clinical faculty' should be restricted to faculty members who have substantial expertise as a professional and practitioner. We have included this definition in proposed language to amend the Faculty Handbook (Appendix 3) 3. Develop an annual assessment report clinical and other term faculty, similar to that of the Faculty Service Report (FSR) utilized by tenuretrack faculty. The Academic Affairs Office in consultation with the Faculty Senate should develop a new FSR form and process to distribute among the departments. Faculty should be involved in designing the FSR process for clinical faculty. 4. Encourage all term faculty members to participate in governance (except for issues of R&T). Clinical and other term faculty should be encouraged, but not obligated, to take part in governance at both the department and university levels. This message would be disseminated via directives from the Deans through the Chairpersons. 5. Hiring term faculty using a process analogous to that employed for tenure-track faculty. Departmental faculty and the Chairperson conduct a search based on the needs of the department and associated program. Faculty and the chairperson interview candidates, and make recommendations to the Dean. In turn, the Dean makes a final recommendation to the Provost. 6. Establish a promotional process for clinical faculty members. After six years of proven performance, a clinical faculty member can submit an application for promotion. Departmental faculty review and discuss the application, vote, and submit a recommendation to the Dean and a PreTenure Committee. Based on recommendations from the department and 10 Pre-Tenure Committee, the Dean makes a final recommendation to the Provost. 7. Enable clinical faculty to be eligible for LMU grants and technology programs. Being able to apply for and receive LMU funding for projects and activities enables our clinical faculty to grow professionally. Further, they can form research relationships with other faculty, and provide and foster unique research opportunities for our students. Term faculty should be eligible to apply for internal grants germane to their duties and responsibilities. 8. Include all term faculty members in social functions and general e-mail notices to faculty. As clearly expressed during the listening sessions, simply including term faculty in various social functions and general e-mails will better connect them to the LMU community, and improve their morale. These actions should be done through the Academic Affairs Office. 9. Add two representatives for clinical faculty members to the Faculty Senate. Base on a representation ratio of 20 faculty members to 1 representative, we recommend that two representatives from the clinical faculty pool be added to the Senate. 10. The Faculty Senate accepts this report and its recommendations, and facilitates an up or down vote on the Faculty Handbook language changes this year. Recommendations 2-7 all have been included within the proposed language amendments to the FH (Table 1, Appendix 3). Recommendations 8-9 are not included in the FH, but are needed to make our clinical and other term faculty member feel more connected to the LMU community, thus improving their morale. Finally, Recommendation 10 would amend the Faculty Handbook this year enabling changes to be made now. Doing so will send a strong signal to both our clinical and other term faculty that they are valued members of the LMU community. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We wish to thank Robert Houghtaling for his outstanding service in arranging meeting times, locations, and lunches, and took minutes for our committee, and to Kristina Slekys (Graduate Assistant, School of Education) kindly took notes during the Listening Sessions. Members of the Faculty Senate contributed many excellent suggestions during the development of this report and its recommendations. 11 APPENDICES – ATTACHED AS SEPARATE PDF FILES: Appendix 1: Clinical Faculty Survey Results, November 7, 2012 Appendix 2: Listening Session Notes, October-November, 2012 Appendix 3: Faculty Handbook Proposed Revisions, April 3, 2013 12
© Copyright 2026 Paperzz