Instructional Faculty Promotion Process and Guidelines

Instructional Faculty Promotion Process and Guidelines

University Policy 2.2.040 (Faculty Classification) defines Instructional Faculty, their duties, and three ranks of employment: Assistant Instructional Faculty (i.e., Assistant Instructor), Associate Instructional Faculty (i.e., Associate Instructor), and Senior Instructional Faculty (i.e., Senior Instructor). These three ranks are consistent across the university, while subcategories (e.g., instructional practitioner, clinical faculty, teaching faculty) may be further defined at the school level. Individuals seeking promotion to Associate Instructor and Senior Instructor levels must have accrued the appropriate service credit for eligibility (i.e. have a required number of years of service at the University as Instructional Faculty). They must demonstrate achievements in teaching, scholarship/creative activity, and/or professional service. They must construct a dossier documenting those achievements. They shall not be required to demonstrate achievement in all three categories in order to achieve promotion, as only tenure-track/tenured faculty have responsibilities in teaching, research, and service. Schools and Colleges must include instructional faculty in promotion committees that review those applications, though the instructional-faculty members cannot participate in decisions regarding tenure and promotion of tenure-track/tenured faculty. 

Specific criteria and dossier information is provided in the Promotion and Tenure Guidelines for each College.

Promotion Process for Instructional Faculty (Instructor Rank)

1. Timeline 

   
   The Process of Instructional Faculty Promotion consideration follows the same timeline as that set forth for Tenure-Track/Tenured Faculty in Promotion and Tenure: Timeline and Procedures. During the initial implementation year of the Instructional Faculty Promotion Process, promotion candidates may extend the submission of their dossier until September 15^th. Thereafter, the deadline will be September 1^st.  

   Current Instructional Faculty whose title is Assistant Professor or any other title other than Instructor may elect to retain their current title or move to the Instructional Faculty promotion track by providing written (email) notice to the Provost’s Office.  The new title for those choosing to move to the Instructor promotion track would be Assistant Instructor. The deadline for Instructional Faculty with nonconforming titles to choose the Instructor promotion track is June 15, 2021.  Per Board policy, anyone choosing to keep their current title will not be eligible for future promotion and no future instructors may be hired with non-conforming titles.
    
   
2. Eligibility for Promotion 

   
   Candidates must be full-time faculty, must hold either a degree appropriate to the discipline or certification requirement as determined by the faculty member’s school in which promotion is sought, and must have completed the minimum number of years in each rank. 

   Prior Years in Rank:  

   Instructional Faculty UCM service credit will be established during the spring 2021 semester.

   After the 20-21 Academic Year:

   Instructional Faculty with four or more academic years of UCM service credit may apply for promotion to Associate Instructor in fall 2021.

   Instructional Faculty with nine or more academic years of UCM service credit may apply for promotion to Senior Instructor in fall 2021.

   During the 21-22 Instructional Faculty promotion implementation academic year, the following guidelines will be used to establish promotion eligibility for faculty with service credit between four and eight years after the 20-21 AY.

   Candidates with six or fewer academic years of UCM service credit after the 20-21 academic year will need to first be promoted to Associate Instructor and hold that rank while attaining the appropriate service credit necessary before applying for Senior Instructor.

   Candidates with seven or more academic years of UCM service credit after the 20-21 academic year may elect to seek promotion to Associate Instructor or instead wait while accruing the appropriate number of UCM service credits before to applying for Senior Instructor. 

   For new Instructional Faculty hires beginning in the fall 2021:

   Associate Instructor Instructional Faculty.  Candidates eligible to apply for promotion from Assistant Instructor Instructional Faculty to Associate Instructor Instructional Faculty will have served as Assistant Instructor Instructional Faculty at UCM for at least four full academic years.

   Senior Instructor Instructional Faculty. Candidates eligible to apply for promotion to Senior Instructor Senior Instructional Faculty will have served as Associate Instructor Instructional Faculty at UCM for at least four full academic years.
    
3. Criteria and Dossier Construction
   
   The three levels of professional rank should reflect a continuum of performance growth from the Assistant Instructor Instructional Faculty level to the Senior Instructor Instructional Faculty level. Recommendations concerning promotion should reflect careful evaluation of three criteria: effectiveness in teaching, scholarly performance involving discipline-related inquiry and/or creative activity, and service to and recognitions within the university community and the professional discipline. In accordance with College level guidelines, an applicant must produce evidence of effectiveness in teaching and at least one of the other two criteria: any scholarship/creative activity and/or service to the university. They shall not be required to demonstrate achievement in all three categories, as only tenure-track/tenured faculty have responsibilities in teaching, research, and service. The College level expectations for promotion should be consistent with the duties and responsibilities of the Instructional Faculty member. The details of dossier construction and examples of what constitutes evidence of the criteria are in Promotion and Tenure: The Promotion and Tenure Dossier and Promotion and Tenure: Appendices.
    
4. Evaluation Process and Committees 

   
   The required representation of Instructional Faculty in the promotion evaluation process will begin during the 2022-23 promotion cycle.

   The Evaluation Process of an Instructional Faculty candidate follows that established for Tenure-Track/Tenured Faculty in Promotion and Tenure: Timeline and Procedures. An important addition to that process, however, is that faculty committees on the level of school and college must include at least one full-time Non-Tenure Track faculty member, with at least four years of UCM service, if those committees are considering Instructional Faculty promotions. If no eligible member is available to serve within the school or college, instructional faculty from other units are to be included. For school promotion committees, the Non-Tenure Track faculty member ideally would be of the same program as the applicant, but they may be from other programs if no eligible member is available. Those Non-Tenure Track faculty committee members may participate only in decisions relating to Instructional Faculty as noted in Procedure, Section B Instructional Faculty in University Policy 2.2.040 Faculty Classification.
    
5. Results of Successful Promotion 
   
   Candidates successfully promoted to Associate Instructor Instructional Faculty or Senior Instructor Instructional Faculty will receive a raise in Base Salary commensurate to procedures detailed in University Policy 2.2.010 Faculty Compensation and Formulas. The minimum promotion increment for instructional faculty will be 5% of their base salary. Faculty who are first promoted to Senior Instructor based on eligibility establish for the 21-22 promotion cycle will receive a minimum pay increase of 10.25% due to compounding.
    
6. Grievance Procedure 
   
   Instructional Faculty are afforded the same rights and due process as outlined in the Academic Policy, Grievances.

 

 

Revision History:

Approved by the Provost on April 28, 2021.