Teaching and effort allocations

Q. I am an Administrative Professional with teaching responsibilities. Am I considered as a non-tenure track faculty member and thereby covered by the relevant sections in the Faculty manual?
A. Even if you have teaching responsibilities as an Administrative Professional, if that is your appointment type, then you are considered to be an Administrative Professional under the Faculty Manual. As such, sections relating to non-tenure track faculty in the Faculty Manual would not apply to you.

Q. I am a non-tenure track faculty member that teaches at a 100% load. I am a senior instructor and have now been told by my department chair that I am required to have a 10% service load. Is this 10% service load expected to be in addition to my 100% (and will I be compensated additional for this)? If not, do I have the right to ask for a reduction in teaching to accommodate for this 10% service?
A. The requirement to include service for some of the higher non-tenure track faculty ranks was to encourage non-tenure track faculty engagement with their colleagues and the university. It was also to reward the many non-tenure track faculty members who were previously undertaking service and not getting any recognition or compensation for it. If you previously did not have service included as part of your effort allocation and now do, it is expected that you will also have a reduction in other areas so that you are not working above 100%. On average, 10% service is expected to be about 4 hours of work a week. It is important that you keep a record of your service hours and make sure to include this in your annual evaluation and discuss this work with your department chair if you feel as if you are not being adequately recognized for the service you do.

Promotion

Q. I have been teaching for the past five years at a 0.5 appointment. However, I was classified as an Administrative Professional for two of those years before being switched to a non-tenure track faculty appointment. Am I eligible to go for promotion this year?
A. First, it is important to note that if you have a teaching load of 50% or greater, you should be on a faculty appointment, not an AP appointment. Now, in terms of promotion eligibility as a non-tenure track faculty member, the Faculty Manual states that you need to have five years in your current rank (and appointment) before being eligible for promotion. This means that although you were teaching for two years as an Administrative Professional, these would not be automatically counted towards the five years in rank. However, it may be possible for you to get service credit and time towards promotion. This is best discussed with your department chair as the Faculty Manual does not provide specific guidance on this. Additionally, if your department chair is not willing to count those two years as service credit, it may be possible for you to go for early promotion if you believe that your performance clearly exceeds the standards for promotion established in your department’s performance expectations. The guidance in the Faculty Manual is that this should be treated similar to the tenure process and therefore there is a high bar for performance that you would have to be able to demonstrate.

Legal

Q. I have concerns about my job. Who should I contact for assistance?
A: The Office of Equal Opportunity is the best place to start. Depending on the concerns that you have, there are a range of relevant links to information regarding such aspects as Title IX, gender, age, race discrimination, ADA accommodations, and so forth:

For concerns regarding violations of the Faculty Manual, please refer to the webpage for the University Grievance Officer.

For concerns regarding violations of HR policies, such as sick leave, family/medical leave, and salary, please refer to the HR webpage to learn more about the policies and benefits available to you.

You may also contact the Vice Provost, Sue James, who oversees all faculty affairs.

Your CoNTTF representative may also be useful in helping to direct you to the appropriate resources and faculty who may be able to assist you as well. Alternatively, you can go to the Contact Us page and leave a message.

Q. I have been asked by my dean and department head to sign a ‘blank’ or ‘template’ appointment letter for the upcoming academic year. It does not contain information specific to my employment but is the result of the department being late to send out appointment letters and needing them back before the end of the academic year. Should I sign this?
A. It is not recommended that non-tenure track faculty sign a blank or template appointment letter unless you understand everything that is in that letter and agree to it 100%. While we understand that you may be under some pressure from your department not to ‘hold up the system’ and you fear that it may cause your department chair to look at you negatively, if this is the case, we recommend that you sign the document with a caveat. For example, “I agree to accept the position, but retain the right to continue discussing/negotiating terms”. This advice goes for the signing of contracts, promotions, and annual evaluations, in addition to appointment letters.

Retirement

Q. As a non-tenure track faculty, am I eligible for any voluntary retirement incentives put forth by the university?
A. Non-tenure track faculty were eligible for the latest voluntary retirement incentive that was communicated to faculty in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope that this holds true for any future voluntary retirement incentive that may be presented, but fingers crossed there do not continue to be additional financial burdens placed on the university that these incentives are necessary!

Q. At regular retirement does a non-tenure track faculty member immediately and automatically become “emeritus” or “emerita”? Is there an application process?
A: Faculty members who have completed ten (10) years or more of full-time or part-time service as a faculty member of Colorado State University shall be eligible at the time of their retirement from Colorado State University for an emeritus/emerita title equivalent to their highest faculty rank (e.g., emeritus associate professor). Faculty members who have held administrative positions (including department heads) for five (5) years or more shall be eligible for the emeritus/emerita title for those administrative positions (e.g., emerita associate dean).

An eligible member of the faculty may request emeritus/emerita status from the department chair at the same time of retirement from the University. The department head and the dean of the college shall forward the request to the Provost. As long as the requirements for eligibility are met, such forwarding is pro forma. The final decision on granting emeritus/emerita status will be made by the Board.

This information can also be found in the Faculty/AP Manual (pg. 113) and the HR Manual (pg. 43).

Once approved, this designation of emeritus/emerita persists until death of the incumbent. Those with emeritus/emerita status maintain their eID and CSU email indefinitely. More information above this can be found on the ACNS website. They also maintain library privileges indefinitely. This extends to the Morgan Library and any online library resources which can be accessed via their eID. If possible, office or lab/office space and clerical support provided to each emeritus/emerita faculty member who continues to do scholarly work.

The voluntary retirement incentive that is currently being offered by CSU does not impact any of these above listed benefits.

Additional information about these post-retirement benefits can also be found on the HR website.