Pay Grade 41
Summary of Position
The Faculty Affairs Coordinator provides high-level support for the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs to ensure that the campus's colleges and departments are in compliance with Board of Trustee's Policies and the UTK/UTIA Faculty Handbook and all other documents that govern all processes related to faculty recruitment, evaluation, promotion, and separation. This position makes independent decisions pertaining to the application of UTK policies and procedures and will have the authority to approve or send back for revision different stages in searches, evaluations, and promotion and tenure. In assuming responsibility for the complex array of compliance responsibilities, this position will free up the VP for Faculty Affairs to attend to matters of faculty and administrator development, faculty review, faculty complaints, and university and system-wide governance opportunities and duties. In addition to holding authority to rule on compliance matters (described below), this position will also work closely with the Office of Information Technology to develop, update, and troubleshoot two essential faculty evaluation platforms--our Faculty Activity Reporting System (Elements) and our Online Faculty Review System, which are compliance-related platforms in that they record the activities and create the workflows necessary for mandatory faculty evaluation, including the newly instituted Periodic Post-Tenure Performance Review. This position will have significant decision-making authority related to processes applicable to over 1,500 tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty.
The position is responsible for overseeing compliance with all applicable policies governing faculty employment actions (Annual Performance and Planning Reviews, Promotion and Tenure Reviews, Retention Reviews, Periodic Post-Tenure Performance Reviews, Enhanced Post-Tenure Performance Reviews, Early Consideration for Tenure, Modified Duty Assignments, Faculty Development Leaves, Requests for Exemptions from Normal Search Processes, and Review of the Narrative Summary Stage for Tenure-Track Faculty Searches.
Position Duties & Responsibilities
Faculty Searches (Narrative Summary Stage)
- Reviews narrative summaries for faculty searches and decide whether to accept or return the summaries to the submitting department. Will be expected to make accurate judgments regarding the sufficiency of the department's search efforts
Faculty Evaluation
- Ensures that the online systems tied to faculty evaluation are functioning effectively, and will serve as the contact and liaison between the Office of Information Technology (OIT) and faculty.
- Works with OIT to develop Elements our faculty activity reporting system, into an all-in-one evaluation system, which will require understanding of departmental expectations.
- Monitors and advises on compliance with the faculty handbook.
- Careful monitoring of the time-sensitive processes when faculty are subjected to Board Policy governing Enhanced Post-Tenure Performance Review (EPPR).
- Creates faculty review committees utilizing familiarity withdisciplinary divisions in order to ensure that the right persons are on thecommittee.
- Works with departments to formulate evaluation criteria for the various ranks within the department.
Promotion and Tenure
- Monitor dossiers for compliance with the faculty handbook and advise the department heads and deans regarding acceptable practices for all aspects of the process.
- Reviewing and accepting or returning for revisions all requests for faculty leaves and for modified duties under applicable policy.
- Dual-career support: serve as liaison between the dual-career office in Human Resources and the Office of the Provost.
Support to the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs
- Analyze faculty data and submit reports related to faculty workload and productivity.
- Represent the Vice-Provost for Faculty Affairs in periodic presentations to the faculty on promotion, tenure, and evaluation.
- Advise the Vice-Provost for Faculty Affairs on professional development programming aimed at department heads and directors; to take responsibility for some of that programming.
- Supervise the human resources specialist in the office and guide that specialist in keeping records that are necessary for compliance.
- Write and send under own name correspondence regarding faculty processes.
- Keep apprised of national developments in faculty issues and be a source of suggestions for programming on this campus.
