FAQ: General Faculty Policies

Academic general faculty members, also known as non-tenure track faculty or tenure-ineligible faculty, play a critical role in the educational mission of the university. Our academic general faculty members are excellent teachers, distinguished researchers, and skilled practitioners of their professions. In fall 2013, former Provost John Simon charged a task force with examining the policies concerning general faculty at UVA. The resulting Task Force Report (contact the Provost's office for a copy) recommended that academic general faculty members be given a clear career path at the university with the opportunity for promotion and professional growth. The report also recommended that academic general faculty be better integrated into the governance structures of the schools and departments of which they are members. Our new policy responds to the recommendations of the Task Force Report.

The term “general faculty” came into use around the start of the 20th century to refer to all faculty members at the university. Faculty were both members of the tenured faculty in a school (or eligible for tenure) and members of the General Faculty of the University. Today, the General Faculty convenes once each academic year to approve the conferral of degrees in each school of the university. Over time, the university community also began to use the term “general faculty” to refer to faculty members who were not tenured (or eligible for tenure) in a particular school but were nonetheless members of the General Faculty. Given the frequent confusion about the meaning of “general faculty,” in 2006, the University replaced this term with “non-tenure-track faculty.” The provost’s task force suggested that we needed an affirmative term to designate this category of faculty that avoided reliance on the negative (non-tenure-track or tenure-ineligible). Accordingly, we have decided to return to the language of “general faculty members” to refer to faculty members who are not tenured (or eligible for tenure). We hope other changes to the policy, particularly the revised definitions, will help avoid past confusion around the use of this term and its double meaning.

The new policy is a complete revision of how the university will employ general faculty after January 3, 2017. In particular:

1. Each school within the university will develop its own plan for ensuring representation of the general faculty in school governance structures and including general faculty members in important communications;

2. Each general faculty member will have a career path with an opportunity for promotion. These paths include three tracks: a teaching track (assistant professor, associate professor, and professor, general faculty), a research track (research assistant professor, research associate professor, research professor), a practice track (assistant professor of practice, associate professor of practice, professor of practice), as well as a series of ranks for lecturers (or instructors) (lecturer, senior lecturer, distinguished lecturer). The School of Medicine uses a different set of tracks that have been approved by the provost;

3. The university will make an enhanced commitment to the long-term employment of faculty who have been promoted to associate professor or senior lecturer; and

4. The use of lecturer/instructor ranks has been significantly limited. Whereas the previous policy made the use of professorial ranks the exception for academic general faculty, the new policy makes it the norm for most academic general faculty. Note that use of the instructor rank in the School of Medicine is consistent with practices in academic medicine and differs from the rest of the University.

If you were hired before January 3, 2017, you may see a change in your formal title at some point during 2017, once the provost approves your school’s policies. Faculty members will not be demoted in rank as a result of the policy; some titles may be modified to fit into the new track structure and other faculty may be reviewed to determine if their position should carry professorial rank instead of lecturer or instructor. Their title might be modified to fit into the new track structure. If you were hired after January 1, 2017, your position is already structured in accordance with the new policy.

School policies will:

1. provide detailed promotion criteria for each of the tracks that conform with the general criteria defined in the provost’s policy;

2. specify whether and when faculty will use an informal working title in lieu of their formal faculty titles (for example, in departmental directories); and

3. specify your involvement in school governance, both in terms of your voting rights and other ways in which academic general faculty members will have opportunities to provide input when decisions are being made.

Your dean’s office will develop these policies in collaboration with school faculty, including representation from academic general faculty members. School policies will be submitted to the provost for review and approval by June 1, 2017. Once they are approved, they will be published on your school’s web site and a link to each school’s policies will be added to the “Related Information” of the provost’s policy.

It depends on the position you hold. Teaching responsibilities must account for at least 60% of a position on the teaching track. The dean may decide to structure your position so that some portion of your remaining effort includes research activities. If research is going to be considered as part of your promotion to associate or full professor on the teaching track, you and the school must demonstrate clearly that the research enhances your teaching.

As defined in 2006, ECE offered affirmation of our commitment to a faculty member’s long-term development and success and increased employment protection following a probationary period. However, under the previous policy, faculty members could not continue to be employed at the University following an unsuccessful ECE review and the ECE review process was duplicative of the promotion review process. The new policy retains the former provisions of ECE (as listed above) and eliminates the latter. The affirmation of our commitment to a faculty member’s development and success and the increased employment security now align with successful promotion review. Faculty members whose promotion review is not successful also may be reappointed and undergo promotion review again in the future.

No. General faculty members who serve with ECE will continue to do so.

If you are an ECE-eligible academic general faculty member, you retain the ability to be considered for an “up-or-out” ECE review on schedule. If you would prefer, you may instead opt to be reviewed for promotion at the appropriate time and be governed by section II.E or III.F (Renewal and Non-Renewal Following Promotion Review) in the new policy. Talk with your department chair and dean’s office if you wish to consider this possibility further.

The University stopped creating all but a few types of A/P general faculty positions in 2007 when it received authority from the Commonwealth of Virginia to design an employment system that reflected the diverse employment needs of the University. Since those few positions now fit into the practice track established by the new policy for academic general faculty members, we have decided to end the creation of all new A/P positions at the University with the implementation of the new policy. Individuals already employed as A/P general faculty will remain A/P general faculty.

Not necessarily. You can teach a course each semester and still be in a position that is primarily administrative. The University’s policy, PROV-008, Teaching Courses for Academic Credit, allows those who are not academic faculty to teach a course. Those individuals (who might be staff, professional research staff, or administrative or professional faculty), if necessary, receive a temporary appointment as a lecturer in the department for which they will teach but their fundamental employment status as staff, etc., remains unchanged and they continue to be governed by the policies relevant to that status. For more information, see PROV-008.

Most general faculty classified as administrative or professional are eligible to convert to a University staff position. The type of position will be determined by Human Resources in consultation with you, your supervisor, and the office of your dean, director, or vice president. Contact the human resources professional in your school or unit to determine whether you are eligible to convert and what information you need to consider before converting.