FACULTY HIRING POLICY

The College of Education will recruit the best-qualified candidates to fill faculty positions. These individuals should have academic and scholarly records, experiences, attitudes, and goals that will advance the mission and goals of the university, college, and program. Candidates who earn their advanced degree(s) from the College of Education at Texas Tech University will not be discriminated against in our faculty searches.

SUMMER SESSION EMPLOYMENT

Summer appointments are based upon summer instructional needs. Summer employment is considered a supplemental appointment and is not guaranteed. Employment of faculty during the summer sessions is contingent on department and program needs. Budgetary conditions control the number of courses that can be offered during the summer sessions. Under normal budgetary conditions, faculty will have an opportunity for appointment for one of two summer sessions provided that student enrollment justifies the courses scheduled and the individual faculty member is qualified to teach the assigned courses. The department chair is responsible for making faculty appointments. Those individuals appointed for summer teaching will be given a contingency contract that stipulates the conditions for summer appointment.

FACULTY WORKLOAD

OP32.18

Note: The new university Academic Workload Calculation Policy (OP 32.18) went into effect September 1, 2000. At that time the Provost's Office circulated a memo informing both administrators and faculty that the implementation of this policy (on actual change in teaching loads for faculty would not necessarily be changed due to resource constraints). Therefore, there is no plan for wholesale changes in COE faculty teaching loads over the next few years.

In the 2000-01 academic year, the COE Workload Committee developed a proposal for pilot implementation of teaching workload changes over a two to three year period. This proposal was accepted by the dean and Administrative Council. During the 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04 academic years, the dean and department chairs will initiate discussions with faculty about pilot activities in scholarship (including grant development), service, professional development, and alternative teaching which will be substituted for regular teaching. Assessment will be done to determine the effectiveness of these activities, including the resources needed, before a full scale change in the teaching workload described later in this section of the handbook will be modified.

The College's goal is to offer high quality undergraduate and graduate programs that are nationally competitive. Related to this goal is the need to optimize the productivity of the faculty in carrying out their responsibilities. Workload assignments are influenced by program needs and student demand. Faculty resources are limited, and it is imperative that student enrollment be managed as we drive our programs to new levels of excellence.

Each faculty member is assigned a minimum of a 12-credit-hour equivalent teaching workload. Non-graduate faculty, teaching undergraduate courses are assigned the equivalent of four 3-credit-hour courses per semester. Graduate faculty teaching either undergraduate, graduate, or a combination of graduate and undergraduate courses are assigned one semester of three 3-credit-hour courses, one semester of two 3-credit hour-courses, and the equivalent of 3-6 credit hours released time for scholarship for one semester and a reduction to two 3 credit-hour courses and 6 research hours for the other semester. Faculty who teach undergraduate, graduate, or a combination of undergraduate and graduate courses and who are directing at least three doctoral dissertations may be assigned the equivalent of two 3-credit-hour courses and 3 credit hours for dissertation research during the semester in which students complete their dissertations.

Workloads of individual faculty members may vary based on qualifications and the needs of the departments. Department chairs assign individual faculty workloads. Faculty workloads will be monitored in relation to student demand while simultaneously maintaining a high level of faculty productivity. Faculty workloads may be adjusted for specified periods of time, based on department and individual faculty needs, for carrying out their teaching and research responsibilities.

Appointment Of New Faculty Prior To Completion Of Doctoral Degree Requirements

Following the guidelines established in Texas Tech’s operating procedures manual, (OP 32.28), the College of Education has established a policy for those applicants who are appointed prior to completing all requirements for the doctoral degree. According to this policy, individuals in this category will be appointed with the title of assistant professor. This appointment will be temporary and contingent on the successful completion of the doctoral degree by August 1 of the first year of appointment. If the degree is not completed by April 1 of the first appointment year, the faculty member will not be eligible for a summer school teaching assignment and will be asked to use the summer months to complete degree requirements. If degree requirements are not completed by August 1, the appointment will be reviewed and be subject to termination. If unusual circumstances prevent the completion of all degree requirements by August 1, an individual may request an extension to June 30^th of the second year. If degree requirements are not completed by this date, the appointment will be reviewed and be subject to termination.

TEACHING RESPONSIBILITIES

OP32.06

There is a clear expectation across the COE that all tenure track faculty will discharge their respective teaching duties fully over the course of an academic year. In most cases this is a 3/2 regular course load. When classes do not have suitable enrollment, faculty will be reassigned alternative teaching responsibilities. In order to maintain equitable teaching loads across the entire college, faculty reassignment will be done in the following priority order:

The College of Education is committed to supporting faculty members in their research and scholarly endeavors and in their continued professional development. To grow as a scholar and teacher, each faculty member needs support for presenting papers at professional conferences, attending scholarly meetings for professional growth, and defraying the cost of other professional development activities. One way in which the College supports such activities is providing funds for travel and professional development. Each year, 11-15% of the total college maintenance and operations (M&O) funds are set aside specifically to support travel and professional development. The total amount in this budget category is divided as follows: (a) 90% for the Faculty Travel and Development Fund, and (b) 10% for the Faculty Travel Discretionary Fund.

FACULTY TRAVEL AND DEVELOPMENT FUNDS

The total amount of money designated for faculty travel and development is divided each fall among the tenure-track, tenured, and permanent continuing contract faculty members [1] [2] on a per capita basis. This amount is then made available to each faculty member for his or her use for activities such as traveling to conferences to present papers, traveling to conferences or other meetings for professional development, purchasing scholarly books, paying for journal subscriptions, and so forth. Formal requests for travel funds will be made by completing the standard travel application and submitting it for approval to the Department Chairperson. Requests for purchasing items for professional development will be made by following established College procedures. Funds not used or encumbered will be reallocated at the end of each January to the Faculty Travel and Discretionary Fund.

FACULTY TRAVEL AND DISCRETIONARY FUNDS

These funds are used to support special travel requests by tenure-track, tenured, and permanent continuing contract faculty members throughout the year. Special requests may include, but are not limited to, travel to present at an international conference, to present an invited paper, or to present at a prominent conference or meeting. The intent of the discretionary funds is to provide full or partial travel to support faculty members at venues that will bring widespread recognition to the faculty members' scholarly work, to the College of Education, and/or to Texas Tech University. Other full-time faculty members in any status who have been employed for at least three years may also apply for Faculty Travel Discretionary Funds. [3]

To make request for funds, the faculty member should first submit a written request to the Department Chairperson stating the purpose of the request, the anticipated total amount, and the requested amount. Each Department will form a committee composed of representatives of the Department's faculty members. These committees will meet as needed to make decisions on discretionary travel funds. The recommendation of the committee will be forwarded to the Department Chairpersons, who will jointly make the final decision. Priority will be given to: (1) tenure-acquiring assistant or associate professors, and (2) all other faculty members.

[1] Faculty members who have been at Texas Tech University for five years, have applied for continuing status, and have been approved as a permanent continuing contact faculty member.

[2] This assumes that future contracts for these faculty members will not contain travel or professional development funds.

[3] This assumes that future contracts for these faculty members will not contain travel or professional development funds.