Employment Information

Faculty are subject to all employment policies approved by the Board of Trustees. The following policies and procedures pertain primarily to faculty.

Adjunct Faculty Hiring Procedures

Human Resources posts general openings for all part-time faculty positions on an on-going basis. Those interested in a position with the college should contact the Human Resources Department and submit requested documents.

All applications/resumes received in the Human Resources Department are available for review by dept. chairs, program coordinators, and deans. Applications sent directly to the division or department should be forwarded to the Human Resources Department for inclusion in the college database system.

When an applicant is offered a part-time teaching position, a New Hire Form must be completed by the division dean or dept. chair and forwarded to HR. Copies of transcripts are acceptable to complete initial employment; however, official college transcripts must be on file in Human Resources prior to the end of the first semester. New adjunct faculty must contact Human Resources to complete the various employment forms prior to their first day.

Full-Time Faculty Hiring Procedures

When it is determined that a full-time faculty position is open, either through the planning process or due to resignation or retirement, the dean will complete the personnel requisition form. The dean works with existing faculty to determine composition of the search committee, which is composed of two to three full-time faculty from the division, a full-time faculty member from another division, the dean, and a representative from Human Resources. The department chair or program coordinator will usually serve as the search committee chair.

The dean shall facilitate the committee by convening the meetings (asking Human Resources to discuss appropriate interview questions), assisting the committee in deciding the discipline specialty, determine what characteristics are most important, and how they will review the credentials of the applicants.

The committee will read all of the individual files and determine its top 5-10 candidates. After all committee members have read the files, they will reconvene to determine who they want to interview by telephone. At this time the committee will decide what questions will be asked by telephone and personal interviews.

Telephone interviews are conducted to provide additional information in order to select three candidates to present for personal interviews. The dean will set up the telephone and personal interview with the candidates, based on committee availability. The personal interviews will consist of a 15-20 minute teaching demonstration (the president and vice-president for academic affairs are invited), committee interview, and interview with the vice-president. Additional opportunities may be provided for a campus tour and meeting other faculty. The candidate will be sent information about the 15-20 minute demonstration emphasizing the importance of teaching and learning, active learning, student participation and selected topic, if appropriate.

The dean will call the references of each of the final candidates after their interviews. The questions asked must be the same for each candidate, and the responses documented and submitted to the vice-president before final discussions are made.

The committee then will decide if any of the candidates are unacceptable to them and pass the list of acceptable candidates to the vice-president with a list of strengths and weaknesses or desirable characteristics. At this time, the vice-president will hear strong recommendations from the committee; if the president or vice-president do not agree, a meeting with the committee will be held.

The vice-president will recommend the candidate to the pPresident and the board. The dean will call the candidate and offer the position. If accepted, the candidate will be referred to Human Resources for an explanation of benefits and appropriate employment documentation.

The dean and dept. chair will arrange for office assignments, keys, computer access, phone, etc. The dean will assign a mentor to the individual and make arrangements for the new faculty orientation.

Assistance for the employment process is available through Human Resources.

Attendance in Class and On Campus

Faculty members are expected to be in class and on campus available to assist students at scheduled times. Faculty members must request approval in advance from the dean for all planned absences.

Attendance at Commencement

Faculty are expected to take part in the commencement exercises in academic attire unless they have been previously excused by the dean.

Conferences, Meetings, or Trips

Faculty members are encouraged to attend professional meetings and conferences to keep up with the current trends in their fields. The dean or dept. chair will collaborate with the faculty to provide substitute activities for missed classes and to assure that adequate funds are available.

All conferences, meetings, and trips need to be approved two weeks in advance. The appropriate travel request form must be completed and any appropriate documentation attached. The dean must sign before sending it to the vice-president for academic affairs for approval. If the trip is overnight or out of state, it also needs the approval of the president.

Reimbursement for travel is based on current IRS regulations.

Contract Days

The fall and spring semesters will consist of contract days as set forth in the current Memorandum of Understanding between the Faculty Association and the college administration.

Evaluation of Faculty

It is the aim of the college to provide quality education in all courses and programs. All faculty members are evaluated under general guidelines provided by the Board of Trustees under Board Policy and Procedures. The deans evaluate the instructional performance of teaching personnel as a part of the ongoing evaluation of all faculty members. Evaluation is conducted through classroom visits, student evaluations, and self-evaluation on a three-year cyclical basis for all full-time faculty on continuing status (an abbreviated evaluation is done during remaining two years). Probationary faculty are evaluated by all of the above components on an annual basis.

Evaluation of Faculty by Students

Student evaluations are distributed after midterm. Faculty are to follow the instructions given with the evaluation forms. The instructor may not be present during completion of the forms. The class will be assured that the faculty member will not see the evaluations until final grades have been turned in. Each faculty member must ask a student to distribute and collect the forms. The student will collect the forms and return them to the appropriate Division Office or the Information Desk in the atrium of the ADM Building.

Faculty Absences

A Notification of Absence Form must be completed by full-time faculty and signed by the dean for all absences. All absences not for approved college business will be charged to employee sick leave/personal leave. The college considers teaching a 40-hour-per-week job. Therefore, if full-time faculty miss a full day, they will be charged eight (8) hours; for any part of a day, four (4) hours will be charged.

Adjunct Faculty Absences

A Notification of Absence form must be completed (in advance when possible) and sent to the department chair or program coordinator. All absences must be approved by the department chair/program coordinator. Generally, your pay will not be adjusted for the first absence. However, if you miss class more than one (1) hour per credit hour taught, your pay may be adjusted on a prorated basis.

Faculty Appointments

Appointments of the nine-month faculty of the college shall conform to the nine-month academic year. Nine-month faculty members who accept a summer assignment shall be employed on a separate part-time agreement in accordance with college policies.

Faculty Appointment Classification

Appointments are divided into three classifications.

1. Full-Time Temporary Appointment - Appointment is made for a limited maximum period of time. This classification is used for short-term appointments, temporary replacements for a full-time faculty member, or when a trial period is required to determine if a new program can be continued on a permanent basis. The appointment shall clearly state the maximum length of term of the appointment.
2. Probationary Status - Appointment can only be made for a full-time faculty position. A comprehensive evaluation will be conducted each year for five years to evaluate the full-time faculty member's progress toward a continuous appointment. After the faculty member has been employed full-time for a period of five years, he/she may be eligible for continuous status.
3. Continuous Status - Appointment is for no definite duration or term. A continuous appointment can only be made for a full-time faculty position. A full-time faculty member may be awarded a continuing status by the president after five years of full-time probationary status following a comprehensive administrative performance review, to determine whether the full-time faculty member has clearly demonstrated outstanding service over an extended period of time with respect to teaching and service to the college. A full-time faculty member who has the rights and privileges of the continuing status has in turn the obligation to maintain and improve professional competence and to contribute high-quality service to the college.

Faculty Assignment

The faculty assignments within the academic work week will be allocated to assigned courses, office hours and on-campus hours, preparation time, institutional service, and attendance at appropriate meetings and community service activities. Individual faculty members will work with the dean to determine their assignment and responsibilities each semester.

1. A normal faculty assignment shall consist of 15 credit hours per semester or 30 credit hours per academic year. Any teaching assignment over 30 credit hours per year will be paid at the overload rate per credit hour. Non-teaching assignments will be compensated per college policy (by hourly, stipend, flat-rate, or credit hour rates).
   
   
2. All assignments over 15 hours in a term must be approved by the dean. See the current Memorandum of Understanding for details.
   
   
3. Faculty may be assigned a combination of day, evening, or Saturday classes as part of the regular assignment.
   
   
4. When credit hours are given for administrative or other "non-teaching" assignments, the expected time-on-task is calculated as two (2) clock hours for every credit hour granted.
   
   
5. Faculty with fewer than 15 credit hours in a given semester may be assigned an over assignment the following semester, for a total of 30 hours for the year.
   
   
6. Instructional design and preparation will be considered part of the teaching load within the course assignment.
   
   
7. Class size shall be based upon consideration of factors such as available space, number of lab stations, developmental classes, distance learning, etc., and shall be approved by the dean and the Office of Academic Affairs.

Mentoring

Each new faculty member will be assigned a mentor by the dean. The mentor will receive a stipend after the final paperwork is submitted to the dean. See the Mentor Handbook for details.

Mileage

Mileage reimbursement may be submitted on the local travel forms with the appropriate cost center listed. All mileage will be taken from the department cost center, and it is best to send in mileage for one month at a time.

Mileage is only paid for travel when the travel is necessary as part of the teaching load or non-instructional assignments, as part of official college business. By Federal regulation, no mileage is paid for the trip from home to the campus or vice versa.

Outside Employment

A full-time faculty member may engage in outside employment provided the employment does not create a conflict of interest, the appearance of such a conflict, or interfere with their duties for the college. The faculty member must submit notification for approval of such outside employment before the time employment commences, using a standard form prepared by the Human Resources Office. Such employment must not interfere with or be detrimental to the principles, activities, or functions of the college. Further, it is understood the requirements of the faculty member's position at the college have priority over any outside employment.

Overload

When it becomes necessary to have full-time faculty teach more than 15 ECH in a semester, the faculty will be compensated at an overload rate for those services. Nine (9) hours of overload may be approved by the dean and any amount more than nine must be approved by the vice-president for academic affairs. Fifteen credit hours per semester is standard professional practice; faculty teaching over that amount need to be aware of potential negative impact on teaching effectiveness.

Personal Leave

A faculty member is granted three personal days per year to be requested for business that cannot be done outside of the normal workday. Refer to the paragraph entitled Faculty Absences.

Sick Leave

Substitute Pay

1. Faculty members who serve as substitutes will be reimbursed at the rate of $35 per contact hour. It will be necessary to submit a Payroll Authorization for Substitute Teaching Form, signed by the dean.
   
   
2. Faculty members who substitute for a Continuing Education instructor, shall receive the same rate as the regular instructor for said class.
   
   
3. A faculty member will be given reasonable notice of the need to substitute for another faculty member.
   
   
4. This does not preclude the practice of substitution by faculty members through mutual agreement and approval of their immediate supervisor. When this option is chosen, it is understood that there will be no remuneration, other than the exchange of services.

Tuition Remission/Education Reimbursement

See Board Policies & Administrative Procedures.