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Teaching Professor Job Title Series Guidelines

Guideline
Purpose: 

To define and expand instructional opportunities for non-tenure track (NTT) faculty.

Applies to: 

Non-tenure track faculty.

Campus: 
Edwards
Lawrence
Juniper Gardens
Parsons
Topeka
Yoder
Policy Statement: 
Consistent with KBOR policy, the University has used a non-tenure track (NTT) faculty appointment system to provide needed flexibility in support of the University’s instructional mission, while remaining committed to strengthening academic and research activities and resources for the tenured and tenure-track faculty body. Under this KBOR policy, NTT faculty may hold a range of responsibilities, including clinical work, research, outreach and service, and other creative endeavors in academic departments. The Teaching Professor Job Title Series allows for eligible NTT instructional faculty to take on greater responsibilities than typically required of lecturers to improve the student experience at KU, including contributing to curricular innovation within schools and departments to apply the latest evidenced-based teaching techniques to transform courses, scholarly engagement (often with a focus on teaching and learning), and providing enhanced advising and departmental service. Research on university teaching and learning, at both KU and institutions nationwide, shows that these contributions can support greater student engagement and lead to higher retention rates and improved time-to-degree, which are major University goals. It is understood that teaching professor positions may be appropriate to adopt in some schools/departments more than others.
 
Contract Appointment
 
Limited term appointment. Consistent with KBOR policy, teaching professor appointments will be for a 3-year limited term period, with the provision that the Teaching Professor position does not lead to a tenure or a tenure-track position. There is no automatic renewal of the position at the end of the limited term period. Teaching Professor positions are expected to be 9-month Academic Year assignments, but 12-month assignments may be approved in special circumstances with approval from the Provost’s Office.
 
Minimum Academic Credentials
 
A terminal degree, or equivalent tested experience, relevant to the area of teaching, is required. The review of the candidate’s credentials and experience should be commensurate with unit expectations for the position and Higher Learning Commission guidelines.
 
Primary Duties
 
Individuals in the job series must be full-time employees. The full allocation of duties must equal 100%, and they must be configured within the following percentage ranges:  teaching at 60-80%, scholarly engagement at 10-20%, and service at 10-20%. Deans have flexibility in establishing the specific teaching, scholarly engagement, and service expectations for these positions, to meet the goals outlined in the policy statement above. These expectations must be outlined clearly in unit letters at the time of appointment. Teaching typically, but not exclusively, involves being an instructor of record for a particular number of course sections, but may include team teaching, carrying out course transformation, assessment of learning outcomes, or other activities to implement innovations in teaching and learning. Scholarly engagement is broadly defined. For many individuals in this role, scholarly engagement involves documenting and disseminating the results of inquiry into improving teaching and learning. The products of scholarly engagement may include, but are not limited to, workshops, presentations, and publication (including newsletters, websites, to peer-reviewed journal articles) of best practices in teaching and learning within and outside the unit. Based on the specific expectations of scholarly engagement set by a particular school/department, some positions may require publication of peer-reviewed disciplinary or pedagogical research and/or products of professional and industry engagement that involve the production and/or dissemination of knowledge. Service typically, but not exclusively, involves being a member of departmental/school or University-level committees which may or may not directly involve teaching.
 
Evaluation
 
All positions will be evaluated annually, with comprehensive evaluations conducted every three years of the appointment prior to the offer of another limited term appointment.
 
Rank and Title
 
Progression in rank and title will follow the processes and procedures developed at the school/department level which must be approved and on file with the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs. For uniformity, the procedures must be based on the following minimum requirements:
 
Assistant Teaching Professor:
The second third-year evaluation of an assistant teaching professor must be conducted by the unit as a comprehensive review for consideration of promotion to associate teaching professor. If unsuccessful, an individual may request another review for promotion in subsequent years. Criteria for promotion are primarily based on the demonstration of excellence in the application of evidenced-based teaching practices in the classroom and other criteria established at the school/department for teaching, scholarly engagement, and service. An assistant teaching professor is not eligible to be promoted directly to the rank of Teaching Professor.
 
Associate Teaching Professor:
Associate teaching professors normally remain at the associate rank for 6 years. During the 6th year, the regular 3rd-year comprehensive review must be conducted as a review for promotion to full teaching professor, primarily based on demonstration of excellence in the application of evidence-based teaching practices in the classroom and impacting teaching and learning outside the school/department at the University and/or national level, in addition to other criteria established at the school/department level for teaching, scholarly engagement, and service. If unsuccessful, an individual may request another review for promotion in subsequent years.
 
Additional Considerations Concerning Promotion:
Promotion in rank from assistant to associate teaching professor, or associate to full, may occur after one, 3-year term in the current rank and only at the time a new limited term appointment is offered after the comprehensive review by the department and school/college level and with the approval of the Provost. Promotion in rank will not occur prior to three years of service as assistant or associate teaching professor, except as otherwise recommended by the Chair/Dean.
 
Once promoted, associate and full teaching professors will continue to be reviewed annually and will be subject to a comprehensive review on a three-year review cycle prior to any offer of a new limited term appointment.
 
School/Department Guidelines
 
Each school/department must ensure that its faculty evaluation plan and its promotion guidelines incorporate processes and procedures for provision of the Teaching Professor positions, with clear criteria for annual performance reviews, 3-yr comprehensive reviews, and promotion within the Teaching Professor ranking structure.  
 
Each school/department must amend its bylaws to afford voting rights to individuals in Teaching Professor positions on all matters, except for personnel issues involving tenure-track faculty (e.g. hiring, promotion and tenure, progress toward tenure review, post tenure review).
 
Schools/College are required to outline expectations of how non-tenure track faculty (e.g., Lecturers, Multi-term Lecturers) may progress towards or qualify for Teaching Professor positions, and they must have that completed prior to the time of appointment.
 
Teaching Professor positions must be compensated at a higher rate of pay than the lecturer level due to higher expectation of primary duties and responsibilities. Each unit therefore must establish minimum pay for each rank of Teaching Professor consistent with the primary duties of Teaching Professor positions having greater responsibilities than lecturer positions. These compensation levels must be established, reviewed every 3 years, and submitted by the School/College to the Office of the Provost and Human Resource Management.
Exclusions or Special Circumstances: 
Special Conditions
 
Eligible to participate as members on master’s thesis and dissertation committees, subject to University policy administered by Graduate Studies.
 
Eligible for Project-Specific Principal Investigator (PI) status, subject to policy administered by the Office of Research
Contact: 
Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs 
University of Kansas
1450 Jayhawk Blvd., Room 145
Lawrence, KS 66045
785-864-6489
Approved by: 
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
Approved on: 
Friday, May 17, 2019
Effective on: 
Friday, May 17, 2019
Review Cycle: 
Annual (As Needed)
Keywords: 
Non-tenure track faculty, NTT, teaching professor
Change History: 

01/18/2024: Updated from Faculty Development to Faculty Affairs.
06/10/2019: Technical edit.
05/17/2019: Uploaded into the Policy Library.

Personnel: Faculty/Academic Staff Categories: 
Performance
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