One-time Reclassification of Adjunct Faculty Process Completed

The University and United Academics (UA), the faculty union, have completed the reclassification process for more than 400 short- and long-term adjunct positions. Seventy-three percent of the reviewed positions were converted to Career Non-Tenure Track Faculty (NTTF) positions with the direct appointment of the incumbent NTTF to the positions. Those appointments are retroactive to the beginning of 2013-14 academic year.

This reclassification process is a one-time initiative required by a Memorandum of Understanding appended to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the University and UA.  It applied to all on-going positions held by adjunct faculty members in the bargaining unit who are employed in the 2013-14 academic year and who held the same position for all or part of the two academic years  directly preceding this academic year or for any three academic years prior to this academic year.

Because the use of adjunct positions has been inconsistent across campus, all schools and colleges were required to assess every adjunct position at the University for those employees who have been on the job for three years or more. The University and UA implementation teams worked collaboratively to design the process, unit administrators and faculty in the schools and colleges worked tirelessly to complete the reviews, and the  staff in Academic Affairs  and Unclassified Personnel Services devoted many hours to processing the new classifications.

Completion of the reclassification process is a major step forward in the implementation of the first faculty CBA.

Under the CBA, an adjunct position is a “paid temporary appointment that is intermittent or of limited duration,” or one where there are “legitimate pedagogical or legitimate programmatic reasons” to hire adjunct faculty.

Career NTTF are bargaining unit members who has been hired into the following classifications: clinical professor or professor of practice; instructor; lecturer; librarian; research assistant; research associate; or research professor. Career NTTF have rights distinguishable from adjunct faculty in the bargaining unit, including: (1) a right to receive notice of renewal or nonrenewal of  appointments by May 1st, which notice must include a written statement documenting the reasons for non-renewal, if applicable; (2) eligibility for review for promotion  following six years in a career NTTF position  with an average of at least .4 FTE; (3) eligibility for consideration for sabbatical leave, if appointed at .5FTE or greater at certain senior ranks; (4) eligibility for two and three-year contracts, after the requisite number of years of service at various ranks; and (5) the potential right or responsibility  to be involved in departmental or unit governance.

There were 436 positions eligible for reclassification at the beginning of the review process. Twenty positions were in the School of Law which is not included in the bargaining unit, leaving a total of 416 positions included in the review. Three hundred and four positions were filled by direct appointment of the incumbent; 17 positions were restructured to be filled using an external search; 43 positions were retained as adjunct positions for pedagogical or programmatic reasons; 36 positions were no longer needed; eight of the faculty are no longer employed at the University; and 7 positions were combined with another position or otherwise restructured.

More information on the one-time reclassification process  is available on the Academic Affairs Implementation Resources website.

 

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