PROCEDURE FOR NOTIFYING A NON-TENURE MEMBER OF NON-RENEWAL OF HIS/HER APPOINTMENT

Policy: Board of Regents Policy Manual, 8.3.4 http://www.usg.edu/policymanual/section8/

USG Academic Affair Handbook, 4.7.1 http://www.usg.edu/academic_affairs_handbook/section4/

This procedure must be used when notifying non-tenure faculty members or other non-tenure personnel, who are employed under written contract, if they will not be offered another contract after the current year.

ACADEMIC YEAR (Ten Month) NON-TENURED FACULTY

1. On or before July 1, each dean must send to the Provost recommendations regarding any academic year ten month non-tenured faculty member who should not be reappointed after three or more years of service. This recommendation must be in the form of a memorandum to the Provost. Deans must receive a similar memorandum of recommendation from department chairpersons in sufficient time to allow deans to meet this July 1st deadline. These memoranda should not be copied to the faculty member involved.

2. On or before November 1, recommendations following these restrictions must be received by the Provost regarding any academic year ten month non-tenured faculty member who should not be reappointed after a second year appointment. The same constraints apply as in Item number 1 above.

3. On or before February 1, recommendations following these restrictions must be received by the Provost regarding any academic year ten month non-tenured track faculty member who should not be reappointed after an initial one year appointment. The same constraints apply as in Item number 1 above.

Schedule

July - Notification date July 1 for 10 month non-tenured faculty in their third or more years of service. It is recommended that we try to notify the faculty member prior to the faculty contracts being sent in June.
August
September
October
November Notification date November 1 for 10 month non-tenured faculty non-tenured faculty in their second year of service
December
January
February Notification date February 1 for 10 month non-tenured faculty in their first year of service
March
April
May - End of contract
June

FISCAL YEAR (12 Month) NON-TENURED FACULTY

1. On or before September 1, each dean must send to the Provost recommendations regarding any fiscal year twelve month non-tenured faculty member who should not be reappointed after three or more years of service. This recommendation must be in the form of a memorandum to the Provost. Deans must receive a similar memorandum of recommendation from department chairpersons in sufficient time to allow deans to meet this September 1 deadline. These memoranda should not be copied to the faculty member involved.

2. On or before December 1, recommendations following these restrictions must be received by the Provost regarding any fiscal year twelve month non-tenured faculty member who should not be reappointed after a second year appointment. The same constraints apply as in Item number 1 above.

3. On or before April 1, recommendations following these restrictions must be received by the Provost regarding any fiscal year twelve month non-tenured faculty member who should not be reappointed after an initial one year appointment. The same constraints apply as in Item number 1 above.

Schedule

July -
August
September Notification date September 1 for 12 month non-tenured faculty in their third or more years of service
October
November
December Notification date December 1 for 12 month non-tenured faculty in their second year of service
January
February
March
April Notification date April 1 for 12 month non-tenured faculty in their first year of service
May –
June – End of contract

4. On the advice and counsel of the Attorney General's Office, it is the policy of the Board of Regents and Georgia College & State University not to give reasons to non-tenure faculty whose contracts are not renewed. Also, generally speaking, such non-tenure faculty are not entitled to a hearing on the reasons for their non-renewal.

5. A letter will be used by the Provost, after consultation with the President, to notify the faculty member that they will not be issued a new contract. No one other than the Provost has been authorized by the President to issue letters or memorandums of any kind to faculty members informing them that they will not be rehired or issued a subsequent contract. This is a serious legal matter, and procedures are explicit. This is an example of what the letter should look like:

Dear (Non-tenured Faculty Member),

As the authorized representative of President________, and pursuant to Policies of the Board of Regents, I am writing to inform you that no new employment contract will be offered to you for the 20-- - 20-- academic year.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your service to Georgia College & State University and wish you every personal success and professional success in the future.

Sincerely,

Provost

6. Nothing in this procedure or this memo is intended to replace or change the existing faculty evaluation procedures. Under those procedures, department chairpersons are still responsible for counseling their faculty members as to their standing with the university and informing specifically of any problems they may have in regard to their employment based on that performance. That information should be communicated from the chairperson to the affected faculty member as part of the existing faculty evaluation system. That evaluation system does not constitute a contract or notice of a contract.

7. Any questions regarding this procedure should be addressed to the Provost in sufficient time to allow resolution prior to the deadline dates for academic year and fiscal year non-tenured faculty appointments:

Academic Year (ten month) Fiscal Year (twelve month)

July 1 – Three or more years of service September 1 – Three or more years of service

November 1 – Two years of service December 1 – Two years of service

February 1 – One year of service April 1 – One year of service

FACULTY APPOINTMENTS, BOARD APPROVAL

ADMINISTRATIVE CONTRACT AND APPOINTMENT LETTERS