Background

In Spring 2022, a joint Faculty Senate–Provost’s Office task force chaired by Professor Carolyn Parker produced a detailed report with recommendations to streamline a term faculty contract renewal process that was widely understood to be burdensome and inefficient for our faculty and for the faculty affairs staff in our schools and colleges. The steps we are announcing today build on the committee’s great work, AU’s commitment to supporting our term faculty and recognizing their critical contributions to our community, our term colleagues’ participation at the highest levels of shared governance, and this year’s raised salary floors and compression adjustments for long-serving colleagues.

Over the course of AY2022–23, the Provost’s Office will collaborate with university leadership, the deans, and the Faculty Senate to institute a dramatically streamlined term faculty contract renewal process and to establish a new category of faculty with “continuing appointment” status for eligible term faculty who have six or more years of service. The goals of this new process are to honor the many contributions of our term faculty, to provide them with a clearer path of professional growth, and to streamline the administrative process for reappointment reviews. It maintains the University’s existing right to cancel or modify appointments or contracts (with sufficient notice) due to specified reasons set forth in the Faculty Manual, including, for example, declining enrollment or unsatisfactory performance. 

In this memo, we outline the proposed standard contract progression for term faculty to become eligible for continuing appointments and lay out a transitional approach for the reappointment process in AY2022–23, as we work to codify this new protocol in the Faculty Manual and to finalize specific details of the new model. This process is not expected to apply to term faculty in the Washington College of Law at this time. 

Proposed Term Faculty Contract Progression Toward Continuing Appointment

Beginning with the AY2023–24 reappointment cycle, eligible full-time term faculty who have six or more years of service at the University may apply for continuing appointment status. The terms and conditions for granting continuing appointments are to be determined but will be generally related to outstanding performance in the AU classroom and significant contributions to departmental, school, and/or university service, and, as applicable, research. Faculty who are granted continuing appointments will no longer be subjected to a reappointment process. Instead, their annual performance review (formerly, merit review) will be a means to identify conditions that could lead to termination, such as insufficient enrollments in the program(s) for which they teach, unsatisfactory performance,misconduct, and/or other reasons as outlined in the Faculty Manual.  

The following table outlines the proposed standard contract progression for most continuing appointment-line faculty.  Provided that conditions set forth in the Faculty Manual are met, the progression is premised on strong enrollments in the faculty member’s programs and the faculty member’s continued performance at a high level in the areas of teaching, service, and, as applicable, research.  Reappointments after three years of cumulative service are usually for three-year terms. However, the teaching unit may recommend reappointments of less than three years, including one-year terminal appointment.

Model for Proposed Term Faculty Contract Progression for Continuing Appointments

Current Year of Service on a Term Contract(s)	Next Step
1	Apply for a one-year contract for year 2
2	Apply for a one-year contract for year 3
3	Apply for a three-year contract for years 4–6
6	Apply for continuing appointment effective year 7

 

Transitional Reappointment Process for Term Faculty Whose Contract Expires at the end of AY2022–23

There is still a great deal of work needed to finalize this new process; therefore, no continuing appointment lines will be made effective for AY2023–24.  

During the current AY2022–23, while the University codifies the new continuing appointment-line process, term faculty in their first or second years of service will follow the plan set forth in the progression chart above and may apply for one-year contract renewals.  Similarly, term faculty currently in their third year of service may apply for a three-year contract renewal, as noted in the progression chart above. However, term faculty in their fourth or fifth year of service whose contracts are expiring may apply for either a one- or two-year contract renewal, based on the length of time needed to reach eligibility for continuing status, keeping in mind that the University anticipates the continuing appointment status to be available for application effective AY2024–25. 

Term faculty who have more than six years of service and who are currently in the last year of a multi-year contract may elect to apply for a two-, three-, four-, or five-year contract renewal.  Again, the University anticipates the continuing appointment status will be available for application effective AY2024–25. Term faculty who will be eligible for continuing appointment when that is an option will normally apply for that status in the last year of their current multi-year contract.  

In all instances, the decision to renew a contract, whether on a single-year or multi-year term, will be made based on anticipated enrollments in the program(s) for which the faculty member teaches, their performance in the classroom and in service capacities, and, as applicable, research.

The Path Forward

During AY2022‒23, we expect to update the Faculty Manual, departmental guidelines, and procedures to implement the new process. While the framework may be modified in the course of this year, the key items that must be resolved include:

• Establishing the eligibility criteria for continuing appointment;
• Codifying the terms and conditions under which term contracts and continuing appointments may be terminated or modified, and the appropriate timing for notice thereof;
• Developing standard schedules (with appropriate holdbacks for enrollment uncertainties) for the submission of one-year, three-year, and continuing appointment files;
• Developing standards of evaluation for reviews at the 3^rd and 6^th year of service for continuing appointment-line faculty and standardizing the content of an application file at these mileposts;
• Clarifying language to clearly distinguish time-limited term appointments (e.g., sabbatical replacements, research faculty, postdoctoral fellows) from term appointments that will be eligible for service credit for continuing appointments;
• Developing standards for prior service credit for teaching at other institutions;
• Distinguishing the general continuing appointment process and name from that already enjoyed by faculty in the University Library; and
• Evaluating a reappointment mentor approach in schools and/or departments.

Next Steps

We are excited about this new reappointment process and its potential to support our term faculty, reduce burdensome administrative process, and enhance the sense of job security among our long-serving term colleagues. We welcome your feedback and the opportunity to answer any questions you might have about these changes.  

Please submit your questions to DeanofFaculty@american.edu. Beginning in early September, you will find a list of FAQs, as well as periodic updates on the revision process, at  https://www.american.edu/provost/academicaffairs/term/faq-for-changes-to-reappointment.cfm.