UW Faculty Policy Primer

As the University has grown over the years, the nomenclature for academic units, their leaders, and their reporting structure has not always been consistent.  On the Seattle campus, within the College of Built Environments and the Schools of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Business, Pharmacy, and Public Health, the appointing unit for all faculty is the Department, which is headed by a Chair; a few departments in Medicine are large enough also to be subdivided into Divisions, led by Division Heads, but the appointing unit is still the Department. Within the Colleges of Engineering, Arts & Sciences, and the Environment, there are both Departments (each headed by a Chair) and Schools (each headed by a Director) that act as the appointing unit.  The College of Arts in Sciences is further subdivided into Divisions, overseen by Divisional Deans, but the official reporting line of chairs or directors is to the Dean of the College.  In all these cases, each appointing unit is subservient to their School or College, which is headed by a Dean, who in turn reports to the Provost.  On the other hand, the College of Education, as well as the Schools of Social Work, Law, Public Policy & Governance, and Information, are undepartmentalized, so they serve as the appointing unit for faculty; each is headed by a Dean, who reports to the Provost.

On the Bothell and Tacoma campuses, the appointing units are Schools (some of which are further divided into Divisions, led by Chairs), which are headed by a (campus) Dean who reports to the Chancellor for that campus, although day-to-day academic affairs are overseen by the (Executive) Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.  In June 2024, the Regents approved creation of departments within Tacoma’s School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences; the implementation of this change is in progress as of September, 2024.  The chancellors at Bothell and Tacoma report both to the Provost (for faculty and academic affairs) and to the President (for non-academic matters).

In this Primer, the term “Unit Head” is used to refer to the Chair, Director, Campus Dean, or Dean who leads the academic unit in which you are appointed (see EO I): your Unit Head is your official supervisor; the term “SCC Head” is used to refer to the Dean or Chancellor who leads the School, College, or Campus (SCC) in which your appointing unit is located (see EO 12 and EO 14).  In Education, Social Work, Law, Public Policy & Governance, and Information, the Unit Head and the SCC Head are the same person; in other units, each Unit Head reports to the SCC Head.  All SCC Heads, collectively on the Board of Deans and Chancellors (BODC, EO 16), report to the Provost regarding academic and faculty affairs (see EO 4).  The Provost reports to the President, who is overseen by the Board of Regents (see BRG and RCW 28B.20.130).  The Board of Regents is appointed by the Governor, who is elected by the citizens of the State of Washington.  The published University Leadership List (APS 1.2) and Organization Chart are updated annually.

As a member of the University faculty, you ultimately received a formal (and somewhat austere) notification that the Board of Regents of the University had approved your appointment. The Board, which has the legal responsibility to employ all members of the University faculty and staff, ordinarily acts favorably upon the recommendations of the President and Provost for anyone in the “except” category of Administrative Order 6.1, who in turn are guided by recommendations beginning with the faculty of the academic unit in which you were appointed.

The opportunity to appoint a new member of the faculty is determined by the needs of the academic programs and the extent of the University’s ability to make a financial commitment.  Annually, each SCC Head submits a Hiring Plan that details both the academic need and available financial resources for all proposed, multi-year, non-clinical faculty positions they hope to fill.  Approval of this Hiring Plan by the Provost is required before a unit can initiate a faculty recruitment.  Faculty recruitments not covered by the Hiring Plan (annual, acting, and/or clinical) must be pre-approved by the SCC Head.  Except for acting titles, all multi-year faculty appointments require a competitive national search unless a waiver is approved by both the Equal Opportunity & Affirmative Action Office and the Provost; national searches are optional for quarterly, annual, or acting appointments.

Once the recruitment of candidates for a position was authorized by the SCC Head, your unit colleagues took over the process of selection, often with the assistance of a personnel committee or an ad-hoc search committee formed for the purpose as well as the Office of Faculty Advancement.  These faculty members recruited applicants, studied and evaluated dossiers, conducted interviews on campus or elsewhere, and ranked the candidates.

Your appointment was the result of a favorable vote by the faculty in your appointing unit (or a subdivision approved by your unit), recommendation of the Unit Head, the approval of the SCC Head (advised, in appointments carrying academic tenure, by an elected advisory council), and the approval of the Provost and President. Your appointment thus involved the participation of your immediate colleagues and reviews by SCC and University administrative officers before it was confirmed by the Board of Regents (EO V).

Formal and detailed descriptions of this process, established by the Faculty Senate and approved by the University faculty, are found in Chapter 24 of the Faculty Code, especially Section 24-52.

The scholarly and professional qualifications which were used by your colleagues in recommending your appointment have been spelled out in the Faculty Code by action of the Faculty Senate and the general faculty in Chapter 24. They include accomplishment (or potential for accomplishment) in scholarship, in creative inquiry and research, in teaching, and in professional and public service that reflect the University’s expressed commitment to excellence and equity.

The University has a wide variety of faculty titles that reflect the diversity of activities and foci of different appointments.  A complete list of titles and characteristics of their appointments may be found here on the OAP website.  The appointment ranks (assistant professor, associate professor, and professor) mark successively greater levels of accomplishment (FC 24-34-A), the specific manifestations of which may vary somewhat from field to field.

If your appointment is Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor, without any qualifying word or phrase, your rank is also your title and you hold what is called a tenured/tenure-track (TTT) professorial appointment.  These appointments are backed by regularly appropriated instructional funds from the State of Washington and student tuition (known as general operating funds, or GOF) and have no necessary limitation to the range of functions you will serve in your academic unit.  Associate Professor and Professor are the only faculty titles that carry the full protections of tenure.  Faculty holding the titles Associate Professor Tenure-Track and Professor Tenure-Track (FC 25-32-D) are GOF-supported TTT faculty who are eligible for tenure in rank; these titles are used sparingly when a senior scholar is hired without documentation of the full range of teaching, scholarship, and service accomplishments required for tenure.

Distinguished scholars, artists, educators, clinicians, and scientists may also be appointed to professorial titles which include qualifying words or phrases.  There are five professorial tracks that comprise members of the voting faculty:  Professorial (TTT), Without Tenure for Reasons of Funding (WOT, FC 24-40), Research (FC 24-35), Teaching (FC 24-41-C), and Clinical Practice (FC 24-41-E).   Each of these tracks has an expectation of non-zero contributions in each of scholarship, teaching, and service, but the ratios vary; each also requires the qualifications at the ranks of assistant, associate, and full professor expressed in FC 24-34-A.  Information about the uncommon event of changing professorial tracks is on the OAP website.

Faculty members who meet the criteria for and have the full range of potential duties as regular TTT faculty may be appointed at any rank with the designation of “without tenure” or “WOT.”  This occurs when the teaching and research obligations of the academic unit have exceeded the capacity of general operating funds (state + tuition) to support them, and indicates that a part or all of the salary for the appointment comes from other sources (e.g., grants and contracts or clinical revenue); thus the appointment cannot be continued should the supporting agency fail to continue to provide for its funding.  If you accept such an appointment, you must be notified in writing by the Board of Regents or the President before the appointment begins that your appointment is always subject to the availability of funds. Such an appointment is identical to those of faculty holding TTT appointments, except for the important provision that it is subject to the continuation of non-GOF funds (FC 24-40, and FC 25-32-C6).

Appointment to a research or teaching professorial title indicates your activities will be mostly research or teaching, respectively, with teaching by research faculty primarily in the form of mentoring students and postdoctoral fellows, and with scholarship by teaching faculty broadly defined as advancing either pedagogy and curriculum or the discipline being taught.  Similarly, appointment to the clinical practice track reflects a primary emphasis on clinical activity, but including both the clinical teaching of students, residents, and fellows and the pursuit of scholarship related to clinical practice.

The titles Artist in Residence and Senior Artist in Residence are instructional titles that reflect special instructional roles (FC 24-34-B1,2, FC 24-41-B), and generally are used for persons with extensive experience in their field who do not necessarily possess the academic credentials required for a professorial appointment.  Full time artists in residence participate in faculty governance.  Professor of Practice (FC 24-34-B8, FC 24-41-B) is a similar title for highly distinguished non-academicians, but does not carry voting rights.

There are several other faculty titles listed in Section 24-34-B of the Faculty Code.  A “clinical” title is similar to the Professor of Clinical Practice track but is annual and does not have the same scholarship and national reputation expectations; if you are designated as “clinical-non-salaried,” your primary responsibility is to an agency or private practice outside the University but you make substantial contributions to the instruction of University students in practicum settings.  Similarly, an “affiliate” appointment is made to someone whose primary professional responsibilities lie outside the University, but who contributes in some way to its teaching and research programs.  An “acting” title indicates either that you have not yet completed the requirements for a regular appointment (most commonly Acting Assistant Professor pending PhD or if you are awaiting appropriate visa status) or that you meet the requirements, but your appointment is temporary.  You may spend no more than 4 years in any single acting rank or title and no more than 6 years in any combination of acting titles (including Acting Instructor).  A “visiting” title indicates that you hold a faculty position at another college or university and are temporarily appointed at the University of Washington.  Affiliate, acting, and clinical titles may also be applied to the rank of instructor, which is below that of assistant professor.  Appointments carrying clinical, affiliate, or visiting titles are annual (or shorter), and faculty holding those titles, as well as acting faculty, do not participate in University governance activities nor do their appointments have implications for the award of tenure or for promotion in a clock-managed rank (see below).  Part-time lecturer (multi-year) is used for a person in an ongoing, special instructional role that averages less than 100% time over the academic year.  Temporary lecturer appointments (both full- and part-time) are used to cover short-term needs; they are generally limited to three years (see Provost Guidelines).

Two other titles are used in conjunction with a primary appointment to one of the above titles: adjunct and joint.  If your primary appointment is in one academic unit but you make contributions to the instruction or research in one or more other units, you may hold an “adjunct” appointment in the other unit(s); such an appointment is reviewed annually by the adjunct unit.  Voting privileges and tenure implications are limited to the primary unit, although the Unit Head of the adjunct unit must concur on promotion for you to keep the adjunct appointment at the new rank.  Note that the University of Washington uses the term “adjunct” for someone who has a full-time UW faculty appointment while the designation “affiliate” refers to someone who has primary employment elsewhere.  Many universities use these terms in the opposite manner.

A “joint” appointment recognizes a permanent commitment to, and extensive participation in, two or more academic units.  One unit is designated the primary appointing unit with the concurrence of all concerned; all personnel determinations originate in the primary unit, but the secondary unit must concur.  In particular, when you are considered for promotion, the entire promotion process must be pursued in both appointing units, although the units may agree to collaborate on acquiring external letters of reference and on a common promotion subcommittee.  If you have a joint appointment, you should have received a Memorandum of Understanding signed by all relevant Unit Heads and SCC Heads that spells out your rights (e.g., voting privileges, what happens if only one unit recommends promotion) and responsibilities (e.g., teaching and service obligations) in each unit.

Your appointment to the University faculty includes an appointment to the faculty of a department, school, or college.  Appointment to the Graduate Faculty of the University (FC 23-44), as well as endorsement to chair doctoral supervisory committees, requires separate action.

Members of the Graduate Faculty are appointed to supervisory committees for graduate students and participate in determining general policies for graduate programs through an elected Graduate School Council representing units across the University.

Appointment to the Graduate Faculty requires a nomination by your Unit Head; endorsement by the other members of the Graduate Faculty in your unit and approval by the Dean of the Graduate School (see Graduate Policy 4.1).  You are normally eligible for an appointment if you hold a professorial or artist in residence appointment in any track, were competitively recruited to a multi-year appointment, and have demonstrated continuing involvement in graduate teaching and your own research or other appropriate, creative activity.  Active TTT and WOT faculty (of any rank) are appointed to indefinite terms, while finite-term and emeritus faculty are appointed to 5-year, renewable terms.  If you are not sure whether you are on the graduate faculty, check https://grad.uw.edu/programs/find-graduate-faculty/.

The organization of the Graduate Faculty is described more fully in FC 23-44,  and in a series of Graduate School Policies.

You have the right to be kept informed about the way in which your colleagues view your development, as well as about their expectations and understanding of how your activities contribute to the current and future goals of your appointing unit, SCC, and the University. This is so you may, if you wish, adjust your priorities in the advancement of your career.  Similarly, your colleagues have the obligation to monitor your development to fulfill their responsibility to appraise it in their consideration of reappointments, promotion, awarding of tenure, and recommendations for salary increases.  Faculty Code 24-54-B states that each unit’s promotion guidelines should be published; you should be able to find them linked from your SCC’s website and/or the OAP Promotion and Tenure site.  You should download and retain a copy of the unit-level promotion criteria posted at the time you started your appointment as a benchmark and as a precaution should those criteria change.

Your appointing unit is required to have adopted a format for an annual report on activities (FC 24-57-B) – ask your Unit Head (or their assistant) for a copy.  You are expected to keep your file up to date and to make certain that it reflects your accomplishments accurately.  You should get in the habit of updating your CV and annual report whenever something relevant occurs (e.g., you get a paper published or grant funded, accomplish something while serving on a committee, or create a new course).

During any academic year in which you are teaching one or more courses, you must have at least one student evaluation of your class (FC 24-57-A); a student evaluation of every class is recommended.  Every year, each assistant professor (any track) and each tenure-track associate professor or professor should have a collegial (peer) review of their teaching, with a written report that is shared with you (this can reflect independent student mentoring as well as classroom teaching).  All other faculty should have a collegial review at least every three years.  These student and peer reviews become part of your promotion dossier as well as of your annual merit review, so you should keep a copy; you must have a peer review during the academic year prior to being considered for promotion.

If you are an assistant professor or a tenure-track associate professor or professor, your Unit Head (or their designee) is required to meet individually with you each year (FC 24-57-C).  If you are an associate professor (any track), these conferences are to be at least every two years; for professors, the minimum is every three years.   You should, in preparation for this conference, study the kinds of contributions to the University detailed in FC 24-32 and FC 24-57, as well as your unit’s published promotion criteria; other resources include EO 45.  These required conferences shall address your accomplishments and responsibilities in teaching, scholarship, and service, as well as the unit’s needs and goals, and should result in a shared strategy for achieving your goals in concert with those of the unit.  During this conference, your Unit Head should make specific suggestions for improvement as well as identify resources available to you to accomplish your shared strategy.

Your Unit Head is required to share with you a document summarizing your conference and the topics discussed, as well as specifying your commitments and responsibilities for the coming year(s) and how they are consistent with the unit’s published promotion and merit evaluation criteria.  If you believe this report to be inaccurate, you have the right and responsibility to respond in writing.  If your Unit Head does not then revise the document to reflect what you view as an accurate description, you may request that a committee be formed to fully review the records relating to the conference: one member is chosen by you, one by the Unit Head, and a third by the first two members (FC 24-57D).

Discussions with your colleagues about progress and expectations apart from the required conferences are, of course, highly encouraged.

The University does not have a policy of uniform entry-level salaries at any rank, although it does have salary minima for each rank, adjusted biennially (FC 24-71-A3).  Your initial salary was set through negotiation between you and your Unit Head with the explicit concurrence of the SCC Head; by state law it must lie within the salary range published in the advertisement for the position.  The University recognizes the variation in entry level salaries required to attract faculty of special potential in different academic fields, and thus your salary, if you are a new assistant professor, may be greater or less than the salary of a new assistant professor in another field.  Whether you are paid on a 9-month or 12-month basis depends on both your title and your SCC (see OAP Website Service Periods).  Equivalent monthly base salaries for 9- and 12-month appointments differ by a factor of 12/11, since 12-month faculty accrue paid vacation time while 9-month faculty do not: 9-month faculty are limited to supplementing their academic year salary via summer teaching, service, or research with no more than 2.5 additional months (EO 34-1F).

The policy governing faculty raises is detailed in EO 64 and FC 24-71.  The Provost consults annually with the Board of Deans and Chancellors (BODC, which includes all the SCC Heads, EO 16) and the Senate Committee on Planning and Budgeting (SCPB, FC 22-91) to formulate a salary distribution plan.  All meritorious faculty receive at least a 2% increase unless there is severe fiscal stress, and each faculty member promoted from the rank of assistant professor to associate professor, or from the rank of associate professor to professor (independent of track) receives a 10% increase upon promotion.  Beyond that, available funds are allotted to (a) additional merit, with an equal percentage pool going to each SCC for differential distribution; (b) unit adjustments, which are targeted at market gaps and compression and may be limited to specific units and/or populations; and (c) retention, which may be either pre-emptive or competitive.  SCC-funded unit adjustments require consultation with the SCC elected faculty council and SCPB before approval by the Provost.  The mechanism for distributing available merit and unit-adjustment funds within an SCC is determined by the SCC Head after consultation with their elected faculty council.  Note that while the total annual raise pool is constrained by the availability of state appropriations and tuition revenue to fund an increase in state-funded salaries, a salary that is (partially) sourced from other funds is generally also limited to the same raise constraints as are state-funded salaries.

The procedures to evaluate faculty for merit are in FC 24-55 and FC 24-57, as well as EO 45. You are evaluated on your cumulative record of scholarship, teaching, and service in comparison with your peers.  All faculty should be reviewed annually for merit, even if there are no funds available for raises.  If you are below the rank of professor, your superiors in rank^[1] in your appointing unit make the recommendation for your increase; the Unit Head must seek advice of full professors regarding evaluation of faculty at the rank of professor according to a procedure approved by voting members of their unit.  The faculty raise recommendations are transmitted, along with an independent assessment by the Unit Head if they do not concur, to your SCC Head.  The SCC Head then makes raise recommendations and forwards them to the President (or, in practice, the Provost).

You are expected to make available to the faculty all information which would enable them to make informed judgements about your merit, including your teaching effectiveness, scholarship, and service.  Your required Teaching Evaluations, Yearly Activity Report, and any documentation of your regular conference with your Unit Head are considered in your merit review.  See FC 24-57 for details.

The only code-sanctioned raise mechanism outside of annual merit/unit adjustment and promotion is retention (FC 24-71-B3).   If you and another institution are seriously considering each other (whether or not an offer is yet in hand), you should talk with your Unit Head about what response might keep you at UW.  Any potential salary increase initiated by this conversation must be informed by the process your appointing unit has adopted, and should be recommended by your Unit Head and SCC Head before being approved by the Provost (see OAP form for the information your SCC Head will need to supply).  The University’s ability to counter an external recruitment is limited by considerations both of available funds and of salary equity within your unit.  Any non-salary responses (equipment, space, teaching release, etc.) are negotiated with your Unit and SCC Heads; they generally do not involve the Provost.

Any appointment in which all or part of your salary is derived from non-instructional funds should be accompanied by a written understanding specifying the source and levels of funds corresponding to your different activities.  Your unit should supply salary support for any classroom instructional duties.  There are legal restrictions related to writing new proposals during time for which you are being paid on a federal grant or contract; you should talk with your Unit Head about support options before starting to write a new proposal.  Consult the Office of Research and its Grants Information Memoranda and other Compliance policies for more information.

On occasion, faculty may be asked to shoulder an additional workload that cannot be accommodated by redistribution of their other duties or to take on a significant administrative responsibility.  At the discretion of your SCC Head, these activities may be compensated by a temporary pay supplement (TPS) or administrative supplement (ADS), respectively.  Any additional compensation is temporary, and your salary returns to your base level once the additional effort has ended (EO 59).

If you perform any outside work for compensation (including as an independent consultant), you must obtain permission from your Unit Head, your SCC Head, and the Vice Provost for Research through filing Form 1460 (Request for Approval of Outside Work for Compensation).  The limitations on the type of work and how much time you may spend on this work without going on (partial) leave from the University are detailed in EO 57.  Note that honoraria for work that is part of your normal job (e.g., giving a talk on your research or participating on a grant review panel) generally do not require advance permission.  Situations for which honoraria are not allowed are listed in EO 43.

[1] See FC 21–32 to learn who can vote on whom, summarized in the merit voting matrix  and voting guidelines on the Office of Academic Personnel website.

If you joined the University faculty as an associate professor or professor with tenure, your appointment is continuous. Appointments of associate professors and professors without tenure (WOT) are also continuous, but subject to the availability of funds.  All other faculty are appointed for specified terms (FC 24-34 and FC 24-41) and reappointment or non-reappointment requires specific faculty action by the appointing unit and the SCC Head as detailed in FC 24-41 and FC 24-53.

If you are an assistant professor in the TTT, WOT, or Research tracks, you are in a clock-managed position, meaning you may only be reappointed once in this rank – further reappointment must include promotion (more on that below).   If you are appointed as a tenure-track associate professor or professor, you are also clock-managed, and your second reappointment must include the award of tenure.  For clock-managed faculty, FC 24-41 requires that your initial appointment be for 3 years, and that your SCC Head shall decide during your second year as to whether your appointment (i) should be continued for a second three-year term, (ii) should not be renewed and thus end after three years, or (iii) should be reconsidered the following year.  Faculty Code 24-53 requires these decisions to be informed by a vote of the faculty in your appointing unit who are superior in rank and a separate recommendation by your Unit Head. A decision to postpone consideration of reappointment until the third year results in a recommendation the following year either (i) to reappoint for a second three-year term or (ii) not to reappoint; in the latter case, the initial three-year appointment is extended automatically for a fourth and terminal year (FC 24-41).  If an assistant professor is working part time, then the reappointment term depends on their Roster%[1]: 4 years if 70%-89% of full time, 5 years for 60%-69%, or 6 years for 50%-59%.  The second appointment term may also be extended by one year up to 4 times with a clock-waiver, as discussed below.  Note that your appointment terms and conditions are independent of the position(s) you may have held prior to joining the University; you still have the full two terms (six years + extensions) to achieve promotion or tenure even if you were a faculty member elsewhere.

If you are an assistant professor in the Clinical Practice or Teaching tracks, you are eligible to be considered for promotion in any year but may be reappointed at that rank indefinitely.  Your initial appointment is limited by FC 24-41 to be no more than 5 years; current academic personnel policy (not code) requires that any appointment for a term of less than 3 years be approved by the Provost.  At least six months before the expiration date of your appointment (3 months if you are in an initial one-year term), your SCC Head will make and notify you of a decision on reappointment (FC 24-41-C,E), with the decision informed by a vote of the faculty in your appointing unit who are superior in rank and by a separate recommendation of your Unit Head (FC 24-53).

Appointment as an associate professor or professor in the Teaching, Research, or Clinical Practice tracks have a normal minimum of 3 years (with exceptions) and a maximum appointment of 7 years for associate professors and 10 years for professors (FC 24-41).  Reappointment procedures are as above, except that voting faculty in the appointing unit at the rank of professor consider reappointment of a research professor, teaching professor, or professor of clinical practice (FC 24-41 and FC 24-53).

If you are an Artist in Residence, Senior Artist in Residence, or Professor of Practice, initial appointments are in the range of 1 to 5 years.  Reappointment again follows the guidelines of FC 24-41 and FC 24-53, with a decision by the SCC Head informed by a vote and Unit Head recommendation in the appointing unit at least six months (3 months for a one year initial appointment) before the reappointment date.

The reappointment of annually-appointed clinical faculty, affiliate faculty, and annual or quarterly part-time lecturers may be delegated to an annually-elected committee of the appointing unit’s voting faculty; otherwise, the procedures are the same as above (FC 24-53).  Teaching Associates (24-34-B14) have their appointments considered each year by the faculty of the appointing unit, but the SCC Head does not need to be involved.

[1] Roster% is the institutional commitment for your position and the maximum percent time for which you may be paid.  It is distinct from FTE%, which is the fraction of time you work (and are paid for) in a particular month (it is less than Roster% if you are on (partial) leave without pay or reduced responsibility status), and from Tenure%, which is the fraction of your position and salary that is backed by tenure safeguards.  Your Roster% may never be less than either your Tenure% or your FTE%.  FTE refers to Full Time Equivalent.

It is expected that faculty members who are paid from instructional funds will generally be in residence and will have assigned instructional responsibilities every quarter.  If you have no formal classroom teaching assignment, you are still expected to be available for student and other trainee mentorship, for advising, and for service-related activities.  Any redistribution of an annual teaching load to be higher in one particular quarter to make up for no formal teaching in another quarter requires permission of your SCC Head (see the OAP instructional responsibility policy).

You may request either partial or full leave without pay (LWOP) for a variety of reasons, including family obligations or pursuing interests relevant to your job duties (if you will be paid by others, you also need to file Form 1460).  You are limited to taking leave in no more than 6 or 8 consecutive quarters for a 9-month or 12-month appointment, respectively, after which you must return to your unit full time for one year.  See https://ap.washington.edu/ahr/working/leaves/ for details.  Taking LWOP requires permission from the Unit Head and SCC Head, and LWOP other than Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA, APS 45.5) leave is generally not permitted in the mandatory year for a clock-managed position.

Professional leave with pay (sabbatical) is limited to persons who have been at the University for at least seven years (EO 33).  The total number of leave quarters available each year is limited by state law; all faculty tracks and professional staff are eligible and the source of salary is the same as for your regular appointment.  There are no central funds to cover the cost to your unit of replacing the work (e.g., teaching of classes) you would otherwise have performed; this may additionally limit the number of sabbatical quarters a given SCC may support.  The application process for paid professional leave varies by SCC.  If you leave the University within one year of returning from a sabbatical, you will need to refund your sabbatical pay to the University.

Faculty are eligible for up to 90 calendar days of paid sick leave per academic year (subject to a cap of 90 days per situation) for either a personal illness or disability, a maternity-related disability, or care of a family member with a serious health condition (FC 51-1, FC 51-11, and UWHR) (“maternity leave” is generally a combination of maternity-related disability and then care for a family member, for a total of ≤ 90 days).  You are eligible to purchase long term disability insurance that starts after the 90-day sick leave, where the default premium covers the difference between any social security (or other) disability payments and 60% of your salary.  Note that 9-month faculty are not entitled to paid leave during the summer.  Sick leave generally counts towards the total protected FMLA leave in a given year (APS 45.5).

If you entered the University as an Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor WOT, or Research Assistant Professor, a promotion determination must be made no later than the terminal year of your second appointment (known as your mandatory year).  This is typically your sixth year but may be later due to clock-waivers and/or if your Roster % is less than 90%.  If you entered as a tenure-track associate professor or professor (FC 25-32-D), your mandatory review is in the penultimate year of your second appointment (typically your 5^th year).

While faculty members may join the University at any time during the year, the promotion process is annual (based on the academic year), with promotions taking effect on July 1 for 12-month faculty and on September 16 for 9-month faculty.  If you are on a 9-month appointment that started at the beginning of winter quarter (December 16), you are grouped with the cohort who started the previous autumn; if you started December 17 or later, you are grouped with those who start the following autumn.  If you started a 12-month appointment by January 1, you are grouped with those who started the previous summer; if you start January 2 or later, you are grouped with those who start the following July.

Note that if you start in one clock-managed track and transfer to a different one (e.g., from Research to WOT), your promotion clock starts on the date of your initial appointment and not when you change tracks.  On the other hand, time in an acting, teaching, clinical, or instructor title does not count towards the mandatory clock; neither does any academic year in which your FTE% was less than 50% for at least 6 months (not including summer for a 9-month appointment). (see Automatic Clock Waivers and Changing Professorial Tracks on the OAP Website).

Clock waivers (https://ap.washington.edu/ahr/working/promotion-and-tenure-clock-changes/) are not specified in the UW Policy Manual, but have been academic policy since the early 1990s and count as “term of appointment extended by the Provost” in FC 25-32A.2.  Each approved clock waiver both pauses your mandatory clock and extends the length of your second appointment one full year.  Waivers do not change the standards by which your promotion case will be evaluated, and you are not expected to make significant career progress during the waived year.  Clock waivers may be obtained for the birth or adoption of a child or for other significant interruptions to your research or scholarship, including extensive time on family or sick leave (FC 51-21).  If both parents of a new child are in clock-managed appointments, both may receive clock waivers for that event.  Faculty who served in a clock-managed position during 2019-20 and/or 2020-21 may request a COVID-19 clock waiver for either or both of those years.   Clock waivers are initiated by you making a request of your Unit Head, who then forwards the request to your SCC Head for approval.  Waivers need not be requested synchronously with the disruption, but they must be approved before the start of your mandatory review year.  Of those faculty who started as clock-managed assistant professors in 2014, about 15% took at least one clock waiver and 40% were promoted before their mandatory year.

Tenure means that you have the right to hold your position without reduction in salary and not to be removed from it, except for cause (FC 25-51), for reasons of financial emergency (FC 26-31) or for program reorganization, consolidation, or elimination (FC 25-52, FC 26-41).   Although some provisions for academic tenure at the University of Washington date from its earliest days, the present arrangements derive from the action of the University Board of Regents in October 1954, in which the Regents formally accepted the principle that “tenure for the members of the faculty is essential for effective teaching and sustained productivity in scholarship” (BRG 20).  Back in 1954, tenured faculty had a mandatory retirement age of 65, which later was moved to age 70; in 1994, federal legislation eliminated all mandatory retirement ages.

Full-time members of the faculty appointed at the rank of associate professor or professor without any other words or phrases qualifying their appointment have tenure.  If you are also appointed to an administrative position, your tenure protections extend only to your non-administrative faculty position: administrators serve “at will.”  Some TTT faculty may have what is known as partial tenure or an “A/B” arrangement, where only a fraction A/(A+B) of their appointment (known as Tenure%) is backed by a tenure guarantee.  If you have such an arrangement, you should have received an explicit statement to this effect in your appointment letter.  Any reduction in your Tenure% through an A/B agreement is permanent; it is not possible to increase your Tenure% without it being approved as a “new hire” in your unit’s hiring plan.

Because tenure is granted only to faculty members of such character and scholarly ability that the University undertakes to employ them for the rest of their academic careers, the procedures for awarding tenure and the rules concerning eligibility for tenure are very explicit.  The characteristics of tenure at the University of Washington are detailed in Faculty Code Chapter 25, Tenure of the Faculty, and the promotion process and criteria are detailed in Faculty Code Chapter 24, Appointment and Promotion of Faculty; an overview of considerations is in Executive Order 45.  Since the manifestations of how to demonstrate achievement of the overall promotion criteria differ by field (e.g. choreography vs. publication) and by the constituencies a unit serves (e.g., undergraduates vs. medical residents), each unit has developed specific criteria that should be published on their SCC website.  OAP endeavors to keep up-to-date links to this information on their promotion and tenure website.

The tenure decision entails several steps and safeguards, as detailed in FC 24-54 and on the OAP Promotion and Tenure website (which includes links to flow charts): a recommendation by majority vote of the associate professors and professors in your appointing unit; an independent recommendation by your Unit Head; consideration by an elected SCC advisory group; recommendation by the SCC head; and decision by the Provost acting for the Board of Regents.  You have the right to receive redacted copies of the documents your unit and SCC create, and the process pauses at key points to allow you to provide a written response (if you wish) that becomes part of the file.  Also, should the initial recommendation or decision of your SCC Head and/or the Provost be unfavorable, they are required to reach out to you and your Unit Head before their recommendation or decision becomes final.

If you are a tenure-track assistant professor, a tenure determination must be made no later than the terminal year of your second appointment (see above for how that year is determined).  In your mandatory review year as an assistant professor, all tenure considerations end with the Provost and the possible outcomes are three: (i) award of tenure, in which case your appointment becomes permanent at the end of your mandatory year; (ii) denial of tenure, in which case your appointment will be extended one additional year, at which point it will terminate; or (iii) postponement for reconsideration during the following year. [1]  If your decision is postponed, the same process is repeated the following year, but only the first two outcomes are possible; further postponement is not provided for.

You may choose to be considered for tenure and promotion in any year.  The tenure decision is based on your integrated career, including work you may have completed prior to joining the University.  If your tenure consideration is “early,” prior to your mandatory year, the process is the same as above until the review by the SCC Head.  If your SCC Head recommendation is positive, then your dossier is forwarded to the Provost for a decision either (i) to award tenure, in which case your appointment becomes permanent at the end of that year, or (ii) to deny tenure at that time, in which case there is no change to your appointment.  However, if the SCC Head final recommendation is negative, a non-mandatory promotion process ends there and there is no change to your appointment; if you make a written request, the file and your response will be forwarded to the Provost for information purposes only.

If you are not promoted or awarded tenure in a non-mandatory consideration, or if your mandatory decision is postponed, any subsequent review will be independent of the unfavorable one.  You should consult with your Unit Head and SCC Head for guidance on actions you should pursue to improve your chances of a favorable outcome at your next consideration.

Several bases exist for the removal of tenured faculty members at the University, including program elimination (FC 25-52 and 26-41) and the declaration of a financial emergency (26-31).  Removal of individual tenured faculty members or the disciplinary reduction of their salary may also result from any of seven causes, as follows: (1) incompetence; (2) neglect of duty; (3) physical or mental incapacity to perform academic duties; (4) unlawful discrimination or sexual harassment; (5) scientific and scholarly misconduct; (6) conviction of a felony; or (7) intentional and malicious interference with the scientific, scholarly, or academic activities of others. Such disciplinary actions are limited to situations wherein the individual’s conduct has in a substantial way adversely affected the faculty member’s or the victim’s academic, scholarly, or professional ability to carry out their University duties (FC 25-51).

[1] If you hold the rank of tenure-track associate professor or tenure-track professor, your mandatory review is in the penultimate year of your second appointment and postponement is not an option (FC 25-32-D).

Faculty Code 24-54 provides that until you reach the rank of professor you are to be considered for promotion every year.  If you tell your Unit Head that you would like to be considered for promotion in a given year, they are obligated to pursue the process outlined in FC 24-54.  As a candidate for promotion, whether mandatory or not, you have the right to withdraw your file from consideration at any time up until the Provost has made a final decision with no change in your appointment.

Your promotion will be considered by the faculty in your appointing unit that are superior in rank to you.  Their consideration shall not be based upon how long you have served in your present rank, but upon how your qualifications match those described in the Faculty Code Chapter 24.  Since these descriptions are quite general, your unit has generated more specific criteria that should be posted on your SCC website.  You should come to an understanding with your Unit Head during your annual 24-57-C conferences about what specific expectations your colleagues might have for promotion and about what means are available to you for fulfilling those expectations.

If you are a TTT Assistant Professor, the award of tenure and promotion to Associate Professor are simultaneous.  If your appointment is clock-managed but not TTT, i.e., Research Assistant Professor or Assistant Professor WOT, the promotion process is identical to that described above for the awarding of tenure to an assistant professor except for what happens after a favorable decision by the Provost:  if you are promoted to Associate Professor WOT, your new appointment will be permanent contingent on available funding, while promotion to Research Associate Professor results in a term appointment; neither carry tenure.  If you are in a clock-managed position and denied promotion in your mandatory year, your appointment will terminate at the end of your second appointment.  Except for the terminal year, a faculty member denied mandatory promotion is ineligible for employment at the University of Washington as a voting faculty member.

If you are a Teaching Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor of Clinical Practice, or have any voting faculty title with the rank of associate professor, all promotions are non-mandatory and follow the process outlined above for early tenure consideration.  Annually appointed clinical and affiliate faculty, as well as artists in residence, follow a review procedure determined by their SCC and are promoted through a title change upon reappointment with the approval of their SCC Head.  Acting, lecturer, instructor, and teaching associate titles are not eligible for promotion.

The University of Washington has a long tradition of encouraging faculty participation in its governance. You are encouraged to serve in the department, school, college, campus, or University organizations that develop the policies and procedures through which the University is governed.  Voting faculty can expect to participate in the election of your Faculty Senate representative and in the election of the faculty advisory committee or council which advises your SCC Head on recommendations for tenure and promotion, budgets, and other issues (often referred to as the EFC, or elected faculty council).

Voting faculty (FC 21-32) include assistant, associate, and full professors with at least a 50% appointment in any of the five professorial tracks (TTT, WOT, Research, Teaching, Clinical Practice) and full-time artists in residence or senior artists in residence; emeritus faculty in these same titles may vote during quarter(s) in which they are serving on a part-time basis.  Faculty may not vote during quarters in which they are on leave (whether sabbatical, medical, or LWOP).

The legislative powers of the University faculty are lodged in the Faculty Senate, as detailed in the Faculty Code Chapter 22.  Each SCC elects one faculty senator per 40 faculty members (or fraction thereof), with the constraint that no single SCC may comprise more than 40% of the Senate.  Senate elections are held each spring in a manner determined by your SCC’s EFC.  Senate meetings are generally held twice per quarter and are open to the public.  The agenda for each Senate meeting is approved by the Senate Executive Committee ten days prior to the meeting and then posted on the Senate website, where you will also find minutes of previous meetings.  You are invited to attend as an observer and to express your views to your Senators. When the Senate enacts legislation, you will be notified promptly and, under certain conditions, be asked to participate in a referendum of the entire voting faculty concerning an action approved by the Faculty Senate.

The Senate holds elections each spring for entry into a three-year leadership cycle: the successful candidate serves in year 1 as Vice Chair of the Senate, in year 2 as Chair of the Senate, and in year 3 as Chair of the Senate Committee on Planning and Budgeting.  The Faculty Legislative Representative and Deputy Legislative Representative are also elected annually by the Senate.  The Secretary of the Faculty is appointed to a 5-year term by the Senate Executive Committee subject to confirmation by the President and by the Senate; Faculty Liaisons are similarly appointed for 1-year terms.  The Senate also recommends to the governor candidates for the faculty member of the Board of Regents (Faculty Regent).

Each spring, the Secretary of the Faculty will send you a questionnaire on which you may indicate your interest in participating in the activities of one of the twelve Faculty Councils (the study and policy-formation units of the Senate organization), or of a standing committee of the faculty.  Councils are a great way to meet and become visible to colleagues from across the tri-campus community as well as to make a difference in the way the University conducts its business and treats its faculty, students, and staff.  Appointments to Faculty Councils and committees, as well as of conciliation officers (FC 27) and members of the adjudication panel (FC 28), are made by the Senate from nominations supplied by the Senate Executive Committee.

The agenda and minutes of Senate meetings will supply you with a record of discussions within the Faculty Senate, including legislation, reports of the President to the Senate, reports of the faculty legislative representatives, reports from Faculty Councils and committees, and a record of all Senate appointments.  You should also expect to receive an email from Senate leadership periodically throughout the year summarizing important issues and accomplishments.  You should feel free to address inquiries or comments to Senate leadership or to stop by the Senate office in 36 Gerberding (see https://www.washington.edu/faculty/about/contact-us/).

The University is subject to the Open Public Meetings Act (RCW 42.30), which means that Senate meetings as well as departmental faculty meetings are required to have a regular schedule, public access (though not necessarily the right to speak), and publicly posted agendas and minutes unless they are in executive session (e.g., for personnel evaluation and review) (APS 1.5).  Meetings of committees or councils that only recommend actions, rather than take them, are not subject to the OPMA.

The organization of the University faculty is described in FC Chapter 13, while that of its legislative agency, the Faculty Senate, is detailed in Chapters 21 and 22; the powers and duties of the Faculty Councils are detailed in Chapters 41 and 42; and the organization of colleges, schools, and departments are detailed in Chapter 23.  You will also find a fount of information on the Faculty Senate website.

If you require accommodation for a disability, whether permanent or temporary, you should reach out to the Disability Services Office (https://hr.uw.edu/dso/).  They can provide services such as assistive equipment or interpreters, as well as help you and your Unit Head agree on reasonable accommodations.  You may also wish to consult APS 46.5, Reasonable Accommodation of Employees with Disabilities.

State law (RCW 43.10.005) requires reasonable accommodation necessitated by pregnancy and pregnancy-related health conditions, including the need to express breast milk (APS 46.7).

State law (RCW 49.76) also requires reasonable accommodation and leave related to domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking (APS 46.8).  The University’s Confidential Advocates program (https://livewell.uw.edu/survivor-support-advocacy/) provides a safe and confidential space to help identify needs and connect you to resources after an incident of sexual assault, relationship violence, stalking, or sexual harassment.

There may be occasions when the action or inaction of a member of the University community causes you harm and/or is contrary to the University codes of conduct (WAC 478-124).  The overall processes governing the redress of complaints with other university employees are detailed in Administrative Policy Statement 46.3, Resolution of Complaints Against University Employees,[1] while those with students are detailed in WAC 478-121  and Student Governance and Policies SGP Chapter 209 (see below).  The Secretary of the Faculty also maintains a webpage describing Faculty Dispute Resolution and Faculty Discipline, and Internal Audit maintains a Guide to Ethics Policies.

Specific issues related to nondiscrimination and non-retaliation are highlighted in Executive Order 31, while those related to sexual harassment and Title IX enforcement are detailed in EO 70.[2]  The Civil Rights Investigation Office (CRIO, https://www.washington.edu/cr-investigations/) investigates complaints about University community members (not including patient care issues) that raise civil rights concerns, including issues of discrimination, harassment, retaliation, and sexual misconduct.   Starting in 2024, the former University Complaint Investigation and Resolution Office (UCIRO) and the Title IX Investigation Office (TIXIO) are now operating as CRIO.  All cases of sex- and gender-based discrimination, harassment, or violence should be reported directly to the Office of the Title IX Coordinator (https://www.washington.edu/titleix/).  The Bias Reporting Tool should be used for non-emergency reports of bias and both keeps track of potential patterns and generates referrals to the appropriate campus offices.

Investigations of allegations of research misconduct are governed by EO 61 and coordinated by the Office of Research Misconduct Proceedings (ORMP).  You should contact ORMP if you suspect fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism; issues with authorship, abuse of confidentiality, etc., are handled through the FC 25-71 process (see below) and not ORMP.

Complaints which are minor or temporary should be resolved through discussion among the parties involved, being mindful of potential power dynamics and asymmetries.  If you do not feel comfortable having direct, unmediated interactions with the other party, you should reach out to your Unit Head or another senior faculty member (e.g. an Associate Unit Head or the chair of a relevant committee); your SCC Head or their designee may be appropriate if the issue extends beyond your appointing unit or involves your Unit Head, and you may reach out to the Office of Academic Personnel if the issue involves your SCC head.

If you are unable to resolve a complaint satisfactorily within your unit or if you need additional information concerning preventing, managing, navigating, and resolving conflict, you may wish to consult with the University Ombud (https://www.washington.edu/ombud/).  The Office of the Ombud serves all students and employees on the three campuses (including UW Medicine), and is an impartial, confidential resource.  The Ombud does not perform investigations but can connect you with the processes that do.  The Ombud can also coordinate and attend meetings of relevant parties as an impartial third party familiar with University processes and traditions (EO 18).

The Faculty Code addresses the resolution of complaints against faculty and the administration in several places.  The Proceedings for the Resolution of Differences (FC 25-62) allow for administrative (FC 27-31), conciliatory (FC 27-41  and FC 27-42) and adjudicative (FC Chapter 28) procedures.  The Faculty Senate has endorsed implementation guidelines regarding FC 25-71 that clarify the importance of striving for a mutual resolution before initiating formal procedures (Exhibit B in the May 30, 2024 agenda). The accused faculty member or the aggrieved party may also reach out to the Office of the Ombud to request conciliation, to the Civil Rights Investigation Office to request an investigation, or to the Secretary of the Faculty to initiate an adjudication to investigate alleged injustice.  The Secretary of the Faculty can advise you on your rights and responsibilities as outlined in the Faculty Code.

Administrative and Informal Resolution (FC 27-31).  When a Unit Head learns of an alleged violation of University rules by a faculty member, they are required to inform the faculty member of the nature of the concern and to offer to discuss the issue with both the faculty member and the party raising the issue (FC 25-71B).  These meetings are intended to be a “listen and learn” activity rather than disciplinary.  The Unit Head then decides whether a mutual resolution is straightforward (e.g., clarifying a misunderstanding) or possible through developmental, non-disciplinary pathways (e.g., coaching or training), or whether the complaint should be forwarded to the SCC Head, ORMP, or CRIO and the specific procedures in FC 25-71D activated.

Conciliation (FC Chapter 27-41, 42).  Either the aggrieved or accused faculty member may request that the Ombud assign a Conciliation Officer at any time during the difference resolution process.  Conciliation Officers are faculty members nominated by the Senate Executive Committee, approved by the Faculty Senate, and attached to the Office of the Ombud who are prepared to assist as informal third-party participants in the resolution of differences.  Familiar with campus procedures, Conciliation Officers have the authority to investigate the difficulty, to examine and collect documents and other information, and to discuss the issues with both sides.  They function as intermediaries. rather than as advocates for one party or the other, their goal being to find a mutually agreeable resolution.

Adjudication (FC Chapter 28).  While we anticipate that you will follow the informal procedures described above as a first (and in many cases successful) step, you may decide at any time that the dispute in your case requires a more formal hearing procedure (FC 28-32B). Adjudications may also be initiated by the Provost when given reasonable cause to believe a faculty member may have violated University regulations or state or federal laws pertaining to faculty duties (FC 28-32A).  Chapter 28 of the Faculty Code goes into elaborate detail in prescribing the due process procedures that will ensure a fair hearing by a subset of the Adjudication Panel (appointed similarly to Conciliation Officers). If you are involved in an adjudication, you should read Chapter 28 carefully.  All the procedures under Chapter 28 are subject to time constraints.  The Secretary of the Faculty is available to advise you about deadlines for timely filing of petitions and related matters.

Certain allegations always require a formal, institutional investigation:  unlawful discrimination (APS 46.3), sexual harassment (EO 70), research misconduct (EO 61), financial irregularities (APS 47.10), conflict of interest (EO 32), retaliation for reporting discrimination or harassment (EO 31), alcohol or drug abuse (APS 13.7), and sexual violence (EO 51).  For other serious allegations, the SCC Head appoints a committee of 3 faculty members to assist with informal information gathering to advise them on whether or not a formal investigation and adjudication is merited (FC 25-71D).

[1] Note that APS 46.3 is undergoing revision in 2024 and may be replaced by incorporation of its provisions into existing executive orders.

[2] The changes in Title IX regulations initially scheduled for August 1, 2024, are currently on hold due to a federal stay on their implementation.

The dynamics and procedures to deal with misconduct are different when you are interacting with persons who are not on the faculty, especially those for whom you have a supervisory role.  The University-wide executive orders dealing with issues related to discrimination and retaliation are still relevant, as is the list of allegations that require an investigation.  The process, however, is different.  The Office of the Ombud serves faculty, staff, and students and is an excellent resource to mediate disputes that cross these boundaries.

The Student Conduct Code is spelled out in WAC 478-121 and Student Governance and Policies SGP Chapter 209.  If you suspect a student of academic or behavioral misconduct, you should report them via the Incident Report system of the Community Standards & Student Conduct office (CSSC, https://www.washington.edu/cssc/).   To preserve student rights and assure consistency, faculty are not authorized to impose any sanctions until notified of a finding by CSSC; if an academic misconduct case is still open at the end of the quarter, you may assign a grade of “X” until you can calculate a final grade.  The advising staff in your unit’s student services office, as well as the graduate program coordinator, undergraduate faculty advisor, and Unit Head or Associate Head are useful resources in dealing with student misconduct; you should reach out to at least one of them if you file an incident report with CSSC.  The process by which students may bring an academic complaints against a faculty member is outlined in EO 58, although the details vary by SCC.

Academic Student Employees (research and teaching assistants, readers, graders) as well as postdoctoral fellows are represented by United Auto Workers Local 4121 with employment-related grievance and disciplinary procedures governed by their respective union contracts.  Contact your Unit Head and/or unit administrator for the appropriate procedures if you have a job-related complaint against an ASE or post-doc that you supervise.

Classified staff, whether unionized or not, are entitled to specific procedures initiated by their supervisor to address employment performance issues.  If you have a significant issue with a staff member whom you do not supervise, you should bring your concern to their supervisor; if you are the supervisor, you should consult with UWHR (https://hr.uw.edu/contact-us/) and your unit administrator as you follow the UWHR Corrective Action Guide, which is based on the union contracts and APS 43.16 .  Similar procedures, though without union safeguards, govern interactions with professional staff and non-unionized classified staff.  You should consult with UWHR, your Unit Head, and/or unit administrator to address issues with staff that cannot be resolved by direct conversation.

The same procedures that are described above for you to bring a complaint against another faculty member are also available for members of the University community to bring an allegation against you.  It is recommended that, should this occur, you reach out to one of the Faculty Liaisons (https://www.washington.edu/ombud/office-of-the-ombud/faculty-liaisons/).  The Faculty Liaison program is administered by the Office of the Ombud; Faculty Liaisons are selected by the Senate Executive Committee and confirmed by both the President and the Faculty Senate.  Liaisons differ from Conciliation Officers in that they are not authorized to conduct investigations.  Rather, they provide direct collegial support and information.  They are not faculty advocates or representatives, but they are knowledgeable of faculty governance and adjudication procedures and can serve as a neutral party to attend meetings with you, take notes, and explain your options.  The Secretary of the Faculty and the Ombud are other important resources for advice and consultation.

Should your Unit Head request a meeting pursuant to FC 25 -71B, they must tell you if anyone else will be present. You are entitled to bring one person with you: if you will be bringing a lawyer you must let them know, since someone from the attorney general’s office must then also be present.[1]

The Employee Assistance Program (EAP, https://hr.uw.edu/worklife/employee-assistance-program/) supports you and your household members with access to counseling (up to 3 sessions per concern), legal services (free 30-minute consultation, and then discounted rates beyond that), and financial consultations (not specific advice, but general financial planning, debt management, etc.).  The legal benefit does not cover employment issues, but the individual counseling coverage does include workplace concerns, stress management, and interpersonal conflict.  The EAP is available 24/7.

[1] As a state institution, the University’s legal team is a division of the state attorney general’s office (EO 19).

You have a professional obligation to give notice of resignation as soon as possible, in order that the academic programs in which you have been engaged can continue without unnecessary interruption.  So that misunderstandings do not arise about your intentions, a resignation should always be in writing (FC 24-56).

New faculty members may not be eager to master the details of the University’s retirement plan, but you should carefully read the information provided by Human Resources (https://hr.uw.edu/benefits/retirement-plans/).  New faculty are offered a one-time choice between a defined contribution plan and a hybrid defined benefit plan; you should carefully consider what is best for your personal situation.   The pre-tax withholding, vesting requirements, and extent of UW matching funds depend on your age and your plan choice.

Tenured faculty have a vested right to be rehired at up to 40% time in each of the five years immediately following their retirement, as detailed on the OAP website.  Other faculty, as well as tenured faculty more than 5 years past retirement, may be rehired at up to 40% time upon the approval of their SCC Head.

An appointment to an emeritus title generally requires a meritorious record, retirement, and at least 10 years of service as a University faculty member.  It also requires an affirmative vote of the unit faculty (all ranks) and concurrence by the SCC Head and the Provost (FC 24-34-B15).

The UW Policy Directory contains a great variety of policy statements, rules, regulations, and descriptions relating to all aspects of the University and to students, faculty, administration, and staff, only some of which have been highlighted in this primer.  Its website also has links to many other policy resources you may find useful.  Some of these additional resources are compiled below.

A general statement on academic freedom and responsibility may be found in FC 24-33.  Conflicts of interest related to employment (both financial and personal) are defined in EO 32 and procedures to deal with these conflicts for faculty are in FC 24-50; policies regarding employee-student romantic relationships and conflicts of interest are in EO 54.  Guidelines for conflict of interest related to research are detailed in Grants Information Memorandum (GIM) 10 and summarized here on the Office of Research website.

Regulations about compensation include:  service periods and pay dates (APS 41.1), relocation expenses, which are taxable and authorized by your Unit Head (APS 34.1, APS 34.2), accepting honoraria (EO 43), outside professional work (EO 57), creative performance (EO 21), tutoring (FC 53), and patent, invention and copyright policy (EO 36) with any resultant royalties, equity, and license fees (APS 59.4.5).

As a University employee, you are entitled to take University courses – up to 6 credits per quarter tuition free on a space-available basis (APS 22.1), not including fee-based programs.   However, as faculty you may not earn an advanced degree from the University without prior approval by your Unit Head, SCC Head, and the Provost (FC 52-01); in general that degree may not be from your appointing unit.

As a state employee, there are several state laws (Revised Code of Washington, or RCW) and regulations (Washington Administrative Code, or WAC) that govern the use of state resources (such as your office, lab, email, computer, and lab equipment), especially the Ethics in Public Service Act (RCW 42.52, explained by Internal Audit here).  The policy for personal use of University resources is detailed in APS 47.2.  Occasional personal use consistent with the University mission is permitted at a de minimus level.  However, the use of University resources for private financial gain (EO 32) or for advertising and selling for commercial purposes are strictly forbidden.  You also must declare any inventions or discoveries generated with University resources (EO 36).  You may not use state resources to assist an election campaign, run for office yourself, or lobby the state legislature (APS 1.3).  Disseminating factual information about the potential impact of proposed legislation is permissible using University resources but expressing an opinion on whether or not that legislation should pass is not.  If you hold an appointive or elective office, you shall have prior permission from your Unit Head, SCC Head, and the President, and may be required to take (partial) LWOP depending on the time commitment (EO 35).  The state Constitution prohibits religious worship, exercise, or instruction on state property (Article I, Section 11).

State Law (RCW 40.14) also governs records management (APS 57.11).  As a state employee, essentially all your University email and records are subject to public records requests, so it is important to follow the University General Records Retention Schedule and to remember that if you would not want an email to be on the front page of the newspaper or shared on social media, you should not send it.  Getting in the habit early in your University career to keep only essential records and to discard any records with no administrative, legal, fiscal or archival requirements as soon as you no longer need to refer to them can save you headaches later.

RCW 26.44 requires that you report any suspicions of child abuse – relevant if you have students under 18 in your class or research lab as well as in any outreach programs (EO 56).

There are about 100 different policies, procedures, and guidance documents related to grants and contracts on the Office or Research website (https://www.washington.edu/research/policies/).  You should review them for any that may be relevant to your own projects.  Some key policy statements regarding research include those on human subjects (EO 24) and vertebrate animal use (EO 53), on classified, proprietary and restricted research (EO 8), and on grants and contracts (EO 34).  The overriding policy on environmental health and safety is EO 55, with over 30 different related policies in APS Section 10.  You should review the available trainings offered by Environmental Health and Safety (https://www.ehs.washington.edu) and ensure that you as well as all students and staff whom you supervise take the relevant courses.  There are also numerous fiscal management policies for grants and contracts in APS Section 30.  Key ones include sales tax for buying things on your grant (APS 31.6), institutional overhead (APS 33.2), and dealing with fiscal deficits on your grants (APS 37.1); equipment inventory policy is in APS Section 60.  You should consult with CoMotion (https://comotion.uw.edu) if you are creating copyrightable material and/or pursuing research that may be patentable or have potential connections to the commercial sector (see EO 36).  Procurement Services has information about the processes for buying, paying for, and reporting purchases.  Note that UW changed its financial system in 2023, and many units are still adjusting to the new procedures.

Information on hiring staff and students is found via UW Human Resources.  Student hourly employees must be paid at least minimum wage (https://hr.uw.edu/comp/student-employees/) and are limited to 19.5 hours/week during the academic term.  You should work with your unit’s human resources staff to learn local procedures that comply with the union contracts for advertising positions, and then selecting and hiring, students, post-doctoral fellows, or staff.

Policies that relate to your interactions with students are largely in Student Governance and Policies.  Students with a temporary or permanent disability are entitled to reasonable accommodation (SGP 208); if they come to you for an accommodation, encourage them to register with Disability Resources for Students (DRS) at the Seattle, Bothell, or Tacoma campus.  The campus DRS office will then reach out to you about students in your class and the accommodations they may require; DRS can also consult with you about determining the scope of a reasonable accommodation.  If a student brings a problem to you related to their health and wellness, the LiveWell program (https://livewell.uw.edu) has many useful resources you can share with them.

The University uses numeric grades on a 4.0 scale; the conversion to letter grades you may be used to from another institution, as well as definitions of other potential grades (such as credit/no credit, or incomplete) is in Scholastic Regulations (SR) 110.  The date assigned to the final exam for your course is published before students register for the class; a request to change the time must be initiated by your SCC Head and the exam may not be moved to an earlier time without permission from all students in the class as well (SR 112); cancellation of the final exam does not require permission.  Students who audit your class may only do so with your consent on a space-available basis, must meet the prerequisites, and may not take part in laboratories or exams; they must also pay tuition or fees as though taking the course for credit (SR 104 and https://registrar.washington.edu/registration/policies-procedures/).

Other policies, guidelines, and resources related to teaching may be found on the Office of the Registrar faculty resources page, the Faculty Council on Academic Standards Policy Page, Scholastic Regulations, Writing@UW, and Teaching@UW.

Events that are open to the public and feature non-University speakers must be sponsored by a University department, official committee, or registered student organization (RSO) and obtain appropriate approvals (EO 23, EO 42).  They must include the ability to request disability accommodation.  There are also policies regarding who may or may not sponsor any University activity (EO 15).

Other policies relate to miscellaneous services such as parking (APS 53.1 and WAC 478-116), childcare (APS 51.1), travel (APS 70, https://finance.uw.edu/travel/), and surplus (APS 56.2).

There are numerous other resources you may need as a new faculty member unrelated to policy.  Below is a non-comprehensive list – please email vpap@uw.edu with suggestions to add to this list.

The Office of Academic Personnel has links to the various bits of paperwork you need to complete to finalize your hire as well as other valuable resources.  OAP also supports numerous faculty development activities, including the work of the Office of Faculty Advancement and ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change (check out their Resource Library).  You are highly encouraged to take advantage of UW’s institutional membership in the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity (https://www.ncfdd.org/).  OAP also houses Academic Human Resources and is the tri-campus steward of the promotion and tenure process and other policies impacting faculty and other academic personnel.

UW-IT Connect is your source for information technology issues, from managing your UWNetID to downloading software for which UW has a license to resources for teaching and learning.  Your Husky Card doubles as your ID, bus pass, parking pass, library card, means to pay for on-campus dining, and entry card into electronically-locked buildings, among other things.

UW Libraries is a world-class network of 16 academic research libraries across the three campuses.  To access electronic library materials remotely, you need to connect through the VPN HuskyOnNet, set to “All Internet Traffic.”

Your employment information, benefits, and compensation information are maintained in Workday, which is also now used for UW Finance (including grants and contracts) – reach it via MyUW, which also links to your courses, UW Zoom, and other resources.  Check here for help in navigating Workday.   The UW Human Resources WorkLife program has information on child and elder care, housing, and pet care, in addition to information on UW’s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and practices and professional development courses.  The Employee Assistance Program provides confidential access for employees and their families to counseling, legal services, financial counseling, and advice for supervisors on how to support their teams.

The Whole U is focused on supporting your life outside the classroom and lab and includes a variety of holistic wellness opportunities from fitness classes to campus photo shoots.  The Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity supports our diverse students, faculty, and staff and maintains the UW Diversity Blueprint.  OMAD also provides support for a number of faculty/staff affinity groups and maintains multi-cultural spaces such as the Samuel E. Kelley Ethnic Cultural Center and wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ – Intellectual House.

Safe Campus is available to discuss safety and well-being concerns for yourself and others.  You may remain anonymous if you wish.  They also provide training to support violence prevention and response at UW.  Husky Nightwalk and the NightRide Shuttle operate in the evenings.  You can also download the SafeZone app for a virtual escort.

Information about parking, transit, health sciences shuttles, and the U-Pass is available through Transportation Services.  Maps and event schedules are available through Visitor Services.

Involving undergraduates in research is ubiquitous at UW, both as enrolled independent study students and as employees.  See the Office of Undergraduate Research for resources, including funding, and to post opportunities in their database.

The Royalty Research Fund, administered by the Office of Research, reinvests royalty and licensing fee income to help kickstart a new research direction at the University.  New faculty are highly encouraged to apply.  The Surplus Store can be a good place to find inexpensive used furniture and lab equipment.

Supports for teaching include Writing@UW, (which includes supports for faculty implementing writing assignments in their courses) and Teaching@UW, including their Resources for New Faculty and the teaching and learning centers on the Seattle, Bothell, and Tacoma campuses.  Students can borrow laptops from the Student Technology Loan Program.  You can learn about the details of your classroom and get technical help from Classroom Technology & Support.