Welcome to the Office of Academic Personnel (OAP) eDigest — a great resource for UW administrators who support academic personnel. Not finding what you need in this issue? Check out the OAP website for additional information and resources.
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The Office of Academic Personnel is Growing!
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We are delighted to welcome two new teams to the Office of Academic Personnel (OAP). The Office for Faculty Advancement, under the leadership of Associate Vice Provost Chad Allen, and the ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change, under the leadership of Dr. Joyce Yen and Professor Cheryl Kaiser, joined OAP earlier this month. The reorganization seeks to leverage and consolidate the shared goals, activities, and expertise of the three teams. We look forward to working together to hire, retain, and support the success of a diverse and inclusive faculty here at UW!
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P&T Notifications to be Distributed Simultaneously
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To support a more efficient and equitable process, OAP will distribute 2023–24 promotion and/or tenure (P&T) award notifications simultaneously by review type, instead of on a rolling basis. Promotion/tenure candidates should not expect to be notified of the outcome of their review before the dates listed below:
- March 31 — Mandatory faculty promotion/tenure notifications
- May 31 — All other faculty promotion notifications
- May 31 — Librarian promotion notifications
Please help spread the word to promotion/tenure candidates in your unit and those that support them.
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Pilot Program for Staff Visa Sponsorship
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On July 1, 2023, UW launched a pilot program to extend TN, H-1B, and E-3 visa sponsorship support to eligible staff positions. The program is jointly managed by OAP’s International Scholars Operations (ISO) team and UW Human Resources. For more information on staff eligibility requirements, please email employeerelations@uw.edu. To stay up to date on this pilot program and other ISO activities and resources, please request to join the ISO contacts listserv.
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Changes to Professor of Practice Title
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Business rules for using the Professor of Practice faculty title have been revised and are now in effect. Championed by OAP in consultation with deans, chancellors, and the Faculty Senate, key changes include:
- Removing the competitive recruitment requirement
- Removing the minimum 50% appointment requirement
- Adding a requirement for advance consultation with the Vice Provost for Academic Personnel in certain circumstances
The Professor of Practice title is appropriate for distinguished practitioners/academicians who have had a major impact on a field important to the UW’s teaching, research, and/or service mission. Consistent with Faculty Code, it is expected that this title will be used sparingly and only for those who clear a very high bar of achievement and distinction in their field. Units who wish to pursue a Professor of Practice appointment — either through a targeted or competitive recruitment — must include it on their hiring plan. Additional details are available on the Non-Professorial Instructional Titles webpage on the OAP website.
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Office Hours for Academic Personnel Merit Questions
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OAP is holding office hours for campus partners who have questions related to the 9/1/23 merit or unit adjustments for academic personnel. If the FY24 Merit Process Guide doesn’t address your questions, join us on Zoom as follows:
- 3–4 p.m. on Mondays & Tuesdays (August 7–8 and 14–15)
- 8–9 a.m. on Thursdays & Fridays (August 10–11 and 17–18)
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New Summer Hiatus Audit Report Now Available
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In partnership with the ISC, OAP recently published a new audit report — R0906 Invalid Summer Hiatus Leaves — to aid units in resolving issues related to Summer Hiatus Leave. Units that have faculty or AFT extension lecturers who are eligible to take summer hiatus should run this report regularly throughout summer quarter. If you have questions about how to resolve the identified issues, please reach out to your AHR Specialist.
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Resume Workday Transactions
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With the cutover to Workday Finance complete, units can resume regular protocols for processing academic personnel transactions. Related Workday restrictions have been lifted and OAP has retired the interim solution used to support Board of Regents review in the months leading up to cutover.
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New Update to the “EEO IS THE LAW” Poster
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Reflecting protections in the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released an updated version of the poster, “Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal,” detailing employee rights, summarizing federal law prohibiting discrimination, and describing what employees can do if they experience employment discrimination. This poster replaces a version issued in late 2022. Please make sure your unit is posting the most current version, which is available in English (English Audio), Spanish (Spanish Audio), and a version formatted for screen readers.
If you have any questions, please email eoaa@uw.edu.
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With FT cutover restrictions lifted and annual merit restrictions set to go into effect on August 1, units should resume data clean-up activities to prepare for a successful merit process. Transactions related to data clean-up must be fully processed by July 31. Review the “Preparation & Data Clean Up” and “Restricted Entry Periods” sections of the FY24 Merit Process Guide for complete details.
The following timely actions are particularly important:
- Run the R0536 Merit Data Audit Report, review the pay data, and make necessary corrections in Workday prior to July 31. Please pay special attention to any employee with $0 compensation. Those with $0 compensation will not appear on the official merit file and are at risk for not receiving their merit increase on time.
- Initiate and approve Request Compensation Change and Change Job transactions with effective dates prior to September 1 as soon as possible so accurate worker data comes through on your unit’s official merit file.
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Letters of Review in Promotion and Tenure Dossiers
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A promotion/tenure case (“record”) must include at least three (3) letters of review. Keep in mind that a letter of review is different from a letter of recommendation. A letter of recommendation is often from someone who has a close relationship with the candidate, such as a mentor or collaborator. Such a relationship could bias their evaluation of the candidate’s scholarly record and contributions. In contrast, a letter of review should be from someone who does not have a significant personal or professional relationship with the candidate. This is why a letter of review is often characterized as at “arms-length.”
The nature of the reviewer/candidate relationship must be explicitly documented in the promotion/tenure record. In one of the evaluative reports (e.g., from the subcommittee, chair, or dean), units should include explicit discussion of the relationships between the candidate and those providing letters of review, and detail whether and why each reviewer is/is not “arms-length.”
Here are methods some units use to help identify and clarify the reviewer/candidate relationship:
- Provide each reviewer with a questionnaire/checklist to help them identify and disclose their relationship to or potential conflict of interest with the candidate. Have the reviewer submit the completed form with their review.
- When inviting a reviewer to participate, explicitly ask them to document in their review whether and for how long they have known the candidate, and whether they have a significant personal or professional relationship with the candidate.
If you’d like examples of the above, please email VPAP@uw.edu. For more information on this topic, review the External Letters of Review section of OAP’s Assembly of the Promotion/Tenure Record webpage.
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Jul 30: Prepare for the end of Summer Quarter by running July & August audit reports
Jul 31: Deadline to complete data clean-up for merit
Aug 1: Merit restrictions go into effect
Aug 18: Deadline to submit 9/1/23 academic personnel merit and unit adjustment recommendations to OAP
Aug 22: Deadline to submit appointments for September 13 Board of Regents review
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Report Suspected Child Abuse or Neglect
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From the Office of the Youth Protection Coordinator: UW employees and volunteers must report suspected child abuse or neglect as soon as possible and no later than 48 hours after suspecting the abuse has taken place. Learn about this requirement and steps to take.
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Thanks and congratulations to everyone who worked to support UW’s transition to Workday Finance! Like any implementation of this scale, it will take time to acclimate to the new system and related processes. It may be frustrating at times, but we can weather the adjustment period by staying focused on the tremendous benefit this modern financial system will bring to UW’s teaching, research, and service mission.
OAP would like to thank everyone who supported our own transition to Workday Finance! Special thanks to:
- The Hire to Retire end-to-end process team for listening and watching out for impacts to academic personnel processes
- The ISC for partnering with OAP on communications, training, and interim processes to help our campus partners continue to provide great service to UW academic personnel before, during, and after cutover
- The College of Arts & Sciences and School of Medicine for providing context and examples of worktags to be used for visa requests
- UW-IT and the EDW team for holding office hours and providing clear documentation for how to access worktag information
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UW Office of Academic Personnel, Gerberding Hall, Seattle, WA 98195
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