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| Faculty Handbook |
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HANDBOOK OVERVIEW |
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HANDBOOK OVERVIEW |
For ease of use, this Faculty Handbook is divided into four major sections: the General Overview, which provides a quick summary of the university’s goals and organization; Academic Rights and Responsibilities of faculty; procedures governing Personnel Policies and Benefits, and University Services and Programs. To quickly access one of these major sections, please click on the link provided in the Table of Contents.
Links to further information regarding specific governing bodies, university departments, university services, and procedures have been provided throughout the document. In addition, links to the LSU Faculty Senate, as well as university Policy Statements and Permanent Memoranda that bear on Faculty rights and responsibilities, have been provided in the appendices.
Faculty members may obtain complete information on the following subjects from the actual policy documents located in deans’ offices and on the University’s computer network:
Faculty can also browse LSU A-Z, an alphabetical directory of Web sites on lsu.edu. Use the interactive alphabet to quickly access that letter's portion of the directory.
Information contained in this Handbook does not create any contractual rights for University employees beyond those rights already existing under individual contracts and under federal and state law. The Constitution and Bylaws of the Faculty Senate are provided in an appendix for the convenience of the faculty and neither create nor imply any contractual obligations between the University and any of its employees.
The misapplication or failure to follow any specific provision in this Handbook should not be grounds for setting aside or modifying any employment decision when it has been determined by appropriate administrative authority that the decision was fairly made and in the best interest of the University. Because the University is the initiator of change and is also subject to various external legal and regulatory forces requiring change, the information in this Handbook will be revised as the University determines that conditions warrant.
This Faculty Handbook was compiled and edited by the Office of Faculty Senate.
LSU IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/ACCESS UNIVERSITY
LSUPR _ 5M _ Reprinted 10/2012
The continued success of LSU depends on the faithful commitment by each community member to these, our basic principles.
For further information on LSU's commitment to community, click here.
GOVERNANCE AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
LSU is governed by numerous entities from the state level.The LSU System is a wide-ranging enterprise that includes institutions, facilities and programs in each of Louisiana’s 64 parishes. Its campuses stretch the length of the state from New Orleans to Shreveport. Each institution within the LSU System plays a vital role in preparing students to incorporate new knowledge and new technologies into their daily lives. For more information, visit the LSU System website.
Louisiana Constitution authorizes the Board of Regents to plan, coordinate, and have budgetary responsibility for Louisiana’s public higher education community. For more information, visit the Board of Regents website.
Under the leadership of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost, the Office of Academic Affairs oversees the operation of the University’s colleges and schools, academic planning and programs, budgets, facilities planning and construction, and personnel. For more information, visit the Office of Academic Affairs website.
The Faculty Senate is a major institutional component of shared governance at LSU. This body represents the interests of the faculty on academic matters such as educational policy, faculty policies, standards of instruction, and curricula and degree requirements.
The Faculty Senate is an elected body representing the faculty in the colleges and schools of LSU. For every 25 full-time faculty, a college or school is awarded one senate seat. Senators are elected to three-year terms. The Faculty Senate meets monthly during the academic year. For more information, visit the Faculty Senate website.
For a breakdown of organizational structure at LSU’s Baton Rouge campus, click here.
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF FACULTY RESPONSIBILITIES
Brief summaries for some of these responsibilities are contained in the Academic Rights and Responsibilities section of this manual. For more detailed information, faculty should refer to the Permanent Memoranda and Policy Statements, which can be accessed in the appendices of this document.Faculty members of a comprehensive research university have multiple responsibilities. They are primarily scholars who strive to learn and to teach. They are counselors, role models, tutors, and guides. They are officers of the University who share responsibility for that institution’s accomplishing its purposes and achieving its goals. They are, in some respects, officers of state government with special obligations attendant upon that status; they must exercise wisdom and fairness in dealing with other people, particularly with students in their charge. They must be knowledgeable and well-informed, not only in their academic disciplines but also as professional educators. They must keep abreast of developments in educational law and related legislation.
FACULTY RANKS
The faculty of each college or of each school not within a college, except the Graduate School, consists of all members of the academic staff having the rank of instructor or higher (or equivalent rank) who are appointed full-time and whose appointment, in part or in whole, is in that particular college or school.Part-time members of the faculty may be enfranchised as a class to the degree deemed appropriate by the faculty of the college or school.
The faculty of each college or school shall define and recommend degree programs for units under its jurisdiction and shall recommend candidates for degrees.
The departmental faculty has jurisdiction over matters concerning departmental educational policies, insofar as these do not conflict with the policies of other departments or with the rules and regulations of its own college or school or of the University. Full-time faculty hold the ranks of instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and professor.
These ranks are defined in PM-23, Ranks, Provisions, and Policies Governing Appointments and Promotions of the Academic Staff. In addition, a chart of academic ranks and their equivalents is contained in the Bylaws and Regulations of the Board of Supervisors, Chapter II, Section 2-6.
GRADUATE FACULTY
The graduate faculty consists of those members of the teaching and research faculties who have been so designated by the Chancellor, upon recommendation of the Graduate Council acting on appropriate nominations. Such designations provide for classification as Members, associate members, or affiliate members, according to their qualifications and experience. (The term, “Member,” when capitalized, denotes a full member of the graduate faculty.) Faculty members who hold the rank of adjunct professor, adjunct associate professor, or adjunct assistant professor in a department offering work for graduate credit are eligible for graduate faculty status as full Members or associate members, depending upon their qualifications.Qualifications for Appointment
Procedures and qualifications for appointment to the Graduate Faculty are under revision and will be posted when ready.
Privileges and Responsibilities
Full Member:
Members determine policies of the Graduate School, engage in all graduate education activities, and nominate faculty for membership on the graduate faculty. Doctoral general and final examination committees must include two full Members of the graduate faculty, including one from the major department.
Associate Member:
Associate members may engage in all graduate education activities. They may chair a thesis committee if that committee includes at least one full Member of the graduate faculty from the major department. They may chair a dissertation committee if that committee includes at least one full Member of the graduate faculty from the major department.
Affiliate/Ex Officio Member:
Affiliate members and Ex Officio members may serve as members of thesis, dissertation, and examination committees but may not normally chair one of these committees or determine policies of the graduate faculty. Affiliate members who have a continuing and particularly close association with a graduate instructional program may, at the special request of the department, be given permission to chair committees.
The authority to appoint members of the graduate faculty is assigned to the Chancellor by the Bylaws and Regulations of the Board of Supervisors and that authority is delegated to the Vice-Provost and Graduate Dean, who appoints individuals to the graduate faculty with the advice of the Graduate Council.
If the department chair and/or the departmental faculty fail to recommend one of their faculty for membership on the graduate faculty, that faculty member has the right to present nomination papers directly to the Graduate Council for its consideration. It is the policy of the Graduate School that only persons appointed to the graduate faculty may teach graduate credit courses and serve on graduate student advisory committees; and normally, only associate and full Members may direct theses and dissertations. Only full Members may participate in the determination of the policies of the Graduate School, according to procedures determined by the graduate faculty.
FACULTY AUTHORITY
Authority to determine the educational policy of LSU and its colleges, schools, and departments and is delegated to the faculty by the Board of Supervisors. The faculty exercises this authority by deliberative action in the several units and divisions of the University. For more information, see the Faculty Senate Constitution.FACULTY COUNCIL
The Faculty Council consists of all full-time members of the academic staff having the rank of instructor or higher, or equivalent rank, and members of the Executive Council. Members of the Executive Council who do not hold academic rank are nonvoting members of the Faculty Council. As a class, part-time members of the academic staff, holding the rank of instructor or higher (or equivalent), may be enfranchised to the degree deemed appropriate by the Faculty Council.By action of the Faculty Council on March 1, 1973, meetings of the Faculty Council are open to nonmembers.
The Faculty Council is charged to establish curricula, fix standards of instruction, determine requirements for degrees, and generally determine educational policy for the University, subject to the authority of the Board of Supervisors. Except as otherwise provided, the Faculty Council shall establish its own educational policies. Within the framework of the educational policy of the LSU System, the Faculty Council may establish its own educational policies and may exercise legislative power over all matters pertaining to its own meetings. Any action of the Faculty Council that, in the opinion of the Chancellor or the President, is administrative or that seriously affects the interests of another faculty of the LSU System, or of the System itself, may be suspended by the President.
The Faculty Council is required to meet at least once each academic year. It can also be convened on the written request of 50 members or 20 percent of the membership, whichever is the smaller number. A council quorum may not be less than 25 percent of the membership. Since 1972, the meetings of the Faculty Senate have been regarded as equivalent to meetings of the Faculty Council.
FACULTY SENATE
The elected Faculty Senate has been delegated the authorities and responsibilities of the Faculty Council. The authority of the senate extends to all matters that are proper to the faculty and that have been specifically delegated by the Faculty Council. The Faculty Senate developed and adopted a set of Bylaws during the 1973-74 academic year; a major revision of these was accomplished in 1990. Included in these Bylaws is a listing of Faculty Senate committees and their respective charges, as revised and adopted by the Faculty Senate. (Appendices A and B of this Handbook contain the Faculty Senate Constitution and Bylaws.)Additional information concerning the Faculty Senate or its committees may be obtained by contacting the Faculty Senate office.
COLLEGE POLICY COMMITTEES/ SENATES
The faculties of most individual colleges and schools have policy committees or senates to help carry out faculty responsibilities in establishing and reviewing educational policy. These bodies serve the additional functions of advising University administrators of faculty opinion on nonacademic matters and of aiding the Faculty Senate elections committee in the conduct of Senate elections.Full information about the status and membership of college policy committees or senates is available from the president of the Faculty Senate or from the deans of the respective colleges/schools (available online via LSU A-Z).
FACULTY GRIEVANCES
A faculty member (instructor or higher) who feels he or she has a grievance may appeal for a review by appropriate administrators and/or a review by the Faculty Senate Grievance Committee. A grievance is a complaint and/or claim that there has been unfair or unequal treatment by reason of an act or condition that is contrary to established University policy and procedure governing the employer employee relationship or that there has been a violation, misinterpretation, or inequitable application of University employment policy.A faculty member may request an administrative review by his or her administrative unit chair/head, dean, and appropriate Vice-Chancellor before contacting the Faculty Senate Grievance Committee. The administrative appeal procedure is a formal process of review by successively higher levels of the University administration. The faculty member with a complaint or claim may petition for review and resolution at each successive level through the campus administration. The petition should include specific items described in the complaint or claim. Findings of the appropriate Vice-Chancellor, after approval by the Chancellor, shall constitute the final step in the administrative review.
For additional information concerning the Faculty Senate, see Appendix B, Bylaws of the Faculty Senate, in this Handbook. Copies of the Faculty Senate Grievance Committee Procedures are available from the Faculty Senate office or the chair of the committee.
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
The Executive Council is composed of the Chancellor (Chair), the Executive Assistant to the Chancellor, the Executive Vice-Chancellor and Provost, the Vice-Chancellor for Finance and Administrative Services, the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Graduate Dean, the Vice-Chancellor for Student Services, the President of the Faculty Senate, the President of the Staff Senate, the Director of Athletics, the Director of Public Relations, the Executive Director of Development (LSU Foundation), the President of the LSU Alumni Association, and the President of the Student Government.The purpose of the Executive Council is to advise the Chancellor on matters of University policy and campus administration. The Executive Council meets monthly or more frequently, if needed.
BUDGET COMMITTEE
The Budget Committee is composed of the Chancellor, the Executive Vice-Chancellor and Provost (committee chair), the Vice-Chancellor for Finance and Administrative Services, the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Graduate Dean, the Vice-Chancellor for Student Services, the Director of Budget and Planning (ex officio), the President of the Faculty Senate (ex officio), two elected representatives of the Faculty Senate, a representative of the Staff Senate (ex officio), and an appointed student government representative (ex officio).The purpose of this committee is to determine procedures for budgeting, hold budget hearings, allocate and/or reallocate funds appropriated to LSU and advise the Chancellor on matters regarding the budgetary administration of the campus.
STRATEGIC PLANNING COMMITTEE
The Strategic Planning Committee is charged with defining guidelines for fundamental decisions and actions that will shape and guide LSU into the 21st century. This comprehensive planning effort allows the University to develop effective strategies, define future directions, establish priorities, and form a sound and coherent basis for decision making. Through this continuing process, the missions, visions, and goals of all components of the University are considered. This ongoing planning process is assessed annually.COUNCIL OF ACADEMIC DEANS AND DIRECTORS
The Council of Academic Deans and Directors is an advisory body composed of the deans and directors of colleges and of schools not within colleges, together with other academic officers of equivalent rank. The council meets at the call of the Executive Vice-Chancellor and Provost, who is the presiding officer. The council makes recommendations to the Provost and to the Chancellor with regard to administrative matters in the area of academic affairs.GRADUATE COUNCIL
The Graduate Council is composed of ten members of the graduate faculty, two appointed each year by the Chancellor for five-year terms. The Vice-Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Graduate School and Associate Dean of the Graduate School are ex officio members of the council. The council advises the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Dean of the Graduate School regarding the administration of academic affairs and policies of the Graduate School. The council reviews individual nominations for membership on the graduate faculty and periodically reviews all members of the graduate faculty by department. Members of this council also serve as a campus-wide faculty committee to evaluate recommendations for promotion of faculty.ASSESSMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL
The Assessment Advisory Council, composed of nine members appointed by the Executive Vice-Chancellor and Provost, draws its membership from colleges, departments, administrative units, students, and alumni. The council serves to increase University awareness and commitment to needs and outcomes assessment throughout the campus and to guide the development and implementation of assessment conducted by assessment coordinators and academic and student development units. Information from the systematic assessment of student needs and learning outcomes is integrated into overall University planning and allocation of resources through the internal program review process.PROGRAM REVIEW COUNCIL
The Program Review Council, consisting of fifteen senior faculty members appointed by the Executive Vice-Chancellor and Provost, oversees cyclical internal review of the University’s 202 degree programs. The members serve staggered, five year terms. The Council’s charge is to strengthen academic programs through a standardized internal review process that requires evaluation of each degree program. The Council designs and oversees the multi-step review process whereby each degree program is reviewed once every ten years. The process includes a self-study, a site visit and evaluation by a panel of internal and external reviewers, responses to recommendations, and action plans when appropriate. Among the individuals or groups involved in the process are the Executive Vice-Chancellor and Provost, other appropriate vice-chancellors, the appropriate dean, the unit chair and faculty, the review committee, the students in the program, and other key constituents (business, industry, governmental representatives). Results are reported to the Chancellor, the appropriate vice-chancellors and deans, and the unit, and are made available to the University units involved in the planning, assessment, and budgeting processes.COUNCIL ON RESEARCH
The University Council on Research is composed of faculty and University administrators appointed by the Chancellor for staggered terms. The council advises the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Graduate Dean on all aspects of research at the University and is particularly concerned with sponsored research. The council also assists with the evaluation of applications for sabbatical leave, administers the Distinguished Research Master Award program, and allocates summer faculty research stipends. The council is assisted by research advisory groups in the major disciplinary fields. These groups are concerned especially with interdisciplinary research and offer an opportunity for faculty working in similar fields to cooperate on interdisciplinary projects.ATHLETIC COUNCIL
The Athletic Council serves as a policy-formulating and regulatory body in all matters related to the University’s intercollegiate athletic program. This council consists of five faculty members, one staff member, one administrative appointee, two members of the student body, two members of the Alumni Association, one member of the National “L” Club, and the Executive Vice-Chancellor and Provost. The Athletic Director serves as an ex officio, nonvoting member and as secretary of the council. The functions and responsibilities of the Athletic Council are set forth in the Bylaws and Regulations of the Board of Supervisors.UNIVERSITY PLANNING COUNCIL
The University Planning Council (UPC), an advisory committee to the Provost, is charged with recommending strategic directions for the University and with overseeing the planning process and its implementation throughout the University. The demands upon the planning and quality assurance of all aspects of University growth and development require a standing committee that fosters an open dialog among faculty and staff to frame and continually update University priorities.UNIVERSITY COUNCIL ON WOMEN
The University Council on Women (UCW) serves as an advisory council to the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost to address specific, tangible concerns and issues affecting all women in the LSU community. The UCW also assists in developing policies and procedures that promote equitable participation of women students, faculty and staff.
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