Other Academic Unit Guidelines
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Faculty Professional Travel
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Purpose
University Libraries (UL) faculty are encouraged to participate actively in professional organizations devoted to librarianship and subject specialties. To support this aim, the Dean of UL annually allocates a portion of the library budget for faculty travel. Its purpose is to support travel to, and expenses for, professional meetings, conferences and pre-conferences, institutes, workshops, and other developmental programs. Also, a faculty member may apply for travel support to do research at other institutions. See Section 3342-7-13(c) of the University Policy Register for the travel expenses eligible for reimbursement.
In gene
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Administrative Travel
Administrative travel is travel required in order to perform administrative duties such as representing Â鶹ÊÓƵ at meetings of organizations of which Â鶹ÊÓƵ is an institutional member. The following types of travel are eligible for administrative travel support:
1) Programs undertaken at the request of the Department to provide individuals with training that will benefit the entire Department.
2) Travel to meet potential donors or to evaluate/accept/collect a gift-in-kind donation.
Administrative travel is normally initiated and approved by the traveler's immediate supervisor and the appropriate Assistant Dean in consultation with the Dean, who is responsible for the final approval. Full reimbursement will be provided for administrative travel.
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Professional Travel
Professional travel includes travel to organizational conferences such as ALA. It is requested by the faculty member. Its primary purposes are professional enrichment and service to professional organizations.
The UL Travel Budget is designated to cover expenses incurred for professional travel and is administered by the Faculty Professional Travel Committee (FPTC). In accordance with the UL Bylaws, the College Advisory Committee (CAC) appoints the Chair of the FPTC and, in consultation with the Chair, the two remaining members.
In addition to the UL Travel Budget, faculty can apply for support for professional travel from external sources as well as the University Teaching Council and the University Research Council.
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Eligibility
All members of the UL faculty (tenure-track, tenured, and term) holding appointments on the Kent Campus are eligible for travel support. UL faculty in the Regional Campuses are not eligible to apply for support from the Faculty Professional Travel Budget.
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Allocation of Faculty Professional Travel Funds
The travel year runs from July 1 to June 30. The Dean will issue a statement to the FPTC by July 1 indicating the travel budget for the fiscal year. Once the FPTC receives this information, it will review the list of eligible faculty, determine how much is to be allocated to each and notify the UL faculty. At this time, the FPTC will begin recommending support based on the new budget for any travel that occurs after July 1.
A proportion of the unallocated funds from the previous year's fund will be carried over to each fiscal year. The proportion to be carried over will be determined by the Budget Officer, based on the percentage of all unallocated monies that UL is permitted by the University to carry over from the previous year's budget.
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Distribution of Faculty Professional Travel Funds
The Faculty Professional Travel Budget allocation will be distributed between two accounts, Fund A and Fund B. Each member of the UL faculty will receive an allocation from Fund A proportional to his/her contract status (full-time or part-time). A tenure-track or tenured member of the UL faculty can apply for funding through the Fund B allocation once his/her Fund A allocation is depleted. Members of the UL faculty holding term appointments are not eligible for travel funding from the Fund B allocation until May 1, and then only under special circumstances as described below.
1) Fund A will make up 60 percent of the total Faculty Professional Travel Budget and will be allocated proportionately among the UL faculty. Each member of the UL faculty will be notified by July 31 of the amount allocated for him/her to spend in Fund A for travel expenses at his/her discretion.
2) Fund B will make up the remaining 40 percent of the Faculty Professional Travel Budget. The FPTC will recommend funding for individual travel requests out of Fund B based on the tenure status of the traveler and his/her reason for traveling.
Funding recommendations from Fund B will be made according to the following priorities:
1) Untenured tenure-track faculty presenting, conducting research, or serving as a member of a committee
2) Tenured faculty presenting, conducting research, or serving as a member of a committee
3) Untenured tenure-track faculty attending a conference, workshop, or educational program
4) Tenured faculty attending a conference, workshop, or educational program
Under no circumstances will an individual be awarded out of Fund B more than 25 percent of the original total amount of money in that fund in a single year.
Any funding not encumbered in Fund A by May 1 will revert automatically to Fund B. Funding requests for travel taking place after May 1 can be funded through an individual's Fund A allocation if received by April 30. Tenure-track and tenured faculty members continue to be eligible for funding from Fund B even after their allocation from Fund A reverts to Fund B. Under special circumstances (i.e., late invitation to present, late conference announcement), requests from term faculty for funding through Fund B will be considered after May 1. In these instances the amount awarded will not exceed the remainder of the individual's Fund A allocation.
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Procedures
A faculty member may submit requests for funding up to two weeks after the end of the event for which funding is desired. However, the FPTC would prefer to receive funding requests in advance of actual travel.
Applications that are incomplete will be returned to the traveling faculty member who will then need to resubmit a request for review and action at the next regular meeting of the FPTC.
In order to minimize delays in reviewing and processing of a request, the following guidelines are provided to assist faculty in submitting applications:
1) A faculty member completes a travel reimbursement request form and saves it as a draft using the University "Expense Reimbursement " system. When completing the form, the traveling faculty member should indicate the type of travel (administrative or professional) and his/her role (i.e., presenting, attending, committee member) in the "Notes" field of the form. The draft form should be printed and the printed copy should be submitted to the traveling faculty member's supervisor. After approving the proposed absence, the supervisor routes the form to the Budget Office. After processing by the Budget Office, the request is routed to the Chair of the FPTC for each "professional travel" request.
2) Once the FPTC reviews the form and makes its recommendation, the Chair completes the "Recommendation for Faculty Professional Travel Funds" form, attaches it to the print-out from the "Expense Reimbursement" system, forwards it to the Budget Office, and then notifies the faculty member of the funding recommendation from the FPTC.
3) Upon receipt of the forms, the Budget Office routes them to the Budget Officer for final review and action. At this point, the faculty member will receive an email notification stating the approved funding level.
4) Within one month of returning from travel for which reimbursement has been approved, the faculty member revises the draft expense reimbursement for actual expenses, submits the request for approval and forwards a print-out of the request with all relevant receipts to the Budget Office. The faculty member's authorized reimbursement may be forfeited if not received within one month of travel due to the need to encumber funds. If for some reason the faculty member cannot submit receipts within a month, he/she should notify the Budget Officer, who may be able to extend the submission period.
5) If for some reason the faculty member does not attend a conference, etc., for which reimbursement authorization was approved, the Budget Officer and the Chair of the FPTC must be notified immediately.
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Record-Keeping and Reporting
Finalized applications become part of each faculty member's personnel file and are open for review. The Chair of the FPTC will retain copies of travel requests for the current fiscal year and the preceding two fiscal years.
The Chair of the FPTC will prepare a financial report for the late fall semester and late spring semester meetings of the UL faculty. The Chair of the FPTC will also prepare an annual report at the end of the fiscal year. It should be submitted to the Dean of University Libraries and the CAC by July 31.
FACULTY PROFESSONAL TRAVEL COMMITTEE
Recommendation for Faculty Professional Travel Funds
Name ________________________________________________________________
Date: ________________________________________________________________
Meeting (name and date): ________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Role of traveler: ________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
Request approved: _____________________________________________________
Request denied: _______________________________________________________
Amount of funding recommended: ________________________________________
Chair, Faculty Professional Travel Committee, Date ___________________________
Library Budget Officer, Date ______________________________________________
Adopted by UL Faculty: 5/10/2005;
Revised by CAC: 9/14/05
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Other Faculty Duties
Faculty Senate and other University Level Committees
Faculty participation in University-wide academic affairs is exercised primarily through the elected Faculty Senate and the several committees, commissions and councils established by or in accord with the Charter and Bylaws of the Faculty Senate as incorporated in the University Policy Register at chapters 2-05 and 2-06 or by the Collective Bargaining Agreements of the Bargaining Units. Other University Level committees to which UL faculty may be elected or appointed include:
- The TT unit Provost's Advisory Committee (PAC)
- The Non Tenure Track unit's Provost's Advisory Committee (NPAC)
- The Faculty Ethics Committee (FEC)
- The Faculty Senate Budget Advisory Committee (FaSBAC)
- The Educational Policies Council (EPC) - which is comprised of two sections, one for Undergraduate Studies and one for Graduate Studies
- The University Libraries Advisory Committee (ULAC)
The Faculty Senate advises and acts on matters laid before it by the president, bodies of the university, bodies of the faculty senate, or members of the faculty. The Faculty Senate may also act on its own prerogative and that of the administration of the university to consider any matter relevant to the welfare of the university. Representatives are elected from the Faculty of each academic unit, including University Libraries, in accordance with these bylaws. The Faculty Senate holds at least nine regularly scheduled meetings per academic year. The Faculty Senate's official web site is located athttp://www.kent.edu/facultysenate
A. UL Faculty Expectations for UL Representatives to Faculty Senate and other University Level Committees
Recommended activities of UL representatives to University Level Committees include: attendance at committee meetings; the timely sharing of committee agendas, meeting summaries, and issues with UL faculty; seeking input from UL faculty; providing an annual summary report either in print prior to or in person as part of the agenda of the Annual Meeting (UL's Faculty Senator and the representatives to PAC, NPAC and FaSBAC present their reports at the Annual Meeting; UL's representatives to FEC, EPC and ULAC produce written reports for distribution prior to the Annual Meeting); and responding to any questions and concerns raised at the Annual Meeting of UL faculty.
Approved by UL Faculty, 11/16/10
Receipt acknowledged by the Provost's Office, 11/17/10
Final approval, 8/31/11 -
Mentor Program
Mentors, who assist new faculty with the orientation process, are to be tenured Faculty members or senior Non-Tenure Track (NTT) faculty members who have completed one full performance review. In particular, tenured mentors should aid new Tenure Track (TT) Faculty with understanding the reappointment, promotion and tenure process and senior NTT mentors should help new NTT faculty with the promotion and performance review process. The mentorship program is not limited to faculty concerns and for that reason the structure of the mentoring relationship is flexible.
In this process, the Professional Development and Standards Committee will ask the potential mentor if he or she is willing to be a mentor. If the potential mentor agrees, the PDSC will then ask the new faculty member's supervisor and the new faculty member if this pairing seems appropriate. If all are in agreement, then a formal letter of assignment will be sent by the PDSC to the individuals involved.
The time limit on the mentorship relationship is not definite and can last as long as needed. It should be stressed that the new faculty member is encouraged to seek the advice of other senior or tenured faculty members if that need arises, especially in the case of file preparation for reappointment or any questions involving the promotion, tenure or merit processes, or performance reviews.
The mentorship relationship is not binding and can be dissolved at any time. The individual desiring a change should simply request it of any member of the PDSC who will bring it forward at the next scheduled meeting.Revision approved by UL Faculty, 6/29/10

Receipt acknowledged by the Provost's Office, 9/1710

Final approval, 8/31/11 -
Stipend Support for Faculty Research
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Introduction
University Libraries faculty are provided with $75 in research support per fiscal year, which can be applied to Design Solutions (e.g., for poster sessions materials, etc.), Campus Copy Connection, or Interlibrary Loan/InfoExpress (ILL, photocopying, or Dissertation Express) charges. These charges do not accumulate if they are not used during the fiscal year. Unused funds may not be transferred to other faculty members. All UL CBU tenure-track faculty and faculty with administrative appointments, including Regional Campus librarians and directors, may apply for funding. This funding does not apply to term or non-tenure track faculty.
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Procedures
- When placing orders with Instruction Graphics or ILL/InfoExpress, please use the UL account (100210) so that the department may treat these charges as an IDC.
- Once an estimate for charges for a project or request(s) are known, submit these charges to the Chair of the UL Professional Development and Standards Committee (PDSC). The Chair of the PDSC will maintain a spreadsheet to record these charges.
- If final charges differ from the estimate, please submit these costs to the Chair of the PDSC, who will make final adjustments.
- The spreadsheet shall be submitted to the Dean, University Libraries at the end of each fiscal year.
- A report to the Faculty shall be made at the early fall faculty meeting regarding the previous fiscal yearOs charges.
- Faculty shall be reminded via email each semester that this support is available to them.
- Questions shall be directed to the Chair, PDSC.
Approved by CAC, 5/7/03
Editorial change to paragraph one made 10/18/07
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Graduate Study by Faculty Members in University Libraries
In librarianship, the terminal degree is the master's degree from a graduate program accredited by the American Library Association. Consequently, a basic requirement for almost all faculty librarian positions is the master's degree from an ALA-accredited program. After they have worked at Â鶹ÊÓƵ for a period of time, some UL faculty elect to pursue further graduate education by enrolling in graduate programs here at Kent or at another institution. Sometimes those programs are in the form of an additional master's degree and sometimes they are in the form of a PhD or other doctoral or professional degree such as a law degree. Regardless of the type of graduate degree, the faculty of University Libraries supports the decision of any UL faculty member to pursue graduate study at a level, in a discipline and at an institution of his/her own choosing as long as the following two conditions are met:
1. The UL faculty member who is contemplating further graduate or professional study shall meet with his/her immediate supervisor to provide the supervisor with advance notification as to his/her intent to pursue this further study.
2. After enrolling in the graduate or professional program, the UL faculty member will meet with his/her supervisor to ensure that the faculty member's class schedule does not interfere either with the performance of job duties or with the ability of the faculty member's department to meet its service obligations.
This resolution is expressly intended to cover UL faculty who choose to pursue graduate or professional degrees. Regarding UL faculty who wish to take undergraduate courses either for personal enrichment or because it relates to their job, points 1 and 2 above also apply.
Approved by the UL faculty, 02/07/2008 (final approval July 15, 2008)