A: IPTRC, Provost Office, and Academic Cabinet will collaborate on an Implementation Plan that will be released by July 1, 2023 and will be executed through June 30, 2024. Below are some high-level thinking about that plan so far.

A: The IPTRC working group will write policy language to guide track changes. Although track changing might be recommended for some faculty during their career at the University, track changing will not be a frequent occurrence and tracking changing will not happen multiple times for a single faculty member.

A: Tenure track positions will always be publicly posted and use an application process. Faculty will not be able to “move” to the tenure track via a re-appointment by the Dean, Provost, or President.

A: Not necessarily. The teaching track is designed for faculty whose primary contribution to the University, college, and program is teaching excellence.

A: Merit raises are determined by the University’s financial standing and using various performance factors, the discretion of the faculty’s supervisor and Dean. A faculty member’s track appointment doesn’t impact one’s merit raise. All faculty member, regardless of track, are eligible for merit raises.

A: Yes, all faculty will be eligible. FP107 guides the University’s Sabbatical awards and will need to be updated to include the Teaching track after approval of FP104.

A:  Tenure track positions will always be determined before posting the position and will use an application process for hiring. When hiring non-tenure track - professional practice and teaching track faculty - the University will post these positions as open ranked and open track and the track and rank will be determined based on the University, college, and program needs and candidates qualifications and experience.

A: The broader Higher Education Institution (HEI) language is used to allow the flexibility to appoint a newly hired faculty member the associate professor or professor rank, if that person has had previous experience at another HEI warranting either of these titles. This rarely happens, but we want to maintain the flexibility in case the situation presents itself.

A: Yes. Rank advancement salary raises will be the same for each track.

A: It is a higher education convention to differentiate the faculty track appointments with rank titles. Many Chicagoland Universities follow this convention. For example, Roosevelt University uses different titles for their teaching track, clinical faculty track, and professional practice track - see the chart on page 34 of their Faculty Handbook.  Additionally, you can read the research study, Are “associate professors” better than “associate teaching professors”? Student and faculty perceptions of faculty titles. The IPTRC working group carefully considered this change before making the recommendation to align the rank titles with the tracks. 

A: Tenure track opportunities are determined by the Dean, Provost, and President.

A: Since Teaching track faculty mainly contribute to the University, College, and Program by teaching courses, the minimum credentials for rank promotion are aligned with the program’s faculty credentialing requirements for the program which the faculty member resides. Further, the Teaching track provides an opportunity for equitable recognition and advancement for faculty teaching in programs and disciplines where a terminal degree isn’t required.

A: Years in rank toward rank promotion is negotiated at the time of hire. There is language in the revised FP104 guiding this process. Kendall College faculty who came to NLU as part of the acquisition have their time in rank at Kendall College recognized; however, faculty hired from Argosy upon Argosy’s closure do not have their years in rank at Argosy recognized, since Argosy was not an acquisition.

A: Tenure track faculty will be expected to be principal investigators (PI)  and submit grant proposals to support their thought leadership in the University’s strength areas. Professional practice track faculty are expected to make thought leadership contributions, and although they are encouraged and will be supported by the University to submit grant proposals and support other faculty and staff with grant projects, they aren’t expected to serve as PIs on grant proposals or to seek funding to support their thought leadership.

A: The revised policy features a specific, minimum number of years in rank to determine eligibility for promotion to the next rank. It is clearer to faculty to communicate a specific number of years to avoid confusion.