Definitions
Kent State University is pledged to making all of its campuses inclusive, diverse, and free from discrimination. The University’s equal-opportunity policies extend to every aspect of employment, academics, and student-life. No unlawful discrimination in employment, admissions, academic programs, recruiting, financial aid, or social, recreational and health programs is permissible or tolerated.
The Office of Affirmative Action is the principal agency responsible for implementing fairness and good-faith practices across the University. This goal is defined in detail in the Affirmative Action Program of Kent State University, which is updated and republished from time to time. Individual faculty members are encouraged to contact either the Office of Affirmative Action on the Kent Campus or the Kent State Stark Affirmative Action Facilitator at any time if they need information regarding their rights, or if they wish to learn about procedures available to resolve concerns or complaints. All counseling is confidential.
- Regular and FTNTT Appointment
A prospective faculty member’s appointment to Kent State Stark must be approved by the Dean, the Academic unit, the Collegial/School Dean, the Vice President for System Integration, and the Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Curriculum Development. Appointments are then made by the Board of Trustees, upon the recommendation of the President. All other faculty personnel recommendations are subject to similar approval.
The procedure for hiring a new faculty member to the Stark Campus conforms to the Regional Campuses Guidelines for Academic Search Committees. After a campus review of enrollment trends and projections, a position request is made to the Vice President for System Integration. If approved, a job description is crafted establishing the qualifications for the position, describing the nature of the position, and establishing the deadline dates for application. The position is then advertised appropriately. The job description also identifies a person to whom applications should be directed.
Kent State Stark search committees are formed by the Dean and approved by the Office of Affirmative Action. Committees generally consist of tenured or tenure-track faculty (although provisions are sometimes made for the participation of FTNTT faculty) and the chair is usually a senior faculty member in his or her discipline. Once committees are formally charged by the Dean, they are provided with training sessions to ensure fair-hiring practices and the following of hiring protocols (especially those developed by the Office of Affirmative Action).
The search committee is responsible for identifying a short list of candidates to be submitted to the department chair for review and approval. From the list of candidates approved by the department, the search committee submits a list of three or four candidates to the Dean. A search committee, if it so chooses, may rank the candidates (Collective Bargaining Agreement).
At the conclusion of the committee’s screening process and following the approval of the Affirmative Action Office, the Dean makes a recommendation to the Vice President for System Integration’s office. Upon the approval of the Vice President, an offer of appointment is made. This offer must be in writing and will minimally include the department of the prospective faculty member; dates and periods of employment; the type of appointment, tenure, or promotion; other terms of appointment, such as the initial Regional Campus to which the faculty member is assigned, promotion and tenure clauses; the responsibilities of the position; and possibilities for summer teaching. (See Regional Campuses Guidelines for Academic Searches.)
While faculty are full members of their respective Kent Campus academic units, their tenure and teaching assignments are in the Regional Campus System, which is budgeted separately from the Kent Campus. This means that new faculty members must become aware of the structure of governance, standards for evaluation of probationary faculty, and the general culture within both their departments and the Kent State Stark Campus. This handbook, along with the Regional Campus Handbook, should provide an overview of Stark and the Regional Campuses system. However, new faculty members are strongly encouraged to learn about their own departments from their chair and other senior faculty, and to engage in a modest amount of departmental service.
Moreover, the University has the right to reassign an individual to a different campus from his or her initial appointment. Such decisions are made by the Vice President for System Integration and are governed by considerations of seniority as well as the procedures outlined in the Collective Bargaining Agreements for regular and FTNTT faculty (Regional Campus Handbook). Resident faculty status at a specific Regional Campus is determined annually based on assigned contractual teaching load for the fall semester.