Faculty Ranks
1. Regular Full-time Faculty Ranks. “Regular full-time faculty” includes only those persons who have tenure or are “tenure-track,” i.e., who have probationary appointments. Kent State Stark follows the University’s policy with respect to faculty rank as set forth in the University Policy Register. Depending on the level of an individual full-time faculty member’s credentials, qualifications and experience, he or she will occupy one of the following ranks:
2. Instructor, (ii) Assistant Professor, (iii) Associate Professor, and (iv) Professor. Tenure- track appointments for new faculty members typically begin at the Instructor or Assistant levels, depending upon a new hire’s credentials and the negotiations that occur at the time of hire. A definition of tenure, a discussion of the initial probationary period, and the procedures for the granting of tenure are included in the documents “University Policy and Procedures Regarding Faculty Reappointment” and “University Policy Regarding Faculty Tenure,” which can be found in the University Policy Register. For regular full-time faculty, assignment or advancement to these ranks normally occurs by promotion, or upon initial appointment when specific criteria are met. For more details, see “University Policy Regarding Promotion” in the University Policy Register.
3. Full-time Instructional Non-tenure-track Appointments. FTNTT appointments follow University rules as set forth in the University Policy Register and The Non-tenure-track Faculty Collective Bargaining Agreement. The teaching load for a full-time FTNTT faculty member amounts to 30 hours per year. So, an FTNTT instructor must teach a combination of courses between the fall and spring semester that will yield that number of load hours. He or she may be required to make up any differences in service or other designated work—for example, advising—as required under the conditions of his or her contract with the Kent State Stark Campus and per agreement with the University. FTNTT appointments for new faculty members typically begin at the Lecturer or Assistant levels, depending upon a new hire’s credentials and the negotiations that occur at the time of hire. FTNTT faculty members completing the third year of a three-year term of annually renewable appointments must undergo a performance review as a prerequisite for subsequent appointment (Non-tenure- track Faculty Collective Bargaining Agreement). Other responsibilities and expectations of FTNTT faculty members in the Regional Campus System may be found in the Regional Campus Handbook.
4. Temporary Faculty: Adjunct, Part-time and Visiting Faculty. The Regional Campus System maintains contractual relationships with temporary faculty, contingent upon certain conditions, limitations, and policies, and consistent with the University Policy Register and the Collective Bargaining Agreements with regular and FTNTT faculties. Temporary faculty members at Kent State Stark play an important role in fulfilling its teaching mission. They are accorded the same academic freedom in the classroom as regular faculty, and temporary faculty members are encouraged to become involved in the Stark community, to the extent possible. Other responsibilities and expectations of temporary faculty members in the Regional Campus System may be found in the Regional Campus Handbook.
Temporary appointments are ordinarily for one year or for one semester. No implication of reappointment is intended. In some instances, a department may wish to designate "temporary” for appointees who are potentially permanent staff when a particular advanced degree is attained. Temporary appointees are not covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreements with regular and FTNTT faculties.
Service as a temporary appointee is not applicable toward tenure, promotion in rank, or similar faculty professional advancements. There is no institutional obligation beyond the period of the temporary appointment. Any number of consecutive years of service is a disconnected sequence of discrete appointments.
If a department wishes to appoint a temporary person with rank of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor, that appointment should be prefaced by "Visiting." Visiting faculty members generally enjoy the same academic rights and privileges as other regular Kent State University faculty members. However, they do not enjoy the same rights of participation in University decision-making as do Kent State University regular faculty members and are ineligible for elections to the various Kent State Stark Campus faculty committees and councils.
Temporary faculty at Kent State Stark are reviewed at least once annually by the Associate/Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs or by the program coordinator in their teaching area. Classroom performance—an important component of the scholarship of teaching—is weighted most heavily in such reviews.
5. Further academic ranks of the University are Research Professor, Visiting Distinguished Professor, Senior Research Fellow, Lecturer, Visiting Artist, Student Assistant, Research Associate, and Postdoctoral Fellow. More detailed information concerning these ranks is in the University Policy Register.