Body
Unit Policy
Title
School of Government: Policy on Faculty Salary
Introduction
Purpose
This policy provides guidance to the Director of the Institute of Government for making faculty salary adjustment decisions. It outlines the performance categories and measures—both objective and qualitative—that should be considered, including teaching, consulting, writing and publishing, service, career markers, and impact.
Scope
This policy applies to faculty members of the Institute of Government at the University of North Carolina.
Policy
I. Introduction
This document constitutes the faculty salary policy adopted by the faculty of the Institute of Government to provide guidance to the Director of the Institute in making salary adjustment decisions.
Many factors bear on the decision to adjust a faculty member's salary. This policy addresses a wide range of performance categories and offers suggestions for documenting that performance. Faculty members will be required to submit two reports each year—a comprehensive activity report and a summary assessment of overall impact. It is unlikely that in any single year, a faculty member will have substantial activities to report in each category listed. The mix of responsibilities within the Institute is unusual within the University, and a policy that reflects accurately all the different kinds of work that contribute to the success of the Institute must of necessity be broad and include categories of work in which not every faculty member will have activities. The sequential listing of factors is not intended to suggest a priority of importance among the various factors.
To the extent possible, this policy uses measures that can be objectively measured. But salary determinations are only partially objective. They also involve assessments of relative contributions in different aspects of the Institute's work. That assessment must of necessity be subjective. The approach taken by this policy is to provide the Director with the best information possible to make those difficult decisions as rational and objective as they can realistically be expected to be.
The effort to emphasize objective measures does not minimize the importance of assessing the extent to which the faculty member promotes a positive organizational culture in which all these activities occur. That culture values and promotes:
- Ethical sensitivity
- Intellectual integrity
- Reliability, punctuality and responsibility in approaching one's work
- Good judgment that avoids situations that reflect adversely on the Institute or the University
- Commitment to the common good of the Institute, as reflected in a willingness to assist colleagues, teach in other colleagues' classes, working on pan-Institute projects, and doing so in a manner that promotes collegiality
- Good humor
- A demonstrated commitment to professional development
While these characteristics cannot be quantified, they are important to the successful operation of the Institute and the absence of any of these qualities should be considered by the Director in salary decisions.
II. Teaching
Teaching by faculty members will be considered in salary decisions by the director.
Objective measures
In assessing a faculty member's contributions to the teaching function of the Institute, the Director will consider objective measures such as:
- Quantity of teaching
- The number of students in the target audience who choose to participate in class offerings, reviewed over a substantial period of time
- Development of needed new courses
- Service as a mentor or other contributions to the effective teaching of other faculty
Qualitative measures
In addition to these objective ways of looking at teaching activity, the Director will make an effort to assess the quality of the teaching of individual faculty members. That inquiry may include a review of:
- The extent to which the teacher incorporates the latest information and recent developments in a field
- The extent to which the material presented reflects a careful, accurate and systematic analysis of the subject matter field in which the faculty member is teaching
- The coherence, relevance and clarity of the teacher's oral presentations and written classroom materials
- Use of audiovisual aids
- Use of innovative teaching methods
- The extent to which students are engaged by the teacher so they participate fully in the discussions
- Evaluations by students
- Peer reviews
- Emulation of the faculty member's courses elsewhere or use of the teaching materials by others
III. Consulting
Consulting by faculty members will be considered in salary decisions by the director.
The practice of consulting as it applies to the Institute of Government includes a wide range of activities. In its most general terms, it consists of the application of the professional skills of Institute faculty in trying to meet the needs of one of the Institute's clients other than by teaching or publications. Consulting may be intensive and last a long period of time or may involve only a brief contact.
Examples include service as legislative or study commission counsel; conducting retreats; handling phone inquiries or other communications; drafting legislation, rules, ordinances or policies for clients; conducting research on issues on governance, administration or matters in litigation; providing mediation services to governments in conflict; providing staff support to governments proposing consolidation of services or to groups seeking to incorporate a municipality; working with managers and governing boards to change the organization's culture; and service on committees addressing matters of public concern.
Objective measures
In assessing a faculty member's contributions to the consulting function of the Institute, the Director will consider objective measures such as:
- The quantity of the activity or activities, both in terms of scope of projects undertaken, as well as in overall numbers of consultations
- Tangible work products produced as a result of consulting efforts
Qualitative measures
In addition to these objective ways of looking at consulting activity, the Director will make an effort to assess the quality of the consultations of individual faculty members. That inquiry may include a review of:
- Client evaluations
- Peer reviews (if available)
- Emulation by others of the methods, materials, or approaches taken in the consultations
- Special innovations in the manner or approach taken to providing consulting services
- The extent to which the clients served or their colleagues return to the faculty member for future consultations, measured over a substantial period of time.
- Any awards or other recognition received by the project as a result of the consulting effort
IV. Writing and Publishing
Writing and publishing activities will be considered in salary decisions by the Director. In considering the writing activities of a particular faculty member, both work on writings in progress and the publication of a completed work (in many cases, some of the research and writing on the completed work will have been done in earlier years) will be considered, but emphasis will be placed on works completed in the year for which the salary decision is being made. The range of writing and publishing activities that Institute faculty members engage in is very broad. Writing activities may involve publishing of a substantial book in which the faculty member is the sole author. Sometimes such books involve research and writing by two or more faculty members or other authors. Writing activities may also involve issuance of memoranda, bulletins, or monographs.
Sometimes the writing involves work which is not formally attributed to the faculty member. Examples of that kind of writing include bench books, reports of committees or commissions, substantial revisions to General Statutes, local ordinances or policies, and similar kinds of writing. This kind of writing can also be characterized as consulting. The designation is not as important as the quality and scope of the effort required to produce the work product.
Objective measures
In assessing a faculty member's contribution to the writing and publishing function of the Institute, the Director will consider objective measures such as:
- The number and scope of publications and other writings produced in the year in which the salary decision is to be made
- Published evaluations of written work
- The extent to which the written work is reproduced or cited in other published works or other public records
- Works that are in progress
- Works in which the faculty member serves as editor
Qualitative measures
In addition to these objective ways of looking at writing and publishing activity, the Director will make an effort to assess the quality of the writing of individual faculty members. That inquiry may include a review of:
- The coherence, clarity, and relevance of the written works
- Awards and recognition of the quality of the work by entities other than the Institute
- Special innovations in the presentation of material in published form
- The extent to which the written material reflects original research and creative approaches to existing issues
- The extent to which the written material reflects a careful, accurate and systematic analysis of the subject matter field in which the faculty member is writing
V. Service to the Institute of Government
All the activities of the faculty of the Institute of Government contribute to the improvement of public service in North Carolina. That is the context in which most departments assess an individual faculty member's "service". This category deals with the kinds of service that contribute to the improvement of this institution. The work described here is generally not related to the person's substantive fields of work. Later categories deal with similar efforts to improve the university or one's profession as a whole.
In assessing the degree to which an individual has "served" the Institute of Government, the Director will consider the extent to which the individual participates in the following kinds of activities and the extent to which that participation contributes to the Institute:
- Editing a regular publication of interest to readers in fields other than the faculty member's substantive field(s) (Popular Government/LRS are examples)
- Administration of, or assisting the administration of, a program for traditional students unrelated to the faculty member's substantive fields (e.g. intern program)
- Assumption of responsibility for a major course that includes areas outside the faculty member's substantive fields (e.g., municipal/county administration)
- Chairing or serving on a committee that takes a substantial commitment of time and effort
- Assuming responsibility for multi-author publications that serve several client groups
- Assuming responsibility for other administrative projects or assuming general management responsibilities within the Institute
- Any other similar service to the Institute
VI. University Service or Service to the Profession
In the same way that service within the Institute contributes to the effective functioning of the Institute, service to the University and to one's profession also contributes to the improvement of public service in this state and elsewhere.
In assessing the degree to which an individual has "served" the University of North Carolina or one's profession, the Director will consider the extent to which the individual participates in the following kinds of activities and the extent to which that participation contributes to the improvement of the institutions served. That inquiry may include a review of:
- Service as chair or member of committees on this campus or within one's professional organizations
- Working on projects sponsored by the University administration, either on this campus or in General Administration, which are not otherwise a part of the Institute's responsibilities
- Any other service that is relevant to the work of the University or to one's profession
- Service in a leadership role in a professional organization
VII. Significant Career Markers
The Director will consider significant career markers in making salary decisions. Those significant markers include but are not limited to reappointments, promotions, tenure, professional honors or awards that reflect either career or specific achievements, university-wide awards, or election to boards of, or other leadership roles in, national associations.
IX. Impact
Finally, the director will, to the extent that such information is available, consider evidence of any impact the faculty member's work has on the subsequent professional conduct of the clients served. In making this assessment, the Director must assess the extent to which the particular circumstances of a faculty member's relationship to the clients make that kind of evidence likely to be available. It is recognized that this is the most difficult kind of assessment to make, since the work of the faculty member is at best one factor in the determination of how adult learners will conduct themselves. This assessment is complicated further by the Institute's principle of nonadvocacy, since the role of the Institute faculty member is often not to suggest that a particular course of action is to be taken, but is instead to provide an improved basis for the public official to make his or her own judgment.
The fact that impact is difficult to assess and that the information to do so is not always available does not diminish its importance as the highest indicator of the effectiveness of Institute work. Each faculty member should assess whether it is possible to determine the impact of his or her professional activities. A discussion of that assessment should be included in any regular meetings with the Director.
X. Other Factors considered in setting salaries
In addition to the factors already listed, in some instances adjustments need to be made for other purposes. These adjustments are most often made after tentative decisions have been made using the criteria already listed. The factors that most often fall into this category are:
- Equity (some examples are salary differentials that are otherwise difficult to explain that may be the result of discrimination, changing market conditions, or unusually low funding in previous years that worked to the disadvantage of individual faculty members at times of unusual productivity, publications of major works or significant career markers)
- Salary compression
- Impacts of market pressures
XI. Factors not considered
The following factors have no relevance to one's fitness to receive a salary increase, and accordingly are not considered by the Director in making salary decisions:
- Whether the person's Institute work generates revenue
- Personal income, family income, or resources from sources other than the Institute
- Family and other personal obligations or needs
- Leaves of absence
- The source of funding for a person's salary
XII. Annual Reports
Comprehensive Activity Report
To assist the Director in making informed decisions, each faculty member must annually prepare a comprehensive faculty activity report. Thie comprehensive report must cover the activities developed and listed in this policy (Section II through VII) and the report must be submitted at a time and in a format to be prescribed by the Director. This report should provide a reasonably comprehensive view of individual faculty acitivities—collectively the reports provide the best information about the total work of the Institute.
Summary Assessment
Each faculty member must also submit a separate report no longer than two pages that assesses the impact of his or her work during the last year. The summary assessment should describe what a faculty member was trying to accomplish (either broadly or in a field or with a particular activity) and then speculate about his or her level of success. It should offer a critical evaluation of a person's work and its impact. The summary assessment may also describe the relationship between past work and future plans. The reports should not summarize the activities contained in the comprehensive faculty activities report.
The Director will then make salary decisions in the short time typically allowed for such decisions based on these reports and all other relevant information, available at the time the decision must be made. That information may include reports of advisory committees appointed for junior faculty members, ad hoc promotion review committees, as well as other sources of information to which the Director may have access.
XIII. Role of Faculty Salary Committee
The Faculty Salary Committee was elected to implement the May 1, 1996 directive of Chancellor Hooker that a committee consisting of faculty members elected by their colleagues be established to "share with you (deans, directors, etc.) responsibility for seeing that each officer of administration who initiates salary recommendations has on file faculty salary policies that are consistent with the Council's recommended principles and implementing mechanisms." The Chancellor's directive also provides that each committee is:
to hear issues concerning the policies or their implementation. I ask that in establishing its committee, your faculty clearly specify the jurisdiction to be assigned to the committee and how it may be invoked, bearing in mind the . . . jurisdiction of the Faculty Grievance Committee.
In accordance with those directives, the committee will meet with the Director annually shortly after salary decisions are made to review the policies and the extent to which they continue to provide appropriate guidance to the Director. In addition, the committee is available to meet with the Director or any faculty member to discuss interpretations of the existing policy, or proposed changes to the policy.
The committee does not have jurisdiction over disputes about an individual's salary. Those disputes are to be handled by the individual involved and the Director. If the dispute cannot be satisfactorily resolved at that level, the appropriate remedy is for the individual to file a grievance with the Faculty Grievance Committee.
If as a result of its annual meeting with the Director, or as a result of a special meeting with the Director or an individual faculty member, or on its own motion, the committee believes that amendments to the policy are appropriate, the committee may propose the amendments to the faculty for discussion and possible adoption.
No amendment to the policy is effective until approved by majority vote of the faculty, and the faculty may vote to amend the policy at any time, on motion of any member of the faculty.
XIV. Election procedures
The faculty salary committee as initially constituted has two members serving two year terms which will expire on November 30, 1998 and two members serving three year terms expiring November 30, 1999. At the expiration of those terms successors will be elected to serve three year terms.
The secretary of the faculty is responsible for insuring that elections are held in the month before the terms of office expire. Notice must be given to all eligible faculty members that they may nominate themselves or another faculty member (whose willingness to serve the nominator has been previously confirmed) for the committee. The secretary must specify a time period during which the nominations are open, and that period must be at least six business days. The secretary must send a ballot by e-mail no later than two business days after the nominations are closed, and allow at least six business days for ballots to be returned.
Each faculty member may cast two votes, and may cast no more than one vote per named candidate. The secretary and the Associate Director for Programs shall count the ballots. The two candidates with the highest vote totals are elected. If three or more candidates tie with the highest number of votes or if there is a tie for the second slot, the secretary shall conduct a runoff election following these procedures as closely as is practicable. The secretary shall announce the winners as soon as possible.
Only faculty members who are classified as voting faculty by the Faculty Code and the Institute Librarian may vote in this election or on adoption of, and subsequent changes to, the salary policy.
XV. Effective date
This policy is effective June 11, 1997 and remains in effect until amended as providen by Section XIII of this policy.
Contact Information
Primary Contact
Name: Aimee Wall, Dean
Telephone: 919-966-4107
Email: wall@sog.unc.edu