Chancellor addresses apportionment guidelines

Apportionment Guidelines - In Support of the University's Mission and in Recognition of Faculty Work

In congruence with the University's Apportionment Policy [Bylaws of the BOR 4.3], UNL has adopted the following statements that outline more explicitly the purpose of apportionment, the principles underlying it, and the relationship between apportionment and evaluation.

These statements will provide the framework for a discussion and development at the college level of an implementation process to include unit-specific workload guidelines and metrics and, if desired, additional unit-specific goals and principles.

- Purpose
Apportionment allows us to be accountable by:
1. Defining the nature of faculty contributions to the well-being of the university;
2. Defining the expectations associated with the individual faculty member's appointment; and
3. Providing the context within which effort can be accounted for, evaluated and rewarded.

- Principles
Apportionment:
1. Should allow for differentiated staffing;
2. Should take into account a unit's goals/needs/mission as well as the individual faculty member's goals/needs;
3. Should help the unit fulfill its responsibility to contribute to the mission areas: research, teaching, service, outreach;
4. Should support, but not replace, judgment in determining the distribution of work for individuals or among groups of faculty over time;
5. Should be consistent with tenure and/or promotion and annual evaluation guidelines.
6. Should be understood not as reflecting time or effort expended, but rather a faculty member's assumption of responsibilities and the basis upon which he or she agrees to be evaluated.

- Relationship between apportionment and evaluation
Citing the BOR Guidelines for the evaluation of faculty, with the understanding that the context of the faculty member's particular role in the institution is defined by apportionment:

Faculty members are hired to accomplish objectives of specific academic units and are to be judged accordingly. Consequently, the evaluation of faculty is to be carried out in the context of each faculty member's particular role in the institution with a clear understanding of what is expected of the individual; accomplishments of the faculty member are judged against these expectations [Guidelines for the Evaluation of Faculty: Annual Evaluations, Promotion, and Tenure: Section III.B].

- Metrics
Each college will develop a set of appropriate metrics or benchmarks to be used in determining and defining a faculty member's apportionment values. This will occur in discussion with college faculty and department administrators in accordance with college and department bylaws governing the adoption of faculty personnel policies.

- Timing
Apportionment for faculty is agreed upon at the original time of appointment. Responsibilities should be reviewed periodically to ensure documented apportionment is consistent with actual faculty responsibilities. Apportionment data will be collected annually from the departments.

More details at: http://go.unl.edu/t3q