Teaching Faculty Framework

Guiding principles are as follows:

• Distinguish between appointments that are renewable and those that are non-renewable
• Create a path to promotion for renewable appointments
• Establish titles for renewable appointments that indicate that promotional path

I. Oversight of implementation of the A&S Teaching Faculty Framework

To oversee the initial implementation of the TFF, an ad hoc Teaching Faculty Committee (TFC) composed of 6 A&S faculty members—3 tenured/tenure-eligible and 3 teaching faculty—will be appointed by the Faculty Affairs Committee (FAC). In year 3, the FAC will evaluate the utility of the TFC  and recommend whether it should become a permanent A&S committee following the procedures in Article VI in the Bylaws of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, or whether another advising, consultative, and oversight alternative should be adopted. Should the Faculty vote to make the TFC a permanent A&S committee, its 6 members shall be elected by the Faculty of A&S and serve 3-year terms.

The ad hoc TFC will be advisory to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences (hereafter referred to as the Dean) and partner with the Dean  to address teaching faculty matters. The TFC will:

• Advise the Dean on policies and procedures related to teaching faculty at the A&S, department, and program levels;
• Advise the Dean on principles of teaching faculty promotion decisions;
• Monitor teaching faculty policies in each A&S department or program to ensure they are aligned with the Teaching Faculty Framework;
• Understand and monitor processes for annual evaluation of teaching faculty and the awarding of merit-based compensation changes;
• In cases of nonrenewal of teaching faculty because of changing institutional need or shifts in resources, advise the Dean on issues and opportunities related to possible redeployment.

II. Teaching Faculty Recruitment

Recruitment and hiring of teaching faculty shall be in accordance with all university procedures identified by W&M Human Resources and by the Faculty Handbook. Moving from one faculty position to another (excepting promotion or reorganization) shall always require a search, consistent with the Faculty Handbook III.B.1.

III. Teaching Faculty Appointment Categories and Titles

Teaching faculty (TF) in A&S are defined as faculty with non-tenure eligible appointments, whether part-time, full-time fixed term, or full-time renewable. Teaching faculty have titles consistent with these categories.

• Adjunct Lecturer. Part-time faculty who are paid by the course or for specific contracted service; these positions are not eligible for benefits.
• Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor. These full-time positions are designed to fill temporary and short-term needs. Renewal of visiting positions will be rare, and visiting positions are generally renewed for no more than a few years. In addition to searches for faculty at the rank of Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor, units may be authorized to recruit at open rank (Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor, Visiting Associate Teaching Professor, Visiting Teaching Professor).
• Assistant Teaching Professor, Associate Teaching Professor, Teaching Professor. Full-time, renewable appointments with the possibility of promotion.

 IV. Teaching Faculty Job Responsibilities

• The standard teaching load for full-time teaching faculty is six 3-4 credit courses per year, plus mentoring as appropriate (see Section VII)
• There is no service expectation for adjunct lecturers or visiting teaching professors
• Assistant teaching professors spend 5% of their time on service (approximately 2 hours a week)
• Associate teaching professors spend 10% of their time on service (approximately 4 hours per week)
• Teaching professors spend 20% of their time on service (approximately 8 hours per week)
• Full-time teaching faculty at all ranks may choose to teach an additional course or courses as overloads. They will be compensated for this work at the appropriate adjunct rate for each course. The Dean must approve all overloads.

As members of the A&S faculty, full-time teaching faculty are expected to attend department and program faculty meetings and Faculty of A&S meetings, to participate in the life of their home units, to join in school or division-wide gatherings, and to regularly interact and collaborate with other W&M faculty and staff.

V. Teaching Faculty Participation in the Academic Community 

A&S teaching faculty have access to faculty offices and institutional resources, as well as to faculty grievance processes, procedural protections for addressing misconduct, and university ombuds services. W&M’s Human Resources Office partners on all employment matters with A&S and the Provost’s Office. Within parameters set by the Dean’s Office, each department or program shall determine the best internal structure to manage teaching faculty matters. As part of their service expectations, full-time teaching faculty in renewable appointments should have representation in governance structures; be included in home unit, school and university-wide faculty meetings; and collaborate regularly with other W&M faculty, administrators, and staff.

In A&S, each department and program shall clearly outline in their approved bylaws and/or personnel policies the specific ways that teaching faculty participate in their mission.

Consistent with the Faculty Handbook, this participation must not extend to tenured or tenure-eligible (TTE) faculty appointments, retention, promotion, or tenure. In A&S, teaching faculty are excluded from serving on committees overseeing TTE personnel issues, such as the Committee on Retention, Promotion, and Tenure. If a unit’s personnel policies allow it, full-time teaching faculty in renewable appointments may participate in searches for tenured and tenure-eligible faculty, but may not vote on the selection of the finalist; full-time teaching faculty in renewable appointments may be allowed to participate in merit review processes, but units may exclude teaching faculty from merit reviews of research for tenured and tenure-eligible faculty.

VI. Teaching Faculty Contracts 

a. Length

• Adjunct lecturers receive part-time contracts of one semester or one academic year in length. These contracts are not renewable, though adjunct lecturers may be issued new contracts for subsequent years.
• Visiting teaching faculty will normally be hired for 1 or 2 years.
• New teaching faculty with renewable contracts will normally be hired for 3 years.
• Subsequent contracts will be 3-5 years in length depending on rank: 3 years for renewal at the rank of assistant teaching professor, 4 years for the rank of associate teaching professor, and 5 years for the rank of teaching professor. These contracts will be renewable according to the criteria outlined below.

b. Notification Regarding Additional Contract

i. Notice of Renewal or Nonrenewal

• Adjunct lecturer contracts end on the date specified with no expectation of renewal and therefore adjunct lecturers will receive no notification of non-renewal. Likewise, visiting teaching faculty contracts are presumed to end on the date indicated, and visiting teaching professors will receive no notice of non-renewal. In the rare cases where renewal of a visiting teaching position is requested and approved, Chairs, Program Directors and/or supervisors will be notified of the decision to renew by December 15 of the final year of the contract.
• For teaching faculty on renewable contracts, notification of renewal or non-renewal shall be provided on the timeline specified in the Faculty Handbook.
• Teaching faculty who are being renewed can expect a renewal contract no later than the end of September of the final year of their current contract. New appointments will begin on August 10 of the following year.

ii. Notice of Renewal or Nonrenewal

•  No TF contract will be renewed without evidence of continued institutional need. For teaching faculty on 2-year renewable contracts, early in the fall semester, the Dean’s office will provide the department/program with data on historical and projected student enrollments in courses taught by TF. For TF on renewable contracts of 3 or more years in length, these data will be provided early in the spring semester of the penultimate year of their contracts. These data will be used by the department/program as part of their review of the need for renewal. Where renewal is requested, the department/program will provide a narrative justification for the renewal. Justification will be based on enrollment data, and also on curricular need for courses to be taught by the faculty member (for example, courses required for the major, COLL courses, or courses that significantly enhance the breadth and depth of courses offered in the unit). If the faculty member has consistently met expectations as defined by the unit (see Section VII below) or if they have successfully met benchmarks for improvement set during a mentorship program, they are eligible for renewal.
• Requests for renewal for assistant, associate, and full teaching professors will be submitted to the Dean at the same time that requests for new TTE and teaching faculty hires are due, usually in the spring.
• Requests to renew teaching faculty on contracts that are 3 years or longer should be made one year in advance of thepiry date on the current contract (i.e., for a contract of 3 years or longer ending May 2025, request to renew with the new contract starting August 2025 should be made by spring 2024, see above). Requests for renewals of visiting assistant teaching professors (which will be rare) will be made when the Dean calls for requests for new visiting assistant professors. The Dean, in consultation with the Vice, Associate and Assistant Deans, will make the final determination on renewal. If a teaching faculty member in a renewable position is notified that they will not be receiving a new contract, they may request that the TFC – or other body charged with this function if, after year 3 of implementation, FAS chooses to dissolve the TFC — review the matter and consider opportunities for redeployment from the responsibilities of the previous contract to new duties. Teaching faculty members who receive a notice of nonrenewal may also follow Faculty Handbook procedures to grieve the nonrenewal.

VII. Teaching Faculty Merit Evaluation

Teaching faculty, including visiting teaching professors and adjunct lecturers, will be evaluated annually at the same time as tenured and tenure-eligible faculty. In developing unit-specific policies for the evaluation of teaching faculty, departments and programs should follow the guidelines below:

• Teaching faculty will be evaluated for teaching on a scale of 0-6 using the same criteria and materials as those used for TTE faculty in each unit.
• Full-time teaching faculty with a service expectation in their contracts will be evaluated for service on a scale of 0-3. Appropriate weight should be given to the contractual service and teaching obligations of each rank. Thus, service warranting a score of 3/3 for an Assistant Teaching Professor will be about four times less than the amount of service expected for a Full Teaching Professor to score 3/3. Each department and program will develop policies that define criteria for varying scores.
• Units should take into consideration the more limited opportunities available to TF relative to TTE faculty when evaluating the quantity of service for merit
• Examples of service for teaching faculty may include but are not limited to the following. A substantial proportion of the service activity should be at W&M.
  • Service to A&S and department/program: pre-major advising, major advising, serving on department/unit committees, mentoring students through honors theses within their department/unit, contributing to departmental/unit outreach events (such as participating in the day for admitted students), advising transfer students, representing the department/unit at student-sponsored events, participating in alumni events and graduation ceremonies, other written and agreed upon
  • Service to the institution: serving on W&M-wide committees, mentoring faculty, professionals, or students outside their department/unit, mentoring students through research, including Monroe Projects, honors theses outside their departments/units, labs, research groups, journal clubs, contributing to the planning or development of curriculum (e.g., developing and teaching COLL courses), representing W&M at community, state, national or international events, managing academic programs, leading centers, research groups, or project groups, service as faculty advisor to W&M student
  • Service to the profession: presenting at conferences, organizing workshops, panels, and roundtables at regional, national, or international meetings, holding leadership positions in field-related organizations.
• Department Chairs or Program Directors will report the score for each TF AND whether a TF meets or does not meet the expectations of their role within their unit. Each unit should develop criteria for “meets” and “does not meet.” These criteria could be as simple as a minimum total merit score for the category of “meets.” If the TF does not meet expectations, a formal mentorship program with measurable benchmarks for improvement will be instituted.
• Meeting expectations should be understood within the culture of the department or program, and teaching evaluations will form part of this assessment. However, teaching evaluations should not be the sole metric. Other demonstrations of meeting expectations in teaching may include evidence such as peer observations, participating in pedagogical workshops, innovative  assignments,  conference attendance or research to offer and bolster new courses, mentorship, or supervising student projects. Satisfactory performance in service is meeting  the defined  level of service expected at each rank.
• Chairs and Program Directors will enter the score for each TF (out of a total of 9) to a pre-programmed spreadsheet provided by the Dean’s office. The spreadsheet will automatically weight scores according to contractual expectations by percentage effort (ie 95% teaching/5% service for Assistant Teaching Professors, 90% teaching/10% service for Associate Teaching Professors, and 80% teaching/20% service for Teaching Professors). The weighted score will be used in the Dean’s office when merit raises are assigned.
• Average scores in each category for all faculty (TTE and TF combined) will be shared with the department or program faculty.

 VIII. Failure to Meet Expectations

• In the spirit of mentoring teaching faculty (especially those on their first contract), Chairs and Program Directors should examine TF teaching evaluations at the conclusion of each semester rather than waiting for the department or program’s formal merit If teaching scores are significantly lower than the mean for the unit, the Department Chair or Program Director and/or the faculty member’s mentor will work informally with the faculty member to support them in improving their performance, including by referring to other units on campus, for example the Studio for Teaching & Learning Innovation.
• If a TF member does not meet expectations during an annual merit review, then a formal mentorship program with measurable benchmarks for improvement will be initiated and completed during the next academic year. The mentorship program will be created collaboratively between the teaching faculty member; their Chair, Program Director, or supervisor; and the A&S Dean’s office. If mentorship is needed, teaching faculty may also consult with the Chair of the TFC to discuss performance evaluations and devise strategies for improvement.
• Progress towards meeting benchmarks will be assessed by the Chair, Program Director, or supervisor, and the A&S Dean’s office at the conclusion of the mentorship program. If benchmarks have not been met, the contract will not be renewed. The final decision on whether or not benchmarks have been met rests with the Dean.
• If a TF member does not meet expectations during an annual merit review, and the time is insufficient to complete a formal mentorship program with benchmarks for improvement before a renewal decision is due, then when they are being considered for renewal, their performance will be evaluated holistically (e.g., evaluations, peer observations, syllabi) across the duration of service to William & Mary. This evaluation will be undertaken by the Chair, Program Director, or supervisor, and the A&S Dean’s office. If possible, the renewal decision should consider teaching performance in the spring of calendar year following the merit evaluation that did not meet expectations. The final decision on renewal rests with the Dean. In cases of performance issues requiring contracts to end prematurely due to alleged faculty incompetence, neglect of duty, or misconduct, the processes outlined in the Faculty Handbook shall apply.

IX. Promotional Processes

Listed below are the A&S guidelines for promotion of teaching faculty to be incorporated into Department and Program personnel policies.

• There is no path to promotion for adjunct lecturers or visiting teaching faculty at any rank.
• Promotion is not an automatic process and is at the choice of the TF in consultation with their Department Chair or Program Director. A person may stay in their rank as long as they choose, and normal processes for renewal will apply as long as they remain at that rank.
• Promotion dossiers for teaching faculty in renewable positions may be submitted when a position is due for renewal as part of the request for renewal. Promotion is ordinarily considered at the second renewal request at rank, though in exceptional circumstances, it may be considered during the first renewal
• Renewal of the contract must be approved following the process outlined in VI.b.2 above before a request for promotion can be considered.
• No faculty member will be promoted without a history of excellent performance in the position. Excellent performance demonstrates a commitment to growth, development, and improvement.
• Given the culture of teaching excellence at W&M, “meeting expectations” in annual merit scores is evidence of excellence. Excellent performance in teaching should be understood within the culture of the department or program, and teaching evaluations will form part of this assessment. However, teaching evaluations should not be the sole metric. Other means of demonstrating excellent performance for promotion may include (but are not limited to) peer observations, participating  in  pedagogical workshops, innovative assignments, conference attendance, research to offer and bolster new courses, mentorship, or supervising student projects.
• Excellence in service should include diversifying one’s service contributions and actively participating in the university Excellence does not require exceeding the required contractual percentages for service at rank.
• Promotion dossiers must include a current CV, evidence of excellence in teaching (see bullet point above), and a brief self-narrative (not more than 3 pages, 12-point font, single-spaced or the equivalent double-spaced). The narrative should focus on teaching and service (broadly defined to include department, university, and field). This may include a discussion of how teaching has developed and For example, a TF may have updated courses in response to student feedback, or demonstrated other advances in pedagogy. Research does not fall within the contractual responsibilities of TF. However, in certain cases, research may be discussed for the ways that it enhances teaching and service.
• The dossier should also include a report by the Personnel Committee(s) of the department and/or program, a brief letter from the Chair and/or Program Director, and a vote of all tenured faculty and of TF at all ranks above the candidate, in the department or program.
• Candidates for promotion must have a full calendar week to respond to the committee report and the chair’s letter before the dossier is submitted to the Dean. The response should be included in the dossier.
• The Dean, in consultation with the Vice, Associate and Assistant Deans, will make the final determination on promotion.