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University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Policy Name: Faculty Responsibilities
Policy Number: LR 403.10
Effective Date: September 17, 2001
Policy
Faculty Responsibilities
General
Each faculty member who accepts a full-time appointment accepts an obligation to render a measure of service to the university which is appropriate to such an appointment. Faculty members are available for student advisement, consultation with colleagues, and participation in governance and committee work. Therefore, while not restricted by a rigid schedule of work hours, a faculty member should recognize the full-time commitment of his or her position.
In recognition of the importance of effective faculty participation in university governance, each full-time faculty member should become personally involved through attendance at and participation in meetings of committees, departments, colleges or schools, the University Assembly, and, as appropriate, the Faculty Senate.
Professional Concerns
As participants in the scholarly community, faculty members work toward continued intellectual development and professional competence through a variety of activities appropriate to their disciplines and consistent with their individual assignments of study, professional activities, research, publications, or other activities.
As a teacher, each faculty member brings his or her best efforts to the classroom and strives to develop improved teaching techniques and to teach in a creative, thoughtful manner.
Academic counseling of students is one of the functions of the teaching faculty. Therefore, faculty members participate in the academic counseling programs of their departments. In general, faculty members maintain accessibility to students for consultation and advisement via regular scheduled office hours or equivalent procedures as defined by departmental faculty.
In their relationship with students, faculty members use as a guide the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) Joint Statement on Rights and Freedoms of Students and should be fully aware of the services available to students to assist them with academic, health, finance, or personal problems.
Each faculty member meets classes at the regular or announced scheduled time and location unless a change is approved in advance by the department chairperson or unless an emergency occurs. Each faculty member is properly prepared for all classes and meets them punctually.
Each faculty member is responsible for giving early notice of resignation. In this regard, the faculty member and the university are guided by the AAUP Statement on Recruitment and Resignation of Faculty Members. In particular, a faculty member should not resign to accept other employment as of the end of the academic year later than May 15 or 30 days after receiving notification of the terms of his continued employment the following year, whichever comes later. In the event of an emergency the faculty member may ask the appropriate officials of the university to waive this requirement, but he or she should conform to their decision. Conversely, the university accepts a responsibility to observe the AAUP guidelines regarding late offers to faculty members teaching at other institutions.
The university has developed certain regulations in order to make possible an orderly academic environment and to protect high academic standards.
Each faculty member is dedicated to and demands the maintenance of academic integrity.
Students should be clearly informed of classroom policies regarding academic honesty. It is the obligation of the faculty member to report all alleged violations of academic integrity to the dean of students.
University Service
In the area of academic affairs, each faculty member participates in developing and improving programs and curricula, developing and modifying the goals of the department, college or school, and university, and establishing policies on all levels.
Information Related to Faculty Service
The immediate governance of a department of the university is vested in its departmental faculty with jurisdiction over all the interests of the department, including authority to determine all department questions.
Faculty members, via representation within their department or unit, participate in the recruitment, selection, and orientation of new faculty, and in recommendations of tenure, promotion, reappointment, non-reappointment, and dismissal, consistent with the rules and regulations of that unit.
A committee of the University Faculty Senate has endorsed the desirability of evaluation of the teaching function. Faculty of each department or equivalent unit should develop meaningful methods of teacher evaluation and administer these evaluations uniformly within the academic unit.
Source: UALR University Assembly, May 9, 1975, University-wide Administrative Memo 400.1, Oct. 4, 1982
Revised: February 12, 1981; September 17, 2001
Approved By:
Custodian: Provost