4.1 Faculty Awards
Each year, the University of New Hampshire selects a number of its outstanding faculty for special recognition of their achievements in teaching, scholarship, and service. Awards for Excellence in Teaching are given in each college and school, and University-wide awards recognize public service, research, teaching, and engagement. The UNH Faculty Award nomination process and descriptions of the various awards can be found at https://www.unh.edu/provost/faculty-awards. Extension faculty qualify for the UNH Presidential Award of Excellence for Extension Educators, awarded annually through a nomination process.
4.2 Professional Development Grants
The Faculty Development Grant supports professional development of tenure track faculty by providing funding for the acquisition of new skills. The funds may serve to advance the career of a junior faculty member or provide the means for a senior faculty member to acquire or expand new competencies or pursue new directions. Grants are intended to support professional development in teaching or scholarship, and expenses associated with new research activities. For more information, go to https://www.unh.edu/provost/faculty-development-grants
Extension faculty are eligible for Staff Professional Development Grants. The Professional Development Grant Program provides the opportunity, for EE, OS, and PAT staff, to attain new skills or knowledge in a manner that will enhance a staff member's performance or eligibility for promotion and be of specific benefit to the department, college, university and/or University System. For more information see https://www.unh.edu/hr/staff-professional-development-grant-program-application. Other professional development funds are made available to Extension faculty through Cooperative Extension funds allocated by program team.
4.3 Faculty Development Programs
The University of New Hampshire is committed to supporting the scholarly lives of our faculty. The Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Engagement and Academic Outreach has designed a number of innovative faculty development programs to increase proposal submissions and grant success, support writing productivity, and enhance engagement with external partners and interdisciplinary collaboration. These programs support the recruitment, retention, and advancement of faculty. See https://www.unh.edu/engagement/faculty-development for more information on these programs.
The Faculty Scholars Program is intended to provide UNH scholars who are at a critical stage in completing a phase of their ongoing work the opportunity to devote full time to scholarly activity for at least one semester. The committee anticipates this opportunity will help recipients make a major contribution to their professional development or to the culmination of a major scholarly effort. For more information, see: https://www.unh.edu/provost/faculty-development-grants.
4.4 Faculty Evaluation – Tenure Track Faculty
4.4.1 Non-tenured Faculty Annual Evaluation
The Collective Bargaining Agreement (https://www.usnh.edu/policy/bot/v-personnel-policies/d-employee-and-labor-relations) stipulates that each non-tenured tenure track faculty member will receive from the dean, in concert with the appropriate chairperson, an annual written assessment of performance. This assessment must be completed by June 30th following the end of each academic year beginning with the first year of appointment, and transmitted to the bargaining unit member.
4.4.2 Tenure Track Faculty Promotion and/or Tenure
Tenure track faculty promotion and tenure procedures are outlined in Article 13 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement at https://www.usnh.edu/policy/bot/v-personnel-policies/d-employee-and-labor-relations. These are supplemented by information on the university-wide promotion and tenure process provided by the Provost’s Office and available at https://www.unh.edu/provost/promotion-and-tenure-procedures-documents. College and department guidelines should be consulted for procedures and standards that apply to a particular case. Types of promotion for tenure track faculty include Instructor to Assistant, Assistant to Associate, Associate to Full Professor, and Emeritus status. In the case of a negative recommendation by the College Promotion and Tenure Committee, the Graduate Dean, or the College Dean a request for review must be submitted to the College Dean. The procedure for submitting a grievance according to Article 9 and for provision of review according to Article 13.21 can be found in the Collective Bargaining Agreement (see https://www.usnh.edu/policy/bot/v-personnel-policies/d-employee-and-labor-relations).
4.4.3 Tenure Clock Extension
Discretionary Tenure Clock Extensions are considered for circumstances that significantly impede progress toward tenure, such as a serious health condition of the faculty member; or a serious health condition of the faculty member’s child, spouse, or parent, for whom the faculty member is required to provide significant care giving; or other extraordinary circumstances beyond the control of the faculty member (see Section 13.8.4 and 17.4.3 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement at https://www.usnh.edu/policy/bot/v-personnel-policies/d-employee-and-labor-relations) and at https://www.usnh.edu/policy/psu/v-personnel-policies/c-employment). Automatic tenure clock extensions will be granted upon request of the faculty member for the birth or adoption of a child; or the death of the faculty member's spouse or child.
A faculty member requesting an automatic or discretionary tenure clock extension of the pre-tenure period must submit a Tenure Clock Extension Request Form to the Department Chair as soon as possible after the qualifying event or circumstance, but in no case, no later than September 15 of the penultimate year of the probationary period. If the Department Chair, Dean and Provost have not been notified according to the deadline, the probationary period remains unchanged. The Department Chair, in consultation with the Dean and Provost will review and approve requests for automatic and discretionary tenure clock extensions on a case-by-case basis, considering FMLA leave status as a factor in the decision.
Tenure candidates who have been granted an extension of the pre-tenure period will be reviewed under the same academic standards as a candidate who has not had an extension.
4.4.4 Post-Tenure Review
The Collective Bargaining Agreement stipulates that college “Deans, in consultation with each departmental Chairperson, will establish a procedure for regular, written assessment of tenured faculty. A copy of this assessment will be shared with the bargaining unit member within a reasonable period of time after the evaluation is complete.”
4.4.5 Joint-Tenure Track Faculty and Promotion/Tenure Procedure
The University of New Hampshire supports joint appointments, including intercollege appointments, for tenure-track faculty. For tenure-track faculty, a joint faculty appointment is one in which a faculty member’s appointment is shared between a home department and another unit: department, program, center, or institute. Information relative to Joint-Tenure Track Faculty Appointments including home department, hiring, compensation, renewal of appointment for non-tenure-track faculty, the promotion and/or tenure procedure, leaves, and research grants and contracts can be found at: https://www.unh.edu/provost/promotion-and-tenure-procedures-documents.
4.4.6 Personnel Files
Article 10 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (see https://www.usnh.edu/policy/bot/v-personnel-policies/d-employee-and-labor-relations) requires that the University maintain one personnel file for each member of the bargaining unit and stipulates what can and cannot be included in the file and who may have access to it.
4.5 Faculty Evaluation and Promotion – Clinical, Research and Extension Faculty
Procedures governing promotions from Assistant to Associate and from Associate to Full for clinical and research faculty are available at https://www.unh.edu/provost/promotion-and-tenure-procedures-documents.
Procedures for promotion of Extension faculty are governed by the Extension Educator Promotion Procedures, which are outlined at the following web site: https://extension.unh.edu/sites/default/files/migrated_unmanaged_files/Resource001512_Rep2048.pdf. Annual performance management for Extension faculty follows the coaching model for performance. Relevant forms and documents can be found at the following web site: https://extension.unh.edu/resources/category/Intranet
4.6 Graduate Faculty Membership
The Graduate Faculty is the policy-making body of the Graduate School and is responsible for maintaining and enhancing the quality of graduate education at UNH. Ex officio membership of Graduate Faculty, qualifications of graduate faculty membership, procedure for nominations, duties and responsibilities of the Graduate Faculty, meetings, description of officers, committees, role of the Graduate Council, and the duties of the standing committees can be found in the By-Laws of the Graduate Faculty at https://universitysystemnh.sharepoint.com/:b:/t/ProvostsOfficeVPAA/ERAtN0z91W9atDpxQwMKMj0Bno29VjKFPk2r8cxjVMyafQ
4.7 Research Resources and Support
The Research Development and Communications (RDC) office helps faculty and other researchers develop strategies and build skills for grant seeking; facilitates development of multidisciplinary and institution-wide proposals; coordinates UNH responses to special funding and award programs; and coordinates communication and recognition of UNH research and discovery activities to the general public, UNH, and the business community. RDC annually presents a series of workshops and seminars covering a variety of grant-seeking topics. One-on-one research development services are provided to those seeking external funding for their research, teaching, outreach and other scholarly activities. More information on RDC can be found at https://www.unh.edu/research/find-funding.
4.8 Sabbaticals
A sabbatical leave is a leave of absence for professional improvement and is intended for the mutual benefit of the University and the person granted the leave. It should facilitate productive independent study, research, and creative activity by providing a period for concentrated scholarly work. Sabbaticals are ordinarily reserved for those tenured members of the faculty who have completed advanced academic preparation. Such leave is available as a matter of privilege rather than as a right. Each application shall be decided upon its individual merit. Sabbaticals are granted by the Provost, upon recommendation by the Department Chair and Dean.
Eligibility requirements, relevant years of service in consideration for a sabbatical leave, the duration of a sabbatical for faculty on either academic or fiscal year appointments, exceptional cases, criteria for the return to active service, and additional compensation for faculty on sabbatical leaves can be found at https://www.unh.edu/provost/faculty-leaves.
Extension Educators and PAT employees are eligible for professional development leave. Such leave is a benefit of UNH employment but considered a privilege rather than a right. Leaves are granted to eligible professional staff members only when established criteria are met. For general HR guidance, see https://www.usnh.edu/policy/usy/v-personnel-policies/e-professional-development-and-training#usyve4. Extension faculty may access an application and more information on the Cooperative Extension intranet.
4.9 Teaching Resources and Support
The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) strives to promote the highest quality of student learning by providing full-time faculty, part-time faculty, and teaching graduate students with the resources they need to implement in their classrooms the best practices in college teaching. CETL’s staff consults with individual teachers, offers workshops and courses on effective teaching, collaborates with other campus units interested in program development and review, assists individuals and academic units interested in designing and implementing student learning outcomes assessment initiatives, and conducts and disseminates research on the teaching/learning process. More information about the CETL can be found at https://www.unh.edu/cetl/.
4.10 Termination of Employment
For information on tenure track faculty non-reappointments, dismissal and suspension without pay, financial exigency, programmatic displacement/termination, resignation, and retirement, please refer to the Collective Bargaining Agreement at https://www.usnh.edu/policy/bot/v-personnel-policies/d-employee-and-labor-relations
