1. Academic Freedom and Professional Ethics. The faculty accepts the guidelines on faculty rights and responsibilities adopted by the Faculty Council of the University in November 1947 and amended to date. (see The Faculty Code of University Government). The faculty also accepts the definition of academic freedom found in the Trustee Policies and Regulations Governing Academic Tenure in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, effective on June 18, 1976 and amended to date.

2. Faculty Appointment, Reappointment, Promotion and Tenure. The process for faculty appointment, reappointment, promotion, and tenure review are initiated by the dean. The dean has the ultimate authority within the school over personnel matters. The faculty have approved a detailed policies and procedures statement -- (Criteria and Procedures for Faculty Appointments, Reappointments, Promotion and Tenure, last revised January 1994). This document is reviewed periodically to assure its continuing appropriateness.

3. Working Conditions of the Faculty
   1. Salary. Faculty have a nine-month service period. Salary is paid in twelve monthly installments by check dated the last day of the month. The university does not specify a salary scale; each starting salary is a matter of individual negotiation involving the appointee and dean, based upon the current salary range per rank in the department, national salary levels for the field and rank involved, and funds available.

      Salary increases are normally made each year, subject to provisions of funds by the North Carolina General Assembly. The dean is usually informed by the provost of the amount available for salary increases in the school and then makes recommendations to the provost concerning its allocation to individual faculty members. Salary increases and recommendations are subject to review and approval by the chancellor. Salary increases normally become effective on July 1, but late action by the General Assembly may delay payroll adjustments so that increases (retroactive to July 1) may not be reflected in pay checks issued for a later month.

      The university has established a procedure for review of salary increases through an elected faculty committee to ensure that salary actions are in accord with the school's salary policy. The school's salary committee will ensure that the written salary policy is on file and is available for convenient review by the faculty.

   2. Workload. Under normal circumstances, each faculty member teaches two courses a term (fall and spring). This course load recognizes the faculty member's responsibility for writing, research and service.

   3. Summer Session Teaching. Faculty members at the assistant professor and the associate professor level may teach in the summer session when needed and earn additional income at a university-specified rate of compensation based upon a percentage of annual pay. Professors may also teach in the summer session when needed. The remuneration for professors teaching in the summer is negotiated at a lower percentage of annual salary from that used for assistant and associate professors. The maximum teaching assignment in the summer is two courses. Faculty members on nine-month service appointments may teach summer school or accept summer employment outside the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill without restriction. In the latter case, however, faculty must comply with the university's policy on conflicts of interest and commitment described in greater detail in Item 11 below.

   4. Code of Student Conduct. Faculty have specific responsibilities in the administration of the Student Judicial System. These responsibilities include informing students at the beginning of each course that the Honor Code is in effect, identifying notes or other materials that may and may not be used for exams, requiring students to sign a pledge on all written work that the Honor Code has been adhered to, avoiding, when possible, the reuse of instructor-prepared examinations unless they have been placed on reserve in the library for all students and reducing the possibility of cheating on graded work. Additionally, faculty must report any instance in which there are reasonable grounds to believe that a student has given or received unauthorized aid in graded work. A complete description of faculty responsibilities is given in the Faculty Guide to the Student Judicial System.

   5. Examinations. The University has a stated policy, approved by the faculty council, pertaining to the administration of examinations. All courses numbered 1-199 are required to have final examinations unless exempted by the dean. Examination times are published each term in the course schedule booklet. Examination dates and times cannot be changed without the prior written approval of the provost. Take-home examinations are allowed to substitute for in-class examination if they are due on the date of the scheduled final examination. The substitution of take-home examinations must be approved by the dean. Each year the Provost's Office issues a detailed statement regarding the administration of final examinations.

   6. Grading. The faculty is responsible for assigning grades. The faculty council of the university approves the policies and procedures for the administration of final exams and for the grading system. Graduate students may receive the following grades: H, P, L, F, S, IN, AB (absent from final examination). Undergraduate students may receive the following grades (A, B, C, D, F, IN, AB, PS, SP (Satisfactory Progress -- only used for two-semester Honors classes). Although pluses and minuses are used in the internal grades awarded by the School, only H, P, L, and F will appear on the official transcript. Pluses and minuses on the SILS grade record are used to determine class rank and Beta Phi Mu candidacy. The university and school policy on examinations and grading appears in a 1997 document entitled Grading. This document also includes the school's policy on incompletes.

   7. Service Responsibilities of the Faculty. In addition to teaching and research, faculty may expect to serve on one or two school committees. Faculty are also expected to attend faculty meetings, normally held once a month. They may also be elected or invited to serve on university-wide committees, administrative boards of other schools, the faculty council, or other university service commitment.

      The faculty aid in the selection of new faculty members, counsel students each semester in planning academic programs, serve as advisors for Master's papers, supervise field experience assignments, and lead Field Experience seminars. Faculty may chair and serve on Ph.D. students' program committees, comprehensive committees, and dissertation committees. Faculty may also be asked to serve as liaisons for visiting faculty members and adjuncts.

   8. Office Hours. An additional responsibility of faculty is to provide office hours for their students. Although SILS has no formal policy on the number of office hours to be offered each week, it is expected that faculty will be available to students beyond office hours consistent with their other teaching, research and service obligations. Faculty members should announce and post their office hours at the start of each teaching term.

   9. Faculty Absences. When a faculty member knows in advance that he or she will not be able to meet a class, the SILS office should be informed. Similarly the SILS office should be informed of absences of three days or longer. This is not necessary if a travel request has been filed in advance. Those absences will be reported to the office at the time the travel request is approved.

   10. Consulting Work. Consulting work must be reported to the Dean if the faculty member receives a fee for his/her work. A form (Notice of Intent to Engage in External Professional Activities for Pay must be filled out by the faculty member and filed with the dean at least one week prior to the time the work is to be performed. A detailed explanation defining the appropriate use of university resources in consulting activities is given in the chancellor's memo of October 6, 1993. The Board of Governors' Policy Statement on External Professional Activities of Faculty and Other Professional Staff and the chancellor's memorandum of July 1, 1993 define university policy on this matter.

   11. Conflicts of Interest and Commitment. The university has a Policy on Conflicts of Interest and Commitment last updated September 1, 1999. One requirement of that policy is that faculty file an annual report on activities. This report must be filed by all faculty regardless of whether conflicts of interest and commitment existed or not. Each year the Chancellor's Office distributes to each faculty member the required forms for reporting.

   12. Leaves and Course Reduction. The dean has a responsibility to examine each faculty member's workload in making decisions about assignments and granting leaves. The university does not grant sabbaticals, but off-campus assignments (leaves) may be granted by the dean at his/her discretion with approval by the provost. It is university policy that untenured faculty members will be granted a one term administrative leave sometime prior to their review for tenure.

       Other faculty members desiring a semester leave should submit a proposal to the dean at least one year prior to the semester he/she wishes to be relieved of teaching and committee assignments. Normally, leaves are granted to pursue research, but leaves may also be granted for other activities if justification is sufficient. Ordinarily, leaves are granted for one semester and only one faculty member is granted a leave or released from teaching responsibilities at any one time. However, some faculty members may have a year's leave with outside funding or a longer period of leave without pay. The dean decides on leaves based on the faculty member's project, the period of time since the faculty member's last leave, and the teaching needs of the school. While on leave (unless externally funded and/or without pay), the faculty member will receive his/her annual salary and maintain all his/her benefits. Should he/she receive a university grant (such as a Pogue fellowship) or a national fellowship (such as a Fulbright), financial arrangements will be worked out among the dean, the faculty member, and the university. The university's statement on leaves and awards appears as Appendix III-K.

   13. Requests for Curriculum Changes. It is essential that courses offered by the faculty be consistent with the description of those courses as printed in the school's Record. Special topics courses (INLS 110, 210 and INLS 310) may be offered once or twice at the discretion of the dean. After a second offering of such a course, if it is to be offered again as a INLS 110, 210 or 310, faculty approval of its offering is required for each occurrence. Faculty members wishing to add a new course to the curriculum on a continuing basis, he/she should submit a "Request for Curriculum Change Form" to the appropriate committee having responsibility for the program most affected by the proposed course. That committee reviews the proposal and brings it, accompanied with a recommendation, to the full faculty for a vote.

   14. Graduate Assistants. Faculty members are normally assigned graduate assistants, provisional on funding. Faculty members may request additional graduate assistance time from the dean for special projects. The dean will allot the hours for each faculty member based on the total amount of hours available and on the faculty member's needs.

   15. Travel Support. Faculty may request travel support to attend professional meetings or to carry out school or other professionally related duties. The SILS guidelines for travel support is being revised (5/4/00). Travel support is subject to the availability of funds.

       All faculty travel must be approved in advance by the dean. Requests should be submitted to the dean's administrative assistant at least four weeks prior to the proposed travel. Even when funds for traveling are not provided or requested, faculty members must submit a travel request form in order to be covered by insurance Travel out of the country requires special approval. Forms for this type of travel may be secured from the dean's office.

   16. Parking. Parking on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus is a limited resource and the availability of a parking space near SILS is not assured. Parking requests for the faculty are submitted to the SILS university administrative manager each spring. Parking allocations are assigned before the fall term for the following academic year. Preference for parking slots is usually based on longevity of service with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Occasionally special needs may alter normal preference practice.

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       May 4, 2000.