Chapter 1: Governance Documents

• 1.0 Governance Documents
• 2.0 Pattern of Administration
• 2.0.1 Policy Requirements
• 2.0.2 Departments and Schools (hereafter, TIUs) and Colleges
• 2.0.3 Regional Campuses
• 2.0.4 Required POA Outlines

• 3.0 Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure Document
• 3.0.1 Policy Requirements
• 3.0.2 Departments and Schools and Colleges
• 3.0.3 Regional Campuses
• 3.0.4 Required APT Outlines
• 4.0 Updating obsolete material in TIU governance documents

3.0 Appointments, Promotion, and Tenure Document

3.0.1 Policy Requirements
Added 09/25

The following policy statements must appear in all APT documents. The language appropriate to each of the requirements below is included in the guideline APT documents.

3.0.1.1 An APT must contain information about emeritus faculty status, as described in Faculty Rule 3335-5-36. Full-time tenure-track, clinical/teaching/professional practice, research, or associated faculty may request emeritus status upon retirement or resignation at the age of sixty or older with ten or more years of service or at any age with twenty-five or more years of service. An APT must also state that if the faculty member requesting emeritus status has in the ten years prior to the application engaged in serious dishonorable conduct in violation of law, rule, or policy and/or caused harm to the university’s reputation or is retiring pending a procedure according to Faculty Rule 3335-05-04, emeritus status will not be considered.

3.0.1.2 An APT must state that search procedures will entail substantial faculty involvement and be consistent with the OAA Policy on Faculty Recruitment and Selection. It must also state that appointments will be made consistent with the Faculty Appointments Policy.

3.0.1.3 An APT must state that a national search is required to ensure a pool of highly qualified candidates for all compensated faculty positions. Exceptions to this policy must be approved by the Office of Academic Affairs in advance. See Chapter 5, Section 4 for information on waivers of a national search.  Search procedures must entail substantial faculty involvement and be consistent with the OAA Policy on Faculty Recruitment and Selection.

3.0.1.4 An APT must describe the process for annual review as set forth in the Policy on Faculty Annual Review, Post-Tenure Review, and Reappointment. 

3.0.1.4.1 Defining comprehensive and standardized metrics for annual reviews Each unit’s APT document must include definitions for the rating scale categories that will be used in their annual reviews. At a minimum, the APT must include ratings and definitions for the following categories: “exceeds expectations,” “meets expectations,” and “does not meet expectations.” Should a unit wish to include additional rating categories (e.g., “above expectations”), these must be defined. Units may add no more than two additional rating categories. Units may use criteria similar to those listed for appointment and promotion when defining the rating categories. APT documents must articulate that the expected standard for faculty performance is “meets expectations”.

In addition to defining the rating categories, each unit must describe in its APT document what comprehensive and standardized metrics will be used to assess faculty performance in the unit. These metrics must describe how faculty work will be evaluated consistently within the unit and must align with the required rating categories. Units are strongly encouraged to develop a rubric for faculty evaluation that outlines each rating category, along with the specific criteria used to determine the appropriate rating for a faculty member’s work during the evaluation year. Additionally, these metrics should be linked to appointment, promotion, and reappointment criteria whenever possible. Finally, units may include both quantitative and qualitative criteria. 

3.0.1.4.2 Defining the review period and unit-level review completion period

Units must specify in their APT document the review period for annual reviews (e.g., calendar year, fiscal year) as well as the date by which all unit-level reviews must be completed. By policy, annual reviews must be completed by the end of the term following the review period (e.g., end of spring semester for calendar year review periods, end of autumn semester for fiscal year review periods). As defined in the Faculty Annual Review, Post-Tenure Review, and Reappointment policy, the annual unit-level review is complete when the following have occurred:

1. The faculty member’s annual review materials have been reviewed by the TIU head or designee;
2. The completed annual review template is shared with the faculty member;
3. The faculty member is given an opportunity to provide a response to the evaluation in writing and/or in a face-to-face discussion with the TIU head or designee (or associate dean in colleges without departments or the dean/director at regional campuses);
4. The TIU head or designee (or associate dean in colleges without departments or the dean/director at regional campuses) is given an opportunity to respond to any written comments from and/or face-to-face discussion with the faculty member; and
5. The evaluation and any comments, as relevant, are sent to the dean.
    

As indicated in the policy, following the completion of the review at the unit level, there are additional steps to complete, including the right of a faculty member to file an appeal according to the procedures outlined there. These additional steps occur following the completion of the unit-level steps 1-5 above. 

3.0.1.5 An APT must clearly state the criteria for salary increases and any other performance-based rewards in accordance with the Policy on Faculty Compensation.

3.0.2 Departments and Schools and Colleges

Faculty Rule 3335-6-02 and Faculty Rule 3335-3-35 require every department and school to have an APT document describing the criteria and procedures for making recommendations regarding the appointment, promotion, tenure, and compensation of faculty. The creation or revision of the department/school APT requires broad faculty consultation with all voting members of the TIU and must be approved by the dean of the college and the executive vice president and provost.

Faculty Rule 3335-6-02 likewise requires each college to have an APT document. The Rule also requires that the college APT be drawn up through broad faculty consultation and must be approved by the executive vice president and provost, or designee.

OAA expects newly appointed or reappointed TIU heads and deans to submit a new or reaffirmed APT to OAA no later than one year from the date they are appointed or reappointed. TIU-level APTs must be approved by the relevant college office before submission to OAA. Time extensions for submission can only be authorized by OAA and deans need to make the request on behalf of their college or TIU.

If a TIU head or dean wishes to reaffirm the APT without amendment, it must be current with university rules and policies. Specific sections of the document can be revised as the need arises. For TIUs, such revisions must be approved by both the dean of the college and OAA. The current APT remains in effect until a revised or reaffirmed one is approved by OAA. The senior vice provost for leadership and external engagement encourages TIU heads and deans to submit drafts of APTs to OAA for consultation and advice prior to formal submission of their document.

TIUs are responsible for providing a copy (or a link to access the document online) of the current APT document to tenure-track, clinical/teaching/professional practice, and research faculty with the letter of offer. 

3.0.3 Regional Campuses

Although not stipulated in Faculty Rule 3335-3-29.1, which details the responsibilities of a regional campus dean and director, OAA requires regional campuses to develop an APT in consultation with their campus faculty.

3.0.4 Required APT Outlines

The required outline for the APT for departments and schools is available in the TIU APT guideline document. 

The required outline for the APT for colleges with TIUs is available in the college with TIUs APT guideline document. 

The required outline for the APT for colleges that are TIUs is available in the college as TIU APT guideline document.

The required outline for the APT for regional campuses is available in the regional campus APT guideline document.

Directions about individual components of the relevant APT are provided in an instruction sheet that precedes each guideline document. 

4.0 Updating obsolete material in TIU governance documents

All university titles, rules, policies, offices, and entities must be checked for accuracy with current language and requirements during the required governance document review in the first year of a TIU head’s or dean’s appointment or reappointment. Units are asked to pay special attention to Faculty Rule 3335-7-02, where clinical/teaching/professional practice titles recently have been updated. Units are also asked to pay special attention to the new Faculty Workload Guideline, implemented in May 2024 and updated in Autumn 2025, in reviewing that section of their POA. 

Many POA and APT documents that are submitted for approval contain obsolete material. Common examples of such material are summarized below so that units may make the needed corrections before forwarding their documents for review.

All University Faculty Rules and university policies are available on university websites (linked with each reference). It is inadvisable for governance documents to quote these extensively as such passages will not reflect later revisions to the material at the website. In place of quoted material, the address of the website should be embedded in the relevant text.

For matters relating to Employee and Labor Relations, please contact OHR, Employee and Labor Relations, (614) 247-6947.

Faculty Rule 3335-3-29 has been revised to require that colleges have a Pattern of Administration with specified content.

Faculty Rule 3335-5-19 has been revised. “Track” refers only to tenure-track faculty.

Faculty Rule 3335-5-19 has been revised. Clinical associated appointments are now called “clinical practice faculty.”

Faculty Rule 3335-5-19 has been revised allowing the tenure-track faculty (and clinical/teaching/professional practice and/or research faculty with TIU voting rights) to enfranchise associated faculty, allowing the associated faculty to participate in college or academic unit governance.

Faculty Rule 3335-7 has been revised to change the titles of clinical faculty to clinical, teaching, or professional practice faculty. Units must write specific criteria to match the title(s) selected by the units.

Faculty Rule 3335-7-03 has been revised. Unless an exception is approved by the University Senate and the Board of Trustees, clinical/teaching/professional practice faculty may comprise no more than forty percent of the total tenure-track, clinical/teaching/professional practice, and research faculty (as defined in Rule 3335-5-19 of the Administrative Code) in each of the colleges of the health sciences and no more than twenty percent of the tenure-track, clinical/teaching/professional practice, and research faculty in all other colleges. In all tenure-initiating units not in health sciences, the number of clinical/teaching/professional practice faculty members must be fewer than the number of tenure-track faculty members in each unit. 

The Faculty Recruitment and Selection Policy has been revised removing permanent residency within the U.S. as a requirement to obtain tenure at the university and to adhere to the university-wide faculty recruitment and selection process found within the Strategic Hiring Initiative for Faculty Talent (“SHIFT”) framework. 

The Faculty Annual Review, Post-Tenure Review, and Reappointment policy has been revised to update the requirements for annual review. It now includes the required levels of review by the chair, dean, and provost, describes the required ratings, and outlines the post-tenure review process (University Faculty Rule 3335-5-04.5).