A term appointment is a temporary one-year appointment to the full time faculty to fill a vacant position or substitute for a faculty member on sabbatical leave or other leave or to fill a vacancy. A faculty member on a term appointment has the same duties and benefits as any other full time faculty member. They are a member of the full time faculty union and pay dues to that union.
RISD adjunct faculty who serve on term appointments are credited with 9 teaching units towards their sabbatical accrual. By terms in the Part-time Faculty Bargaining Agreement (Article VII.G), their salaries are determined by a conversion of their current teaching unit accrual to full-time equivalent years of service and matching those to salary bands in the Full-time Faculty Bargaining Agreement.
If there is a continuing vacancy and the department wants to hire the same faculty member for a second consecutive year, the first step is to get approval of the continuation from the Provost. Then the candidate must prepare a dossier and be reviewed by the CFA before the second term appointment can be given. Please visit the page on the Committee on Faculty Appointments to see the deadlines for the current year.
How is a term appointment approved in principle?
Step one: A department head makes a request based on demonstrable need which may include but is not necessarily confined to full-time faculty vacancies/sabbatical/enrollment explosions, unsupportable student to advisor ratios →
Step two: Division Dean recommends to Provost in writing, copying the Director, Academic Budgets, Planning, and Analysis/Strategy and the Director of Academic Administration. Ideally this happens during the budget proposal process and not later. However, people resign, get grants, ask for leaves of absence and enrollment bumps become evident in the spring and so some requests come in off cycle. →
Step three: Provost rejects or approves the term appointment in principle in writing, copying the Director, Academic Budgets, Planning, and Analysis/Strategy and the Director of Academic Administration so that planning documents and budget are updated.
NOTE: In order to prepare for the budget development season Academic Affairs projects/confirms need and posts projections to the shared google doc “New faculty + terms + searches” which contains new hire info back to 2002/03 and term info back to 2010/11
How are approved terms appointments filled?
Step one: Identify who is to be hired. A term can be an opportunity to develop the use of a new technology or introduce a new specialty (even temporarily) into a department. Likewise, it is an opportunity to introduce diversity into a department.
· Some departments tap high-performing adjunct faculty
· Some departments run mini searches to cast a wider net by advertising, sending a shout out through professional networks/newsletters, calling peer institutions for recommendations of recent graduates
· Departments may also post a job on HR’s job website
If you would like to pursue either of the latter two methods (highly recommended) contact the Dean of Faculty to strategize. Mini searches do not get the full support that permanent position searches receive, neither are they funded by Academic Affairs but the search committee can use the on-line tools and communication templates we use for full searches.
Step two: The department head recommends to the Dean the person identified to fill a term appointment and provides the person’s cv, and should describe the method that was used to identify the candidate. If a mini search was run, the recommendation should be accompanied with a report from the search.
Step three: Dean recommends the candidate to the Provost and Dean of Faculty.
Who negotiates with the term appointment?
If the Provost approves your recommended term appointment and the term is new to RISD the Dean of Faculty will be in contact to discuss salary and other benefits with the candidate. If the Provost approves your recommended term appointment and the term is a RISD adjunct faculty member the salary is determined by language in both FTFA and PTFA contracts (salary is based on a conversion of teaching unit accrual to full time equivalent years of service and matched to the salary bands in the FTFA contract.)
How are they contracted?
The Director of Academic Administration prepares the appointment letter as per the negotiations above for new to RISD term appointments and as per the FTFA and PTFA contracts for RISD adjuncts and is in contact with the candidate regarding the essentials of employment. The Director will notify the department and division once a candidate has signed and returned their contract. The Director will ask the department to assign the term to their full workload and they will get an email address created for the term appointment.
Term appointments are included in Academic Affairs hosted orientation and social events for new full-time faculty. Departments and divisions should orient the term to department and divisional culture, curriculum, tools, safety procedures, budget considerations, etc.
What are a term appointment’s obligations?
A full course load as determined by the FTFA Bargaining Agreement
Advising students
Serving on a college committee and performing other types of department and college service
To be professionally active
In short, a term functions as a full-time faculty member for the life of their appointment.
Can we keep the term appointment on for another year?
The department must demonstrate continued need during the operating budget request process for an extension of the term and also ask the Dean for support for the renewal of the person’s contract. The Dean makes a recommendation to the Provost and the Provost once again approves the term but this time in principle. For those that are approved in budget principle: the Director of Academic Administration will inform the term of the reappointment process and Spring deadlines and will provide a link to a secure evaluation processes folder. The term will must complete an Appendix B and upload it, their current cv and syllabi for all courses taught during the current year to the evaluation folder created for them. Their department head will complete an Appendix C1 form, meet with them to discuss it and upload it to their evaluation process folder. The Committee on Faculty Appointments reviews the materials and makes a recommendation to the Provost for or against reappointment. If the term is renewed they are given a reappointment letter and receive the raise negotiated for all full-time faculty for the next year.