Faculty Development and Scholarship Policy
The purpose of the proposal and motion is to strengthen the Law School’s support for scholarship in view of the importance of scholarship to the teaching mission, the overall mission of the Law School, the health and standing of the Law School, and the diverse faculty who serve the school. Periodic course releases are proposed for substantial scholarly projects and for substantial course development work, subject to core curricular needs. In addition to these periodic renewal/relief measures, faculty with meritorious projects may apply for further course relief in order to sustain intense scholarly activity, subject to core curricular needs. The periodic releases are anticipated to be regularly available to faculty who qualify while the additional releases are designed for faculty during periods of sustained, intense scholarship activity. The dean’s discretion to release faculty for health, family, administrative, or any other reasons within the compass of his or her authority, would remain unchanged upon approval of this motion.
Motion
1. The dean of the Law School shall appoint a member of the faculty to be either the associate dean or coordinator for faculty development (FD). The decision about administrative format shall rest with the dean. The FD’s responsibilities shall include the administration of the program described below as well as an appropriate mentoring program to assist junior faculty in reaching their potential as teachers and scholars.
2. Faculty shall be entitled to apply for one course release every three years in order to accomplish a substantial scholarly project or to develop a new course. The applicant will submit a written proposal to the FD explaining the project and the expected publication or course to be taught, including the time at which the scholarship project is expected to be completed or the semester in which the new course is expected to be taught. The timing of such releases, in the event of an approved application, shall be determined by the FD in consultation with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and the faculty member upon his or her request for release time, subject to core curricular needs.
- For each course release granted, the faculty member shall submit to the FD a written follow up report within a year of the date of the beginning of the semester in which the release time was granted that details the work accomplished in fulfillment of the project. Future eligibility for triennial course releases and for the program described in 3) infra requires a satisfactory account of the use to which release time has been put. The FD shall make a written annual report to the dean on releases granted, including assessment of the follow up reports of faculty who had release time.
- Untenured faculty who have limited prior teaching experience shall be entitled to one course release in their first two years of teaching. All untenured faculty who serve a normal or full probationary term shall be entitled to a second course release to facilitate scholarly work prior to tenure review during the probationary period. Untenured faculty releases for teaching and scholarly development, unlike those available to tenured faculty, are designed to meet general needs of junior faculty and require no written proposal. In the case of untenured faculty whose probationary service is of shorter duration, it will be within the discretion of the FD to determine whether one or both releases are appropriate.
3. Faculty engaged in intense scholarship activity may apply for additional release time in accordance with the procedure in 2). The FD will make a recommendation on the merits to the dean, who will decide whether to grant release based on the merits, subject to core curricular needs.
APPROVED BY THE FACULTY FEBRUARY 5, 2002
