COE Appointment & Reappointment Process

College of Education
Graduate Faculty Appointment and Reappointment Process
Approved July 29, 2011

All faculty members in the College of Education will receive a hard copy or the URL of the COE website of the college procedures and key deadlines for appointment to Graduate Faculty. It will be the responsibility of the Department Head to give new faculty members this information. At the time department heads notify faculty members of their upcoming third year review, promotion review, or post tenure review, they will also notify the faculty members of the college procedures for appointment or reappointment to Graduate Faculty. Please read the following sections for more information on the appointment or reappointment process for the different Graduate faculty groups and the appeals process.

New Tenure Track Faculty

Typically, new tenure track faculty in the College of Education will be appointed to the Graduate Faculty at the time of hire.

  1. After the departmental faculty have voted on the appointment and tenure, if that will be offered at the time of hire, the departmental Graduate Faculty will vote on appointment to the Graduate Faculty.
  2. Voting will be done based on the candidate’s vita and with the understanding that the candidate will be teaching advanced graduate courses and supervising the research of graduate students.
  3. The Department Head will communicate to the Dean of the College of Education in a letter the anticipated starting date of the new faculty member, the vote for Graduate Faculty appointment, and a rationale for the appointment. The Department Head will attach a copy of the vita.
  4. These materials will be reviewed by the Dean or his/her designee, who, if s/he is in agreement with the recommendation, will forward the materials to the Dean of the Graduate School.
  5. The Dean of the Graduate School will review the college’s recommendation.
  6. Assuming that the recommended faculty member meets university-wide qualifications, the Dean of the Graduate School will make a recommendation to the President who will make the final appointment decision.

Retired and Career Track Faculty

All retired faculty regardless of their Graduate Faculty status at the time of retirement and career track faculty members who will have responsibilities for teaching advanced graduate courses (8000 & 9000 level) and/or who will be supervising doctoral students’ research are eligible for appointment to Graduate Faculty.

  1. If these faculty members have a terminal degree, then each will prepare a document that summarizes his/her scholarly competence, intellectual leadership and effective experience with graduate education. A current curriculum vita will be attached to this summary document and submitted to the Department Head.
  2. The Department Head will make these materials available to the departmental Graduate Faculty who will then vote on the appointment to Graduate Faculty.
  3. The Department Head will write a letter to the Dean communicating the vote of the departmental Graduate Faculty.
  4. These materials will be reviewed by the Dean or his/her designee, who, if s/he is in agreement with the recommendation, will forward the materials to the Dean of the Graduate School.
  5. The Dean of the Graduate School will review the college’s recommendation.
  6. Assuming that the recommended faculty member meets university-wide qualifications, the Dean of the Graduate School will make a recommendation to the President who will make the final appointment decision.

Adjunct Faculty

Adjunct faculty members who wish to supervise doctoral students’ research are eligible for appointment to Graduate Faculty.

  1. The adjunct faculty member will prepare a document that summarizes his/her scholarly competence, intellectual leadership, and effective experience with graduate education. A current curriculum vita will be attached to this summary document and submitted to the Department Head.
  2. The Department Head will make these materials available to the departmental Graduate Faculty who will then vote on the appointment to Graduate Faculty.
  3. The Department Head will write a letter to the Dean communicating the vote of the departmental Graduate Faculty.
  4. These materials will be reviewed by the Dean or his/her designee, who, if s/he is in agreement with the recommendation, will forward the materials to the Dean of the Graduate School.
  5.  The Dean of the Graduate School will review the college’s recommendation.
  6.  Assuming that the recommended faculty member meets university-wide qualifications, the Dean of the Graduate School will make a recommendation to the President who will make the final appointment decision.

Reappointment of adjunct faculty to Graduate Faculty will be reviewed by the departmental Graduate Faculty every three years when continuation as adjunct faculty is considered.

  1. The faculty member will prepare a document that summarizes his/her scholarly competence, intellectual leadership, and effective experience with graduate education. A current curriculum vita will be attached to this summary document and submitted to the Department Head.
  2. The Department Head will make these materials available to the departmental Graduate Faculty who will then vote on the appointment to Graduate Faculty.
  3. The Department Head will write a letter to the Dean communicating the vote of the departmental Graduate Faculty.
  4. These materials will be reviewed by the Dean or his/her designee, who, if s/he is in agreement with the recommendation, will forward the materials to the Dean of the Graduate School.
  5. The Dean of the Graduate School will review the college’s recommendation.
  6. Assuming that the recommended faculty member meets university-wide qualifications, the Dean of the Graduate School will make a recommendation to the President who will make the final appointment decision.

Reappointment to Graduate Faculty

Prior to promotion and assuming a tenure track or career track faculty member was appointed at the time of hire, then during third year review, departmental Graduate Faculty will vote on the continuation on Graduate Faculty and provide feedback to the faculty member on his/her scholarly activities that support maintaining Graduate Faculty membership until promotion. It is expected that these faculty members will be promoted within seven years of being hired at the University of Georgia. If career track faculty members do not go up for promotion within seven years of being hired, and their responsibilities require Graduate Faculty appointment, then they must seek reappointment before the end of the seventh year of employment and every five years thereafter.

  1. Assistant Professors and contract renewable faculty will include a statement in support of their reappointment to Graduate Faculty in the promotion materials prepared for departmental faculty.
  2.  At the time that departmental faculty vote on promotion and/or tenure, the departmental Graduate Faculty will take a vote for continuation on Graduate Faculty.
  3. This vote for continuation on Graduate Faculty will be reported in a letter drafted by the Department Head to the Dean of the College of Education or his/her designee, who will review the recommendation.
  4. The Dean of the College of Education or his/her designee will transmit the recommendation to the Dean of the Graduate School.
  5.  The Dean of the Graduate School will review the college’s recommendation.
  6. Assuming that the recommended faculty member meets university-wide qualifications, the Dean of the Graduate School will make a recommendation for reappointment to the President who will make the final appointment decisions.

Reappointment/continuation for tenured faculty will be part of every five-year Post Tenure Review (PTR) process. Reappointment/continuation for retired and career track faculty will be reviewed at five year intervals using the same procedures but the Department Head will take the materials for retired/rehired faculty and career track faculty directly to the departmental Graduate Faculty.

  1. The faculty member will include 1-3 paragraphs in their PTR materials providing evidence of scholarly competence, intellectual leadership, and effective experience with graduate education.
  2.  In their review letter for PTR, the department PTR Committee will include a recommendation that the faculty member should/should not be reappointed to Graduate Faculty.
  3. The Department Head will take that recommendation to the Graduate Faculty of the department. If the Department Head is the one being considered, either the Graduate Coordinator or a program coordinator will convene the departmental Graduate Faculty for the vote.
  4. The departmental Graduate Faculty will vote on the reappointment to Graduate Faculty.
  5. This vote for continuation on Graduate Faculty will be reported in a letter drafted by the Department Head to the Dean of the College of Education or his/her designee, who will review the recommendation. If the Department Head is the one being considered, either the Graduate Coordinator or a program coordinator will write the letter to the Dean communicating the vote.
  6. The Dean of the College of Education or his/her designee will transmit the recommendation to the Dean of the Graduate School.
  7. The Dean of the Graduate School will review the college’s recommendation.
  8.  Assuming that the recommended faculty member meets university-wide qualifications, the Dean of the Graduate School will make a recommendation for reappointment to the President who will make the final appointment decisions.

Appeals

If an applicant does not concur with the committee’s recommendation or the vote of the departmental Graduate Faculty, then the applicant or Department Head may make a written request for reconsideration to the Dean.

  1. The reconsideration must specify the basis for the reconsideration (e.g., introduction of new information, or explanation of information in the original application).
  2. The Dean will appoint a COE appeals committee consisting of five members from the Graduate Faculty.
  3. The COE appeals committee will meet within 15 business days of receipt of the appeal.
  4. A faculty member who has voted with the majority will write the appeal committee’s recommendation letter, reporting the numeric vote and outlining the substance of the discussion.
  5. This recommendation letter will be delivered to the dean within 10 business days of the committee’s vote.
  6. The dean will have 10 business days to consider the appeal.
  7.  The dean shall then notify the candidate in writing of the final decision. The Dean is the final level of approval within the COE.
  8. The Dean will convey the renewal status of each faculty member reviewed to the Graduate School.
  9. If an applicant does not concur with the Dean’s decision, an appeal beyond the college should be directed in writing to the Dean of the Graduate School.
  10. An appeal should be made within two weeks of the receipt of the letter of denial from the Dean of the College.
  11. The Dean of the Graduate School will forward all appeals to the Appointment and Reappointment Committee of the Graduate Council.

Removal of an Individual from the Graduate Faculty

A member of the Graduate Faculty may have their graduate faculty status removed by the Dean of the College of Education, the Dean of the Graduate School, the Provost, or the President before the end of their current appointment or reappointment period. As stated in the Graduate School Policies “Graduate faculty status may be removed when a faculty member fails to fulfill the responsibilities of a member of the Graduate Faculty to teach graduate student(s) effectively, in a civil, professionally appropriate manner, to do scholarly research and creative work of high quality, and to direct the research of graduate student(s) so that they progress toward graduation in a timely manner appropriate to the field. Failure to teach graduate students effectively and/or to direct the research of graduate student(s) also includes, but is not limited to, abuse of power, intimidation and harassment, and violation of work place violence policies.” See the Graduate School policy for more specific information (www.uga.edu/faculty/status.html).