Queens College
Faculty Handbook
Office of the Provost - Draft Version 2005 August 3
Departments are welcome to borrow from or adapt this manual.
1) Offices and Services at Queens College
a) Human Resources and Payroll
d) Internet, Email, Mail, and Telephone
f) Classroom Computer and Media Services
a) Preparing for the Start of the Semester
g) Student Attendance and Withdrawal
b) Academic Integrity and Plagiarism
d) Multiple Position Reporting
e) Research: Protection for Human and Animal Subjects
5) Professional Evaluation of Full-Time Faculty
a) Annual Evaluations and Teaching Observations.
c) Personnel Files – Personal and Administration
This manual attempts to address some of the questions faculty members face by providing information and clarification on some college practices and procedures. If other questions arise please consult your department chair in the first instance.
This document does not supersede City University Bylaws or University and College policies, the PSC-CUNY collective bargaining agreement, and applicable law, nor grant rights or entitlements in any manner not provided by the above-cited documents.
The Human Resources Office (Kiely Hall; x 4455; Maxine Rothenberg, Director) provides important information on health benefits, retirement plans, leave policies, and other employee benefits. You can pick up paychecks at the Bursar’s Office in Jefferson Hall on alternate Thursdays after 10:00 a.m., or you can ask the Payroll Office (x5765) to have them mailed to your home or electronically deposited to your bank account. (For full-time faculty, this direct deposit does not require a waiting period.)
The department staff will provide you with a personnel packet containing many forms to be filled out in order to place you on the Queens College payroll. You will need to provide materials, including proof of your highest degree and proof of citizenship or eligibility to work in the United States. Other supporting documentation may also needed. Any originals will be returned to you after copies are made. Once the paperwork is processed, you will be able to get a Queens identification card. It is important to obtain this card as soon as possible as it is needed for many services at the college. For weekend instructors, arrangements have been made with Security to enable you to pick up your card at the Security gate during the first two weekends.
The Queens College libraries, Rosenthal, Art, and Music, encourage you to take advantage of their educational services, including tours, class integrated library instruction, and online and traditional library resources. These services are largely available to adjuncts too. Books may be checked out with a Queens or other CUNY college ID card. Contact information for subject librarians is under “About the Libraries. ”Use the “Library” link on the Queens College home page to access many college and university library services, instructional and lending services, and current hours. To access college and university on-line resources while off campus, you will need to set up a “proxy server” on your off-campus computer. Read the links “How do I?” à “Access resources off campus.” You can also insert links (URLs) to articles in those resources into the electronic course reserves system and into Blackboard.
You may find it necessary to provide students with access to materials such as books and videos. In order that many students can use them, these materials should be placed on reserve in the library where they can be used for limited periods of time. The “E-Reserves” tab on the Library homepage provides information on e-reserve or traditional paper/book-based library reserve holdings. Needed forms are on the “E-Forms” tab. You can manage your own e-reserves or submit all materials to the reserve processing unit on the main (3rd) floor of the Rosenthal Library. Items you can place on reserve include personal copies of books or other materials, books or videos in the library’s collection (provide call numbers), photocopies of or individual database URL’s of journal articles. The department and the college are not responsible for the loss of any reserve room materials. It may take several days to make items available, so do not wait until the last minute. Be sure students know your name, the course, and the title of materials on reserve so they can be located.
The Provost is the chief academic officer of the college. Although as a faculty member your primary contacts are with your chair and your dean, the provost’s office (Kiely Hall Room 1104; x 5900) can also be helpful in some situations. The provost website, which can be reached from the College home page at www.qc.cuny.edu, (click on the Faculty & Staff tab) provides useful information on academic issues, curriculum, and faculty concerns, as well as copies of some forms you may need.
Virtually all buildings on campus have wireless Internet service (WiFi). The CUNY home page is www.cuny.edu. The college’s home page is www.qc.cuny.edu and most other CUNY colleges are www.NameofCollege.cuny.edu. The provost’s website, which can be reached by clicking on Faculty & Staff on the college’s page, or directly at qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/provost, provides some additional information on college academic procedures. Assistance with computer-related problems can be obtained from the Faculty/Staff Help Desk (x 4444) run by the Office of Converging Technology (www.qc.cuny.edu/OCT/). Be sure to obtain a computer account for technology services including email, access to Blackboard, the University’s course management system, and off-campus access to online library resources.
Most faculty and staff at the College can be reached by the generic email alias firstname_lastname@qc.edu; this is changing to firstname.lastname@qc.cuny.edu as the college changes to a Lotus Notes email system. If you have another address, such as Yahoo mail, to which you’d like to have email forwarded, call the Help Desk, or, if you have Lotus Notes email, you can set forwarding yourself through an option. Be sure to check your email often, as many official College communications will reach you via this medium. At present, adjuncts are not provided with college email addresses, but this situation is expected to change. Students can be reached through BlackBoard, the University’s course management system, which provides lists of student email addresses. Students tend to change email addresses often, so tell your students they can update their email addresses through a link on the registrar’s home page (www.qc.cuny.edu/registrar).
Mail is typically delivered daily to departments or to a central location in your building. Confirm with your department that the mailroom has been informed that you exist, and check about how mail should be addressed to you. Large packages are usually delivered to departments a few times a week. If you would like to receive a package immediately, go to the mailroom (Dining Hall 010; x 3043) and sign for it. Call the mailroom if you’re expecting a package and it hasn’t arrived in a reasonable length of time.
Faculty offices have private phone lines with voicemail. College phone numbers have the format 718 997 XXXX. From an on-campus phone, other campus phones can be reached by dialing the last four digits. For off-campus calls, first dial 9 to get an outside line, and then 1 and the full number – including area code, which is required even if you’re calling numbers in the 718 area code. Check with your department about procedures for long distance calls. Most departments have a fax machine or access to one nearby.
The University’s course management system, Blackboard, enables you to put course materials on the web. Access can be restricted to students registered in your course, simplifying copyright issues. You can also put practice exams on line, monitor scores students receive on these exams, and put students' grades on line. Using Blackboard, you can email all your students at once, establish discussion threads on which you and your students can continuously post email on particular topics, and have real-time discussions with students. You can also establish groups within your course and allow each to have its own private space to share email and files. More information can be obtained from the Assistant to the Provost for Educational Technology, Dr. Ken Lord, at qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/edtech. Your QC account information (username and password) will also provide you access to Blackboard. Weekend College faculty and students can receive Blackboard help on a one to one and group basis; contact the WC Director.
Throughout the campus there are a number of instructional computer labs which can be requested for classes. In addition, many classrooms are already fully equipped for multimedia presentations including digital projection, Smartboard, Internet connection, and DVD and VHS players, and others are being upgraded in an ongoing effort to keep up with advancing technology. The Media Services division of OCT (Daphne Silas, Director; x 5950) will supply other instructional and research needs such as audiovisual equipment. It is often necessary for instructors to pick up requested equipment from Media Services before their class and return it there afterwards. Students may also pick up equipment, but proper signatures are required first. Instructors who teach evening sections, including Friday evenings, may need to make special arrangements for overnight storage of equipment in the department office or other location.
Both the Dining Hall and the Student Union have a range of cafeteria-style food vendors. In the Dining Hall, the new Faculty/Staff Dining Room, formerly known as the BYOL Room, serves restaurant-quality food and has waiter service. The library and the Science Building have cafés serving Starbucks coffee and an assortment of beverages, pre-packaged sandwiches, snacks and salads. There are also vending machines distributed about the campus. Weekend College provides free coffee and refreshments for all faculty in their lounge in Powdermaker 202 while classes are in session.
As a full-time faculty member, to obtain keys to your office, get a letter from your department stating your name and payroll title and bring it to Campus Security in Jefferson Hall 204; x 4443. Your department will probably already have submitted a request form, so your keys should be waiting for you.
In some departments adjunct faculty have office space, usually shared with other adjunct faculty. Please make every effort to be considerate of your co-tenants. Ask the department for the arrangements that have been made to give you access to a telephone and a computer at which you can receive e-mail. If you are teaching in Weekend College and cannot access your department offices, contact the Director of Weekend College to see if other space can be provided.
To park on campus you need to buy a parking decal (which you glue to your rear-view mirror) or permit (which you can move from car to car) at Security. Bring a check and a filled-out Faculty/Staff Parking Application.
Most campus buildings are locked at night and weekends and holidays. To obtain access when your building is locked, go to the Main Gate on Kissena Blvd. with your Queens College ID card. You’ll probably be asked to sign in.
Some of the many events on campus are listed in the on-line Events Calendar available via the pull-down Quick Links menu on the College home page (www.qc.edu). There are also telephone hotlines for the Arts (x ARTS); Music (x 3804); Evening Readings (x 4646); and Sports (x 2770). Some events are also publicized in FYI, the weekly faculty/staff newsletter posted weekly on the website, posters on campus, and flyers delivered to your mailbox.
The Godwin-Ternbach Museum in Klapper Hall and the Art Center on the 6th floor of Rosenthal Library offer various art exhibits.
Membership in the Queens College athletic program and use of its facilities (gym, weight room, pool) is available for a small fee with a college ID card. Further information is available in Fitzgerald Hall Room 216 (x 2777).
Your department copier should only be used for small jobs, such as class quizzes, initial copies for reserve use, etc. Class syllabi and exams should be prepared far enough in advance to be sent to Reprographics. Never wait until the day you are giving an exam to make copies; the department machine, like any equipment, can break down.
Adjunct faculty members at Queens may identify themselves as such when engaged in scholarly activities. However, be sure to use your exact title (e.g., adjunct instructor or adjunct assistant professor) when you communicate with editors, publishers, conference organizers, or the media. While those outside the academy may be less attentive to the nuances of academic rank than those inside, you are expected to take all reasonable steps to prevent errors and to correct them when they occur.
The beginning of the term is always hectic. You can make things run more smoothly if you take certain steps well in advance, including the following:
o Select books for your course and have the bookstore order them so they’ll be available for your students to purchase before classes begin.
o Provide a reserve list to the Library so your students will have access to those materials when the semester begins.
o Prepare a course syllabus and arrange with your department to have it copied early enough (allow at least two weeks) so you can distribute at your first class.
o If you’re using Blackboard, the University’s course management system, familiarize yourself with it and upload course materials to it before classes begin. This will encourage your students to rely on the system as a source of information. Posting class information such as your syllabus on Blackboard avoids the need to have copies made and facilitates updating.
To order books you expect your students to purchase, use a book order form which your department will give you. Retain a copy for your records. Your department will also retain a copy, and will forward the original to the bookstore. It may take several weeks to fill an order (perhaps less for popular introductory textbooks). If necessary, order the first book you expect to use during the semester immediately and then submit a supplemental order for any other book(s) later. Before the beginning of the semester, check with the bookstore to see if the books have arrived.
Coursepacks have become a popular and useful teaching tool. They allow an instructor to select appropriate materials for a course and make them available to students in a convenient package. If a coursepack contains copyrighted material, considerable lead time—usually at least six weeks —may be necessary for the coursepack company to secure permission to reproduce material. If you wish to assemble a coursepack, ask your chair about available vendors. Vendors will usually supply a desk copy for the instructor and an additional copy for library reserve.
The Academic Calendar is on the Registrar’s website, which also provides tables of course offerings in each program for the current semester and other information about registration and deadlines, which you and your students will find useful. The Faculty Calendar provides an overview by semester. Occasionally, to make up for days lost to holidays, classes will follow the schedule for another day of the week. For example, on one particular Tuesday, classes might meet according to Thursday’s schedule, so if you have a Thursday class you would meet it that Tuesday. To facilitate student club meetings, etc, on this commuter campus, there are certain “free hours” during which no classes are held. These are currently Monday and Wednesday from 12:15 to 1:30. The semester has fifteen weeks, and as mentioned you should be available all fifteen weeks, including the last week during which final examinations are given. Weekend College classes may vary; check both the registrar’s site and the Weekend College site.
Decisions on class cancellations due to weather or other conditions are posted on the College website and announced on local radio stations, including WCBS (880 AM) and WINS (1010 AM). The Main Gate Security office (x 5912) will also know. Unless there is an official cancellation, classes are held.
If you wish to use a classroom for a special purpose, such as a review session or a computer presentation, please check the room schedule with your department, which in turn will check with the registrar’s office. Although a room may appear to be empty, it may been scheduled for another use, which could lead to awkward incidents.
Classes have enrollment limits set by the department. Students will sometimes request an “overtally” – permission to register in a closed course. In some departments, such overtallies are at the discretion of the instructor; in others, the department makes such decisions. Check with your department for guidance before your first class meets so you’ll know what to tell students who are trying to get into your course. Weekend College classes have two limits, the standard capacity-determined one and a lower one above which only Weekend College-coded students may register until one week before the start of the semester.
The class schedule assumes that 50 contact minutes are equivalent to one hour of instruction. Most College courses have either 3 or 4 instructional hours per week; as the semester has fifteen weeks, there are 45 or 60 hours per semester. Corresponding class durations depend on the number of class meetings per week, as follows:
Hours/week Classes/week Duration of each class Total instructional hours in semester
3 3 50 minutes 45 hours
3 2 75 minutes 45 hours
3 1 150 minutes 45 hours
4 4 50 minutes 60 hours
4 2 100 minutes 60 hours
4 1 200 minutes 60 hours
The number of course credits is usually equivalent to the number of class hours per week, but not always. For example, a course which meets four hours a week might earn four, three, or even fewer credits. This is often the case with studio art courses and with laboratory sections in the sciences. Weekend College hours and final exam schedules often differ.
You are required to conduct each class session. In case of illness or other emergency, contact your department chair, and in the case of Weekend College classes, the Director of Weekend College, so alternative arrangements can be made or students can be notified. Non-emergency absences should be rare and approved beforehand by your chair, and normally you would be expected to arrange for a colleague from your department to cover the class. It is not appropriate to have someone from outside the college do so. Do not leave your class unattended, especially if you are using equipment such as computers or projectors. Note that the semester has fifteen weeks, including the last week during which final examinations are given, and you should be available all fifteen weeks.
Office hours are beneficial to students and full-time faculty must provide regularly scheduled weekly office hours. Some adjuncts are paid for an additional professional hour and in such cases they must also hold office hours. If you hold office hours, tell students early in the term what your hours are and include this information in the course syllabus and on BlackBoard.
At the first meeting of your class, you must check that all students present are listed in the “Class and Attendance Roster” which will be provided to you. Ask any students not listed to show proof that they have registered – this is normally their bill from the Registrar’s Office. Later in the semester you will receive an updated roster reflecting authorized drops or adds. You can also get an updated roster from Blackboard.
Under Queens regulations, students may withdraw from a course at any time through the end of the eighth week of classes. (There are corresponding rules for summer sessions; check with your chair.) The exact date is indicated in the college calendar. You should give at least one graded assignment or test before that date so students will have some idea of how they are doing and can make an informed decision about whether or not to withdraw. After that date, students may withdraw only with special permission from the Undergraduate Scholastic Standards Committee, and this is given only for urgent cases, not in the expectation of a low grade. If a student withdraws late, you will be asked by the USSC to provide an evaluation of the student’s work so far and a date of last attendance. A grade of W or WF (withdraw fail) will then appear for that student on the grade roster you will receive at the end of the semester.
You must keep accurate attendance records. Just before the beginning of classes, you will receive a class roster listing all students officially registered in your class. After the fifth week of the semester, you must return a copy of this roster to your department, reporting which students have been in regular attendance for the first five full weeks of class. You must make this report promptly or students’ financial aid may be jeopardized. Take note of the reporting rules on the form. During the fifth week you will also receive a revised class roster which includes students who have registered for your class after the beginning of the semester and omits students who have dropped. Check this revised roster carefully against your record of who is in your class and report any discrepancies both to your department and to the student(s) affected, as this may mean the system did not register them properly.
Note that only the student can take the steps to drop a course officially. You cannot have a student who stops attending your course dropped. You should make this clear to your students at the beginning of the semester. If a student believes he/she cannot complete the course for some reason, the burden is on him/her to file the necessary form. When a student withdraws officially from the course, the grade W or WF will appear on the final grade sheet. If you do not see that grade, you cannot add it yourself; you must choose either F or WU as described below.
While mere attendance may not be used as a factor in determining course grades, class participation may be; such a policy should be clearly stated in your syllabus. Keeping regular attendance records will help you implement that policy and will also enable you to document when a student has stopped attending your course, one of the conditions for assigning the WU grade described below.
You must prepare a syllabus for each course and provide a copy to your department, which normally will keep it on file. In the case of Weekend College courses, provide a copy to the Weekend College office as well. Some information on what a syllabus should include is posted on the provost’s website under Curriculum and Student Issues and your department may have further expectations. In general, the syllabus should provide your name and contact information (office address, phone number, and hours; email), information on material to be covered, and how students will be evaluated, including the number, type, and due date of assignments you will give, and the relative weight each assignment, class participation, and exam will carry in determining the final grade. Of course, these may change during the semester; if so, inform your students and if necessary provide a revised syllabus. It is particularly important that your expectations about student evaluation be clear, as a frequent basis for student appeal of grades is lack of clarity in evaluation criteria.
Instructors are expected to give a final examination during the fifteenth week of the semester, at a time determined by when the class meets. Consult the Registration Guide or see the Final Examination Schedule on the Registrar’s website (select Semester Class Schedules and then the appropriate semester). The Final Examination Schedule is usually near the bottom of the semester page; you’ll need to know your class’s section code to determine the block number, which in turn translates to a particular exam date and time. For Weekend College courses, check the Weekend College website as well for variations in the schedule. If you plan an alternative to a final exam, you must file a Final Examination Exemption Request available from your department or on the provost’s website, qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/provost, for approval by your chair and the dean. Such a request does not exempt you from the requirement to be present for all fifteen weeks of the semester.
Grades must be submitted on the official (paper) grade rosters which are distributed near the end of the semester. These are due not later than two weeks after the end of finals in the Fall semester and one week after the last day of finals in the Spring. If your grades are late or incorrectly completed, you’ll need to complete a “change of grade” form, signed by you and your chair, for every student in your class. Submit your grade sheets to the department office, along with your final exams, which must be stored for at least one year and cannot be returned to students, although they may review them under supervision. Term papers may be returned to students. Many departments file term papers and you may tell your students that they can retrieve their papers from the department office.
Grades for Queens College undergraduates are the conventional letter grades, including plus/minus, and pass/no credit (P/NC). The plus/minus grades appear on the student's transcript and form part of the student's GPA.
Students may opt for the P/NC option generally until the end of the eighth week of classes. Specific rules are in the college catalog. You as instructor will not know if a student has selected this option. For students who have chosen the option, passing grades you submit are converted to P and F’s are converted to NC by the registrar.
You can also assign an unofficial withdrawal (WU) grade, if a student has simply stopped attending class entirely. This grade can be very damaging to a student so it should be given only when clearly warranted. WU factors into the student's GPA like F, but, unlike F, WU implies the student did not attempt the credits, and this can have serious financial aid implications for the student. You should give a WU grade, then, only if the student has broken all contact with the course for at least the final month of the semester. If, during the final month, a student attends even one class, turns in a single assignment, and/or shows up for the final exam, WU is not appropriate. Otherwise, , give a letter grade, even F if warranted, on the basis of the student’s work you have available, as such grades can be more easily changed.
Near the end of the semester you will receive a paper-based grade roster on which you must fill in students’ grades both as written letters and by bubbling in a selection. The grade roster may contain other grades already assigned by the registrar, including audit (AU), official withdrawal (W), given when a student has officially withdrawn from a course, and withdrawn failing (WF), given in some case when a student has officially withdrawn late and you have evaluated his/her work as failing at the time of withdrawal, as described above. Be sure to sign the roster to confirm your approval of the grades you’re assigning.
There are several temporary grades which may be appropriate, as described in the Queens College catalog. The most common, Incomplete (INC), should be given only if the student requests it, has valid reasons for missing assignments, and has a realistic chance of earning a passing grade if he/she completes missing course assignments within a time period you specify, which by college rules cannot extend beyond the end of the following semester. After that date, the incomplete automatically becomes Fail Incomplete (FIN on the transcript), and is treated as F in computing the GPA. Students do not have a “right” to an incomplete if they have not shown they can do passing work and they do not have a “right” to a full additional semester to finish work in a course. Do not routinely assign an incomplete grade when a student fails to submit a final paper or take a final exam. It can be better to give a final letter grade with the missing work treated as an F and let the student contact you with an explanation. Letter grades can be changed if it turns out that the student had a valid reason for not completing the course.
If a student has completed all course material satisfactorily but missed the final exam for what you deem a satisfactory reason, you may assign a grade of ABS.
Note that assigning temporary grades such as INC or ABS commits you to maintaining student records and being on hand to grade the missing assignments. Do not assign such grades if you will not be available and cannot make arrangements with another member of your department. Discourage INC and ABS grades, limiting them to legitimate and documented emergencies. If you are not returning to Queens the following semester, give your chair a memo indicating how you can be contacted and outlining the specific terms you have set for resolving each temporary grade, including the deadline, the work required, and any grades the student has been given for other course work; this will enable another faculty member to grade the student's work and assign a course grade. Similarly, it is wise to tell students in your syllabus and in class that you will not accept “extra credit” projects; these are unfair to students not given the option and invite abuse. Student extra‑credit projects take on lives of their own and create many of the difficulties associated with Incompletes. In particular, there is no guarantee that an adjunct faculty member will be available to grade an extra‑credit project if and when it is completed.
The college provides a variety of offices and services intended to help students succeed academically. You may want to be aware of these services and suggest them to your students as needed. Most of these services are listed under Students on the college’s web site. Important offices include:
· The Academic Advising Center , which provides academic advising
· The Counseling and Advisement Center, which provides counseling and peer advice
· The Undergraduate Scholastic Standards Committee, which hears appeals by undergraduate students of academic policies and procedures
· The Graduate Scholastic Standards Committee, which hears similar appeals by graduate students
· The Academic Skills Center, which provides tutoring and other support for students
· The Office of Career Development and Internships provides career and internship opportunities for students
· The International Students and Scholars Office assists internal students and scholars with visa and other issues
· The Study Abroad Office is a resource center for students, faculty and staff interested in study or travel abroad
· The Writing Center assists faculty in teaching writing in their courses, for example by coming to class and making presentations about how to write an essay. You may also refer students with writing problems to the Center for tutoring and other assistance.
· The Office of College Writing Programs facilitates writing across the curriculum, providing support to faculty working on writing in their courses, including the development of writing-intensive courses.
CUNY and Queens College are committed to maintaining access for persons with disabilities. Sometimes this necessitates special test‑taking procedures or other accommodations for students. If any such students have registered for your course, you will be informed by the Office of Special Services (772-4857) of the particular accommodations needed. Treat this information as confidential and discuss any questions with the student privately. The nature of the student’s disability should not be discussed. The Office will make arrangements for any needed accommodations, such as a sign language interpreter or a proctor for extended-time examinations.
Academic dishonesty is prohibited in the City University of New York and is punishable by penalties, including failing grades, suspension, and expulsion. Refer to the CUNY policy statement on academic integrity, a link to which can be found on the provost’s website (qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/provost).
All cases of academic dishonesty, such as cheating or plagiarism, should be reported both to your chairperson and the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs (Dr. Joe Bertolino, Joe.Bertolino@qc.cuny.edu). There may have been past incidents of academic dishonesty that you may not be aware of. Your chairperson and the Vice President for Student Affairs will work with you on exploring the appropriate options in such cases. Academic violations should never be ignored and you should not respond by simply assigning a failing grade. Be sure to keep all written materials which may be pertinent.
You should take measures to avoid incidents of academic dishonesty. Take time to explain plagiarism and indicate in your syllabus that plagiarism is unacceptable. Students sometimes claim to be unfamiliar with plagiarism; some foreign students have insisted they were taught that copying was considered proper scholarship in their home countries. To avoid misunderstandings, tell your students when to cite sources and show them how to do so properly. Make clear your policy on cooperation among students in completing assignments. Similarly, you can take precautions against cheating on in‑class exams, for example, by pre‑marking exam books to prevent switching, keeping tight control over the number of books that circulate during an exam, prohibiting students from having extraneous papers on their desks, etc.
It is the policy of The City University of New York to promote a cooperative work and academic environment in which there exists mutual respect for all University students, faculty, and staff. Harassment of employees or students based upon sex is inconsistent with this objective and contrary to the University’s non-discrimination policy. Sexual harassment is illegal under Federal, State, and City laws, and will not be tolerated within the University. Sexual harassment takes many forms, including instructors harassing students, students harassing instructors, and more. Use good judgment, especially in informal contacts with students outside the classroom. Any member of the University community may report allegations of sexual harassment to any member of the college’s Sexual Harassment Panel, whose members are listed in the college bulletin. All supervisors, including deans and department chairpersons, must report any complaint of sexual harassment made to them to the coordinator of the panel. All faculty, including adjuncts, are required to receive training in prevention of sexual harassment, which is arranged by the college’s Title IX coordinator. For complete information on the University’s and college’s policies refer to their websites and the college bulletin.
Each semester all full- time members of the faculty are required to file a Multiple Position form, giving information needed to carry out CUNY policy regarding reporting and approval on multiple positions. Refer to the University Statement of Policy on Multiple Positions, posted on the provost’s website, before completing the form. In summary, the policy provides that full-time faculty may not undertake outside employment, consulting, or other work, paid or unpaid, except in accordance with the terms specified, including prior approval by their departmental P&B Committee. There are also rules governing supplementary employment within CUNY.
Queens College and the City University comply with state and federal regulations on research activities involving human and animal subjects. All research activities (including data analysis and publication of results) that involve human subjects, including those activities that are eligible for exemption under federal guidelines, and are conducted on QC campuses, sponsored by QC in whole or in part, (i.e. under the direction of QC personnel or funded through the College), or use QC affiliated subjects or information related to QC affiliated subjects, must be reviewed and approved by the QC Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects before such an activity begins. Federal regulations require documentation of informed consent for all research involving human subjects. Generally, all investigators who plan to use human subjects in their research must obtain written informed consent from the subjects. Further information is available at qcpages.qc.edu/ORSP/index.htm#humans. All research or teaching involving the use of animals requires approval from the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee before beginning work. Further information is available at qcpages.qc.cuny.edu/ORSP/policy2.htm.
The chair of the department annually provides for all full-time faculty, other than tenured full professors, an evaluation of their scholarship, teaching, and service. This written evaluation, which includes a conference, normally occurs during the latter part of the spring semester and should involve an analysis of your work so far and guidance and expectations for the future. These evaluations become part of your official personal file at the college and are considered during tenure and promotion reviews.
All non-tenured and promotable faculty also receive a teaching observation each semester. This takes place during a regularly scheduled class period; the observer is a colleague designated by the department’s Personnel and Budget Committee. You and the observer discuss the report and a written copy, accompanied by any comments you may wish to add, is placed in your personal file.
The College also asks students in your class to evaluate your class and your teaching. This evaluation normally takes place in the 13th week of the semester for untenured faculty. Evaluation forms and instructions will be provided to you. The results are tabulated by the Office of Institutional Research and are included in your personal file.
The College attempts to assist the adjustment of new full-time faculty members by asking their departments to assign each a faculty mentor. Your mentor should be prepared to help you become part of the departmental and college community and, as appropriate, local and national professional organizations. Feel free to ask your mentor for information about teaching and about the tenure and promotion process. Your mentor should be ready to provide advice and support, meet regularly with you, particularly during the first year, and continue the mentoring relationship through your tenure decision year.
The College is required to maintain two separate files on each faculty member. Both are normally kept in your department. Your personal file contains:
· Materials relating to your professional and academic accomplishments, submitted by you or filed at your request;
· Records generated by the college;
· Memoranda of discussions related to evaluation of your performance; and
· Observation reports.
Nothing may be placed in your personal file until you have been given the opportunity to examine it and attach comments if you desire.
Your personal file accompanies your vita and supporting materials when you are reviewed for appointment with tenure and for promotion. Any relevant materials you receive directly, such as conference proceedings that list your contribution, letters of invitation to give presentations, exhibit or performance announcements, etc., should be placed in this file as soon as you receive them. Periodically, say once a semester, you should review your personal file. Initial materials to indicate you have seen them. (This does not imply agreement with the contents.)
The department also maintains a separate administration file (sometimes confusingly and erroneously called the personnel file) for each faculty member. This file contains only materials requested by the department in connection with hiring, tenure, and promotion, such as letters of recommendation, evaluations by external reviewers, and assessments by your chair and department Personnel and Budget Committee. Your administration file is confidential, available only to appropriate individuals and committees, not to you.
Tenure decisions are initiated during the first semester of the fifth year of continuous service. Until then, one-year appointments are made. Tenure is separate from promotion, including promotion to Associate professor. Tenure is considered by the college during the fall semester and, if approved, takes effect in September of the following year. Promotion is considered in the spring semester and, if approved, takes effect in January of the following year.
University rules require that decisions be based on teaching, scholarly activity, and service. Accordingly, you should teach well and perform creative academic work appropriate to your discipline. At each of your pre-tenure annual reappointments (three, unless you seek early tenure), the department will evaluate your work and provide counsel and guidance. If you are reappointed, the reappointment letter from the President will advise you of your progress towards meeting tenure expectations. During your fourth year, your department will ask you for a list of persons qualified to evaluate your work and solicit evaluations from external reviewers, some of whom will not be chosen from your list.
Early in your fifth year, your evaluation for tenure will begin. For consideration by the various individuals and committees involved at the college, information about you, such as your curriculum vitae, is presented in a special form, called “Form E” (or “G” in some cases). Note that your form is confidential and you may not view it. Blank forms can be seen on the Provost’s website – look under Faculty and Staff Issues. Normally, department staff will put your information into the appropriate form, but it will facilitate matters if your vita is already arranged in a similar manner. The on-line curriculum vitae system now being set up might also be helpful.
You must also provide supporting materials, such as student evaluations of your teaching, faculty observations, publications, other scholarly works, etc. These are not confidential. They are normally collected in what is often called “The Box,” because they are usually voluminous enough to fill a box. You may want to examine a colleague’s Box as you begin organizing your own – and you should start collecting materials now and keep doing so for years 1-4. Otherwise you’ll be spending much of the summer before year 5 trying to gather stuff.
The tenure review process and schedule at the college is described on the Provost’s website. It basically involves the following steps:
1. Evaluation by your department (P&B and chair), which may or may not recommend tenure.
2. Rating by your division of all its tenure candidates.
3. Advisory recommendations to the College P&B from the Subcommittee on Tenure and Promotion (“The Committee of Seven”).
4. Recommendations to the President by the full College Personnel and Budget Committee.
5. Presidential recommendations to the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York.
6. Vote by the Board of Trustees.
The process for promotion is similar, with one significant difference being that while evaluation for tenure automatically occurs in the fifth year, you must request consideration for promotion. As mentioned, the evaluation begins in the spring semester.