The Faculty Senate will vote on a policy regarding annual review, reappointment and advancement of non-tenure-track faculty at its meeting Tuesday.

David Hopper, chairman of the Faculty Senate Non-Tenure-Track Transition Taskforce, said there are a number of differences in the way the two types of non-tenure-track faculty appointments are treated.

He said the differences included the length of appointment, ability of faculty contracts to be renewed and review requirements.

“The task force thinks they should be treated the same,” Hopper said.

The Faculty Senate first considered this policy at its meeting in January. Concerns about the policy were raised by faculty members regarding the criteria for the number of non-tenure-track appointments allowed, the language of the policy regarding the length of appointments and the limitations put on the amount of activity non-tenure-track faculty can do, Hopper said.

The current faculty handbook states that non-tenure-track faculty are limited to “no more than 15 percent of the total instruction within the university, and no more than 25 percent of the total instruction within any given department.”

With the addition of adjunct appointments to non-tenure-track faculty, policy questions were raised regarding whether these appointments would be held under these limitations even though most of their activity is outside of instruction, Hopper said.

Jack Girton, Faculty Senate president-elect, said it is difficult to measure activities outside of instruction. He said it is easy to count how many classes are taught by non-tenure-track faculty but it is harder to measure amounts of research and professional practice.

Hopper said one way to measure these kinds of activities is to use EASE (Employee Activity Summary of Effort) forms that faculty are already filling out.

“These reports can be used as a basis for defining the percent of activity,” he said.

Hopper said although the proposed policy might contain some controversial aspects, he won’t be surprised if the Faculty Senate passes it.

“The Faculty Senate will probably agree and say, yes we need to be treating everyone equally,” Hopper said.

Girton said a new task force will be introduced to the senate at Tuesday’s meeting.

The Faculty Senate Taskforce on University Reorganizations will review different methods that have been used to reorganize segments of the university. It will also try to develop a standard procedure to be used in the future for setting up changes in a department or college, said Girton, who will head the task force.

He said it is important to have a procedure for future use.

“If we can come up with a procedure and the administration agrees, in the future we’ll know what to do,” Girton said.

Also on the agenda for Tuesday’s meeting is the announcement of the annual spring faculty retreat to be held April 18 and 19. Girton said the retreat will focus on the value of scholarship in tenure promotion. Girton said faculty are expected to do scholarship but no one knows what exactly scholarship means.

“Hopefully when we are done, we’ll have a good understanding of what faculty want as this policy,” Girton said.

The Faculty Senate will meet at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the North Room of the Gateway Center.