All times are approximate
AGENDA
University of Nevada, Reno
2008-09 Faculty Senate
February 19, 2009, 1:30 p.m.
RSJ 304
1:30
1.
Roll Call and Introductions
1:35
2.
Information/Discussion
2:10
2:30
3.
4.
3: 00
5.
3: 20
3: 30
3: 50
6.
7.
Visit with Executive Vice President and Provost
Marc Johnson
Howard Rosenberg
Jannet Vreeland, Vice Provost & Secretary of the
University: Lecturer Guidelines re Promotion
Consent Agenda:
www.unr.edu/facultysenate/meetings/0809/index.html
Link to UAM Revisions on Consent Agenda
Break
Nominating Committee Election
Visit with President Glick
4: 20
8.
Enclosure/Action
4: 35
9.
Salary and Benefits Report: Parental Leave
Policy: Horst Lange
Chair’s Report
5: 00
10. New Business
5: 10
Adjourn
Future Senate Meetings
UNR Faculty Senate Website
March 26, 2009 RSJ 304
April16, 2009 RSJ 304
Information/Discussion
Information/Enclosure
Enclosure/Action
Enclosure/Action
Information/Discussion
Information/Discussion
Information/ Discussion
Future Board of Regents Meetings
NSHE Website
April 2 – 3, 2009 WNC
June 18 – 19, 2009 DRI LV
UNR Faculty Senate Agenda Packet – February 19 2009
Page 1 of 9
UNR Faculty Senate Meeting
February 19, 2009
Agenda Item #4
Draft Proposal
Promotion process and standards for lecturers
Process
1. All lecturers who are hired with the expectation that their position will be longer than 3 years
will be hired at a 0(II) rank.
2. Lecturers will undergo a third-year review to determine if their instructional and service
activities warrant reappointment.
3. At the beginning of their sixth year of employment, lecturers will submit a package for
promotion from a 0(II) to a 0(III).
4. If the promotion is not approved, the lecturer will be issued a terminal contract for the seventh
year.
5. After six years at the rank of 0(III), a lecturer may submit a package for promotion from 0(III) to
a 0(IV).
Materials for third year review
1. Teaching portfolio – to include
a. Statement of Teaching Philosophy
b. Course materials
c. Summary of Student Evaluations
d. Documentation of professional development in pedagogy
2. A minimum of 3 peer reviews of instructional activities by department personnel committee
members or other individuals designated by the chair and dean.
3. Annual evaluations
Review Criteria for third year review
1. At least Commendable in Instruction
2. At least Satisfactory in Service
Materials for promotion package in sixth year – promotion from 0(II) to 0(III)
1. Application for promotion
2. Teaching portfolio
a. Statement of Teaching Philosophy
b. Course materials
c. Summary of Student Evaluations
d. Documentation of professional development in pedagogy
3. Minimum of 5 peer reviews of instructional activities – 3 of which must be from outside the
college – reviewers to be determined by chair/dean
4. Annual Evaluations
Review Criteria for Promotion
1. At least Excellent in Instruction
2. At least Commendable in Service
UNR Faculty Senate Agenda Packet – February 19 2009
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Promotion from 0(III) to 0(IV) – Earliest can apply is 6 years after promotion from 0(II) to 0(III)
1. Application for promotion
2. Teaching portfolio
a. Statement of Teaching Philosophy
b. Course materials
c. Summary of Student Evaluations
d. Documentation of professional development in pedagogy
3. Minimum of 5 peer reviews of instructional activities – 3 of which must be from outside the
college – reviewers to be determined by chair/dean
4. Annual Evaluations
5. Documentation of scholarship(??) in pedagogy
6. Greg Mosier has suggestion for this (Participation language)
Review Criteria for Promotion
1. At least Excellent in Instruction
2. At least Commendable in Service
Concerns we need to address
1. How do we ensure that this is not a pseudo-tenure process?
2. If lecturer is ever unsatisfactory in teaching – do we immediately issue an NNR? Lecturers do
not have same protection as tenured faculty under the CODE so two unsatisfactory ratings
would be required.
UNR Faculty Senate Agenda Packet – February 19 2009
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UNR Faculty Senate Meeting
February 19, 2009
Agenda Item #5
Link to Consent Agenda: http://www.unr.edu/facultysenate/meetings/08-09/index.html
Link to UAM Revisions: http://www.unr.edu/facultysenate/meetings/08-09/index.html
UNR Faculty Senate Agenda Packet – February 19 2009
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UNR Faculty Senate Meeting
February 19, 2009
Agenda Item # 6
Nominating Committee
It is time to form the nominating committee for the faculty senate executive board and chair-elect for
the 2008-2009 term. The former senate chair who serves as an ex-officio member of the senate and
the executive board heads this committee. This year that would be Steve Rock. The executive board
nominates candidates for this committee and additional members can be nominated from the floor of
the senate. One can serve on this committee and also be nominated to run for the executive board.
Anyone who accepts a nomination to serve on this committee must agree to attend the one or two
meetings necessary to produce the slate of candidates.
The following senators have been nominated by the Executive Board to serve on the 2008-09
Nominating Committee:
Eric Albers
Tom Harris
Bourne Morris
Virginia Vogel
Jill Wallace
UNR Faculty Senate Agenda Packet – February 19 2009
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UNR Faculty Senate Meeting
February 19, 2009
Agenda Item #8
Parental Leave Policies:
Extent and Type in Academia in General and at UNR’s Peer Institutions
Salary and Benefits Committee
November 2008
1. Purpose and Process
 A request was made by the faculty senate to provide information on the extent and type of
parental leave policies at other universities.
 We found a detailed report on “Parental Leave in Academia” based on a 2004 study by the
University of Virginia, including more than 150 universities. In addition, we reviewed the
parental leave policies at nine of UNR’s peer institutions. We received the list of peer
institutions from Jannet Vreeland/Bruce Shively.
2. General Summary
 University of Virginia researchers found fewer than one-fifth of all institutions of higher
education provide parental leave beyond maternity leave for new parents. The study showed that
only 18 percent of institutions nationwide offer paid leave for both men and women. Another 8
percent offer paid leave for women only, for a combined total of 26 percent of institutions that
offer some kind of parenting leave above a six-week maternity leave. The study found that
formal, paid-leave policies are associated most commonly with elite private institutions: more
than half (51 percent) of top-tier schools offer paid leave. Moreover, private schools are almost
twice as likely as public schools to offer a paid leave – 34 percent compared with 18 percent.
However, the study found frequent use of informal leave arrangements – nearly a quarter, (23
percent) of those schools with no formal, paid-leave policy reported informal arrangements. The
majority of schools (67 percent) that do have paid leave policies offer a leave of a full quarter or
semester. Another 25 percent offered between 8 and 12 weeks. But a full quarter of the schools
that offered paid leave did not provide a full relief of academic duties during the leave period.
The survey also explored the extent to which existing policies were utilized and whether faculty
who took advantage of them saw a negative impact on their careers. “Administrators were
unanimous in asserting that their institutions do not stigmatize faculty members who use the
policies,” said Charmaine Yoest, project director and a doctoral candidate in the University’s
Department of Politics. “But some academics told us they feared that using parental leave would
mean increased scrutiny of their work and diminished career prospects.”
The project as a whole explored faculty experiences with work and family policies at institutions
of higher education around the United States. Data were gathered from administrators at 168
academic institutions by telephone interviews conducted in the summer and fall of 2001. The
sample was stratified according to the competitiveness of the school and then selected with
"probabilities proportionate to size" (based on the number of full-time faculty). The institutional
data then were weighted, making the sample representative of universities nationwide."
(Summary based on www.virginia.edu/topnews/releases2004/parent-jan-29-2004)
UNR Faculty Senate Agenda Packet – February 19 2009
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
The review of UNR’s peer institutions showed that most of the nine universities provide basic
parental leave as required by FMLA. However, several of them allow for substantial flexibility
for departments and colleges to adjust schedules and the use of paid sick and other paid leave. In
addition, several address the treatment of the tenure clock for untenured faculty on parental
leave.
3. Peer Institutions

University of Arizona http://www.hr.arizona.edu/policy/218

Colorado State University page 23 http://www.hrs.colostate.edu/hrsman/Section01GenProvisions.pdf

University of Idaho http://www.webs.uidaho.edu/fsh/3710.html#L.0

Montana State University http://www2.montana.edu/policy/personnel/per1000.html#1030.00

New Mexico State University – Refer to pages 20-21 http://www.nmsu.edu/manual/Chapter7.pdf

Oregon State University – Refer to page 15 http://oregonstate.edu/admin/hr/leave_admin_pol.pdf

Utah State University http://www.usu.edu/hr/policies/section300/351.pdf

University of Wyoming – Refer to page 11
http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/hr/Employeehandbook91107.pdf

Washington State University http://www.hrs.wsu.edu/utils/File.aspx?fileid=2942
UNR Faculty Senate Agenda Packet – February 19 2009
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4. Policy Characteristics
University
Type of Policy
U of Arizona
FMLA +
Paid
Sick leave etc
Specific Provision
While compliance with the Family and Medical Leave policy is assumed and required, deans,
directors, department heads, and other supervisors are encouraged to find flexible and creative
approaches to balancing the needs of work units and of employees within said units when
reviewing leave requests that fall outside the requirements of this policy.
Colorado State University recognizes that its faculty and staff strive to balance the responsibility
of their work and personal lives. This Family Medical Leave Policy is designed to support those
efforts and to comply with the provisions of the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) and
applicable implementing regulations.
Colorado State
FMLA
Sick leave etc
U of Idaho
FMLA
Sick leave etc
Montana State
FMLA
Sick leave
New Mexico
State
Oregon State
Utah State
FMLA
Sick leave etc
Restrictions on when leave must be taken – 7.20.45 #1
Need to check
FMLA +
Sick leave etc
FMLA
FMLA
Sick leave etc
Sick leave etc
Addresses untenured faculty, responsibility of department heads and supervisors – 3.8
and 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
Very basic
Very detailed – forms and check lists
U of Wyoming
Washington
State
Family and medical leave and/or service member family and medical leave is leave without pay. However, when
the absence also qualifies for the use of sick leave, if available, sick leave must be used first in conjunction with
family medical leave before any period of unpaid absence. Once sick leave has been exhausted or when the
type of absence does not qualify for the use of sick leave, the entire absence or remainder of the approved
family medical leave will be unpaid, unless the employee chooses to use any combination of compensatory
time, annual leave, or shared leave (if eligible; K). [rev. 2-08] L-14. Family medical leave taken by two (2)
university employees to care for a new born child or child placed for adoption or foster care or to care for a
family member who has a serious health condition consists of a maximum twelve (12) weeks of leave for
each employee.
Basic, flexible: Employees eligible for parental leave may use accumulated sick leave, annual leave,
earned compensatory time, or leave without pay. Requests for parental leave must comply with
departmental and university procedures governing the use of the type of leave requested. (Cross reference
Section 1010.00, "Annual Vacation Leave," Section 1015.00, "Sick Leave," Section 1035.00, "Leave of
Absence Without Pay," and Section 915.00, "Overtime/Compensatory Time," of this manual.)
UNR Faculty Senate Agenda Packet – February 19 2009
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5. Conclusions
Implementing a parental leave policy that is clear and expands somewhat beyond the FMLA requirements will put UNR in a desirable
competitive position relative to its peer institutions. It will contribute to attract quality junior faculty who are interested in work-life
balance – a need that clearly has been responded to by elite institutions. In addition, having a fair and consistent policy to address parental
leave will have a positive impact on retention of quality faculty members.
UNR can choose its strategic perspective – be “in the pack” .. we do not need a parental leave policy because our peers don’t have
one OR “be above” and offer something of value that sets UNR apart from its peers.
UNR Faculty Senate Agenda Packet – February 19 2009
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