New Edition of Faculty Handbook

Dear colleagues, 

I am pleased to announce that a revised edition of our Faculty Handbook is now available. This new edition introduces many policy enhancements to better support faculty. We've also improved clarity and consistency to make the handbook more accessible. 

The biggest change that you'll notice right away is that the table of contents has been restructured into ten clearly titled sections, each with consistent subsection headings. In addition, many more passages include hyperlinks to campus resources. These formatting updates should make it easier for faculty to find the information they need. 

We have taken some new approaches to how we describe various groups of faculty. "Tenure-line" refers to all tenured and tenure-track faculty, whereas "tenure-track" refers exclusively to untenured assistant and associate professors. "Teaching Faculty" replaces the term "contingent faculty" and refers to lecturers and senior lecturers, in order to better acknowledge the important role of these faculty in the curriculum. 

The most significant policy changes for tenure-line faculty include: sabbaticals, prestigious awards, extensions of time for tenure review, personal leaves, and permanent residency sponsorship support. For teaching faculty, many current policies have been clarified, including evaluation, promotion, contract terms, and personal leaves. For research faculty, the processes for reappointment and promotion have been extensively reorganized.
 
You may notice that the handbook no longer includes a section on mentoring. Since 2018, this section has been duplicated on our website alongside additional resources. Our next major update will be a significant expansion of both resources and guidance on this web page. We have already started incorporating prior recommendations from the Committee on the Faculty (COF) and Committee on Organization and Policy (COP). Since last year, we have been piloting new faculty development offerings and look forward to expanding and improving these opportunities.
 
Please find below a summary of the new table of contents along with a list of the most significant revisions.

I am grateful for the dedication and expertise of our committee members, and for the many faculty who shared their feedback and experiences. I'd also like to thank Michelle Warren, senior advisor for faculty development, diversity, and inclusion, whose indefatigable attention to this project was invaluable. 
 
Elizabeth F. Smith
Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
 
Handbook of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Section 1: Overview of Dartmouth College
Section 2: Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Section 3: Teaching and Student Life
Section 4: Tenure-Line Faculty Policies

• New: Burke Sustaining Excellence Awards for newly tenure faculty
• New: Sabbatical credit additions for department/program chairs

Section 5: Tenure-Line Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion

• New: Automatic timeline extension for multiple personal leaves in one year

Section 6: Recruitment of Tenure-Line Faculty
Section 7: Non-Tenure-Line Appointments

• Clarified: Teaching Faculty course assignments, evaluations, and promotions
• Clarified: Research Faculty reappointment and promotion processes
• New: Renewal of Post-Graduate Research Associate appointments

Section 8: Professional Conduct and Responsibility

• Clarified: Investigator's role and standard of evidence to be used for grievance process

Section 9: Research and Employment Policies

• Clarified: Equipment Transfer Procedures

Section 10: Compensation and Benefits

• Clarified: Teaching Faculty contract policies
• New: Reimbursement of dependent/caregiver travel expenses with prior approval
• New: Expanded financial support for permanent residence sponsorship
• New: Personal Leaves for tenure-line faculty use the same formula as Professional Leaves (defined in Section 4)
• Clarified: Personal Leaves for teaching faculty in relation to course assignments
• New: Parental Leave expanded to align with changes in Human Resources policy
• Clarified: Medical Leave terms for both tenure-line and teaching faculty
• New: Military Leave policy for tenure-track faculty
• Clarified: Sabbatical limitations related to course trades
• New: Prestigious Award Program formulas for number of leave terms