The Faculty Handbook is intended to serve as a resource for new and current faculty members. It provides essential information about East Tennessee State University institutional policies, procedures, guidelines, services, and resources that are central to the faculty experience. As the steward of the Handbook, the Faculty Senate has designed this document to be used as a guide to assist our faculty: a committed, diverse, and synergetic group of educators and scholars.
Faculty should use the references in the Handbook for general guidance as this is a compilation of policies and university resources directly related to faculty. The university policy website is the formal repository or all university policies. The Handbook should be read carefully by all members of the faculty.
To submit feedback about the Handbook, please contact the Chair of the Faculty Senate Handbook Committee.
Acknowledgements
This Handbook has been a work in progress for some time now. As ETSU moved from the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) to a local governing board (ETSUBT), Dr. Virginia Foley, Past President of the ETSU Faculty Senate and Chair of the Handbook committee, began the work of reviewing the Handbook for policies and procedures that needed to be reviewed and edited to reflect the new governance. The current Faculty Handbook committee has re-organized the content and included information pertinent to the faculty.
The Handbook will always be a work in progress but hopefully future Handbook committees will be able to update rather than overhaul thanks to the efforts of the faculty senators who committed their time to this project.
Many thanks to current and former senators Susan Epps, Bill Flora, Virginia Foley, Bill Hemphill, and Alex Sargsyan for their work in bringing this new and improved version to fruition!
Section 1: General Information
This section contains information significant to the culture of ETSU. The Vision, Values, Mission/Institutional Purpose provide the direction for the university. The organizational structure outlines the units responsible for maintaining the direction and movement toward the vision. The governing body for the university is the Board of Trustees. Their website includes information about the Trustees and their roles on the Board. The Faculty Senate is the faculty voice in the shared governance process at ETSU. The shared governance chart illustrates the role(s) and interactions of different entities of the university.
- Vision, Mission, & Values
- University organization charts
- Board of Trustees
- Faculty Senate
- Shared governance chart
Section 2: Employment
This section contains information related to employment as a faculty member. The following links are to ETSU policies and procedures specific to the roles and responsibilities of faculty members.
Rank, Tenure & Promotion, Workload, Evaluation
- Definition of Faculty and Types of Faculty Appointments
- Tenure(old template)
- Tenure Appeals(old template, part of Tenure policy)
- Promotion(old template, part of Faculty Ranks and Promotion policy)
- Promotion Appeals(old template, part of Faculty Ranks and Promotion policy)
- Workload, Reporting, and Evaluation for Full-time Faculty (goes to handbook)
- Guidelines for Filling Faculty Vacancies(old, Guidelines for Filling Faculty, Administrative, and Clerical/Support Vacancies)
- AAUP Statement of Professional Ethics
- Faculty Progressive Discipline (thislink is now bad!) University policies page search for “Faculty Progressive Discipline” goes to the handbook. However, a google search brings up PPP-70 Progressive Disciplinary Procedures (which references TBR and appears to be for staff, not faculty)
Compensation
- Travel forms
- Extra Compensation (Link on ETSU policies page goes to the handbook, which refers to PPP-07 Outside Employment & Extra Compensation, and the handbook references a TBR policy on Outside Employment and Extra Compensation)
- Outside Employment (Link on ETSU policies page goes to PPP-07 Outside Employement & Extra Compensation)
- Part-time Instruction Pay Rate
- Winter/Summer/Intersession Faculty(goes to TBR page: Faculty Compensation During Summer Session; see note above for Part-Time Instruction Pay Rate)
Other
- Personnel Policies
- Records(links to PPP-O3 Access to Personnel File Records)
- Leaves (goes to the HR benefits page “Paid Time-Off and Leave”)
- Retirement
- Benefits
- Anti-Nepotism Policy
- Employee Grievance/Complaint Procedures
- Financial Exigency Policy
- Consensual Relationship Policy
- Discrimination & Harassment
- Selection and Periodic Review of Academic Administration Personnel (PPP-59 Periodic review of administrators)
Section 3: Academics
This section includes policies and information related to Academics at ETSU. Academic departments and units may have additional policies, procedures, and information specific to those areas that are not included in the Faculty Handbook.
- Academic Freedom & Responsibility
- Copyright Fair-Use Guide for Faculty
- Catalogs
- Libraries
Curriculum
- Definition of Credit
- Curriculum Process
- Education Abroad
- Cost of Textbooks Policy
- Accessibility
- Accessible syllabus template
Related to Students
- Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)
- Attendance Policy
- Attendance Reporting Instructions
- Early Semester Progress Reports
- Grade Appeals Policies
- Academic Integrity @ ETSU
- Academic Integrity and Misconduct Policy
- BucsCARE resources
- Student Support Specialists (SSS)
- Center for Academic Achievement
- University Testing Center
- Counseling Center
Section 4: Research
This section contains information about the research function of the university. While there is more to know, items in this section have been identified as essential to faculty research.
- Grantsmanship Resources
- Research Development Grants
- Institutional Review Board (IRB)
- Intellectual Property Policy
- Conflict of Interest in Sponsored Programs
- Misconduct in Scholarship and Research
Section 5: Professional Development
This section contains information about professional development opportunities at ETSU. ETSU provides numerous avenues for faculty professional development and fosters creativity and novel practices in teaching and research.
- Faculty Development
- Advanced Degree Study for Full-time Faculty Members
- Education Assistance Benefits for Employees
- Distinguished Faculty in Teaching, Research, and Service Awards
Section 6: Information Technology
This section includes policies and information on Information Technology related to faculty.
- Appropriate use of technology policy (Is this the same as the IT Resources Acceptable Use policy? Also, see comment)
- Information Technology Services
- Helpdesk
Section 7: Health and Safety
This section contains information about health and safety related policies and agencies at ETSU. Health services for faculty are available through the University Health Center.
The ETSU Police Department provides overall safety and security for the ETSU community.
- Emergency procedures
- Drug-Free Campus Policy
- Tobacco-Free Campus Policy
- Workplace Violence Prevention Policy