Exceptional Service Assigned Time Policy

From: Rollin C. Richmond, Acting President

Subject: Exceptional Service Assigned Time Policy

I. SCOPE

The scope of the policy refers to and applies only to all Unit 3 faculty at CSU, Chico.

II. POLICY

Charge

The Exceptional Service Assigned Time Committee ensures that a process and guidelines will be followed for all unit 3 faculty to write proposals and compete for assigned time for exceptional levels of service to students that supports the priorities of the California State University (CSU) system and support California State University Chico’s (CSU, Chico) Mission and Strategic Plan pursuant to Article 20, Section 20.37 of the 2014-2018 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between CSU and the faculty.

Committee Structure

One faculty member appointed by the Academic Senate from each college and appropriate unit of representation (all voting):

College of Agriculture

College of Business

College of Communication and Education

College of Humanities and Fine Arts

College of Natural Science

College of Behavioral and Social Sciences

College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Construction Management

Library

Athletics

Counseling

Regional and Continuing Education

Two members (voting) from student body:

Associated Students (undergraduate student)

Graduate Student Council (graduate student)

The Provost and Vice-President for Academic Affairs or his/her designee (will serve as a non-voting ex-officio member).

Each appointed member serves a one-year term. Faculty serving on this committee shall not be applicants for assigned time.

Type

For the duration of CBA 2014-2018

Reporting Structure

The Exceptional Service Assigned Time Committee will report annually, or more often as needed to the Office of the Provost.

III. RESPONSIBILITIES

• To evaluate faculty applications for assigned time for exceptional levels of service to students as defined in the CBA 20.37.
• To make recommendations based on those evaluations to the Provost and Vice-President for Academic Affairs.
• To periodically review and, if needed, make recommendations for changes in this policy to the Faculty and Student Policy Committee (FASP).

IV. PROCEDURES

1. ASSIGNED TIME BUDGET AND REPORTING

a. Pursuant to the above-referenced article of the CBA the CSU has agreed to provide resources to each campus for assigned time for exceptional service to students based on the number of full-time equivalent students at that campus.

b. Accountability and Expenditures

i. CSU, Chico shall expend all funds allocated to them under this program. CSU, Chico shall provide an accounting of expenditures for this program for the prior fiscal year by no later than November 1 of the subsequent year to the ESAT Committee, the Academic Senate, Campus CFA President, and the CSU.

ii. Any unused funds shall roll over for use in the following academic year for 2014/2015, 2015/2016, and 2016/2017. All funds must be expended in the 2017/2018 academic year.

iii. For accounting purposes, costs of assigned time shall be calculated based on the internal, on campus payback rate.

iv. Awards from appeals shall not exceed 10% of the annual budget for assigned time and shall be funded in the subsequent academic year. During the last year of the agreement, appeals must be funded from the funds for that year, including any rollover from previous years.

2. ELIGIBILITY & RESTRICTIONS

a. Eligibility

i. All Unit 3 faculty employees are eligible to submit a proposal to request assigned time for exceptional levels of service to students.

ii. Faculty who have previously received assigned time under this program and have not filed a final report on their activities are not eligible to apply again until their final report has been received.

iii. Faculty members already receiving assigned time for the same general category of activity (e.g. assigned time for excess enrollments, assigned time for committee service) shall not be eligible for support from this program.

b. Restrictions

i. Assigned time can only be utilized during the academic year (August – May) during which the activity is performed with the exception of assigned time granted in the 2014/2015 academic year which may be utilized in the 2015/2016 academic year.

3. TIMELINE

a. For activities in the 2014/ 2015 academic year and activities planned for the 2015/2016 academic year, applications will be due in spring 2015 and awards announced before the end of the spring 2015 semester.

b. For the 2016/2017 academic year applications will be due on October 1, 2015. Awards will be announced in December of 2015.

c. For the 2017/2018 academic year applications will be due on October 1, 2016. Awards will be announced in December of 2016.

4. APPLICATION MATERIALS

An application for assigned time to support exceptional levels of service to students shall consist of: 1) a narrative proposal, not to exceed two pages; 2) an updated curriculum vitae (CV), limited to two pages; 3) a letter from a CSU, Chico employee who can speak to the credibility of the project, not the proposer, in support of the application and 4) some acknowledgement signed by the department chair and dean stating that they are aware of the proposal and are not currently providing assigned time for the same general activity (see section 5.b.ii). Incomplete, or late applications will not be reviewed.

5. SUPPORTED ACTIVITIES AND REVIEW CRITERIA

a. The following activities may be supported

Student mentoring, advising, and outreach, especially as these activities support underserved, first-generation, and/or underrepresented students

ii. The development and implementation of high-impact educational practices; curricular redesign intended to improve student access and success

iii. Service to the department, college, university, or community that goes significantly beyond the normal expectations of all faculty

iv. Assignment to courses where increases in enrollment have demonstrably increased workload

v. Other extraordinary forms of service to students

b. Review Criteria

i. Demonstrated or hypothesized impact on student success and/or educational experience; impact includes the quality of the activity as well as the number students served. (35%)

ii. Demonstration that the impact on and/or quality of student experience could not be maintained without an increase in workload and that the faculty applicants are not otherwise receiving an adjustment in workload to reflect their effort. (35%)

iii. Demonstrated impact on historically underserved first generation, and/or underrepresented populations. (20%)

iv. Quality of the letter of support. (10%)

6. RECOMMENDATIONS

a. The committee shall assign each proposal one of four ratings: 1) High Priority 2) Medium Priority 3) Low Priority 4) Not Recommended

b. The ESAT Committee shall submit its recommendations and the application materials to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs who in consultation with the appropriate administrator responsible for assigning workload (e.g., Dean or Vice-President of Student Affairs), shall make the final determination regarding the approval or denial of assigned time. In addition to the recommendation of the ESAT Committee and input obtained via the consultation process, the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs may consider equity across constituencies in his/her decision.

7. INFORMATION PROVIDED TO APPLICANTS

Once a decision is reached by the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, he/she will forward his/her approval or denial as well as the evaluation of the ESAT Committee to the applicant.

8. APPEALS

a. Appeals Committee

The Appeals Committee shall comprise two members of the Academic Senate Executive Committee, and three members of the Academic Senate. The Appeals committee shall be appointed by the Chair of the Academic Senate and shall not include any members of the Exceptional Service Assigned Time Committee.

b. Timeline and Notification of Decisions

Appeals of the decision made by the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs shall be made, in writing, to the Chair of the Academic Senate and shall be filed no more than ten working days after the date upon which the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs notifies the applicants of his/her decision. The Chair of the Academic Senate will appoint the Appeals Committee within ten working days of receiving the first appeal. The Appeals Committee shall complete their review in no more than thirty working days after receipt of the appeal. The Appeals Committee shall send the appellant notification of its decision. Decisions made by the Appeals Committees shall be final and binding and are not subject to the grievance procedures in Article 10 of the CBA.

9. CONDITIONS OF ASSIGNED TIME

a. A faculty unit employee granted assigned time under this program shall provide a final report to the ESAT Committee via the Academic Senate office no later than one semester following the use of assigned time. The report shall provide evidence that the proposed activities were completed and generally that the impact on the students was as claimed in the original application. Faculty are ineligible to apply for further assigned time from this program until their report is received within the stipulated time frame.

10. EFFECTIVE DATES

The policies and procedures in this document are an implementation of Article 20, section 37 of the 2014-2018 CBA. The 2017/2018 academic year marks the end of this program and, barring action by the Academic Senate Executive Committee, this policy shall no longer be in effect on or after June 30, 2018.

Please direct questions about this policy to the Academic Personnel Office.