Dear Colleagues,

Each year we make revisions to the Faculty Handbook. The latest version has been approved by Governing Council and is now available. Here I will highlight the key edits that were made this year, providing a brief description with hyperlinks to the relevant sections in case you would like additional details:

  • Updated the Administrative Functions and Organizational Charts section (Section II.3) to reflect current Governing Council member responsibilities and the descriptions of central offices and committees.
  • Updated the A&P Guidelines (Section IV.4) to reflect the University’s new policy that a faculty member whose promotion has been denied may not submit a promotion dossier for consideration again for at least two years.
  • The sections previously listed as appendices to the A&P Guidelines are now included as Section IV.5 Guidance on Preparing the A&P Packet and Section VIII.2 Faculty Recruitment.
  • Updated Educational Administrative Roles section (Section VI.2) to reflect latest roles, responsibilities, and coverage for faculty serving in those administrative roles.
  • Updated Teaching Assistants (Section VI.5) to reflect several changes as a result of the new Graduate Student Union Contract: (a) TA rates were formalized in the union contract, therefore faculty discretionary funds may not be used to supplement; (b) the process for screening and hiring TAs has been revised; and (c) clarification that graduate students may not work more than 20 hours per week. As the contract implementation evolves, additional changes to this policy will be communicated through department administrators and reflected in the Faculty Handbook.
  • Updated the Faculty Awards section (Section VII.2) to reflect current award offerings and descriptions.
  • Updated the Sabbatical section (VII.7) to reflect that sabbatical applications must be submitted at least 12 months prior to the planned start date, and that sabbaticals must have a start date of January 1 or July 1. The full description of the sabbatical policy was moved from the Leaves section (VIII.7) to this section under faculty development and advancement.
  • Updated the Medical Campus Resources for Faculty Support section (Section VII.11) with current offerings from the BUMC Office of Faculty Development and Diversity and the Clinical Translational Science Institute (CTSI).
  • Updated the Faculty Recruitment section (Section VIII.2) to reflect the current recruitment process with the Faculty Recruitment and Retention Committee.
  • Updated the Guidelines for Faculty Leaves (VIII.7) to clarify expectations around arranging for coverage of activities during the leave, including the supervision of research staff.
  • Updated the Building Research Teams section (VIII.10) to include a new option for advertising open Academic Research Job Family positions.

As always, of course feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions.

Best,

Michael McClean, ScD
Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Advancement
mmcclean@bu.edu

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