For UT policies, COE guidelines, and descriptions of different types of professional-track faculty contracts, see COE: Contracts - Guidelines.
For guidance on managing professional-track faculty appointments in Workday, see COE: Managing Professional Track Faculty in Workday.
For summer employment guidance for nine-month faculty, see COE: Summer Employment - Faculty.
For information on hiring retired faculty and managing Modified Service contracts, see COE: Hiring Retired Faculty.
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Annual review of contracts
Each spring, during departmental budget planning for the following academic year, the department chair and Administrative Manager will review current contract types for all of the department’s professional-track faculty. Any proposed changes to contract type (Fixed Term to Rolling, Rolling to Fixed Term, or contract length) will be discussed with the Senior Associate Dean and Chief Business Officer. All changes must be approved by the Senior Associate Dean and will become effective the following fall. Faculty approved for Rolling contracts are included in the department’s annual instructional budget, and a list of these faculty is shared annually with COE Faculty Affairs.
Academic HR Partners are responsible for ensuring the correct contract type for each faculty member is assigned on the Professional-Track Mass Process spreadsheets and for taking action on any incorrectly designated.
Fixed Term contracts
Fixed Term contracts are issued and uploaded to Workday by the department Academic HR Partner. Contracts (offer letters) for new hires are based on the appropriate Provost’s Office template and handled as part of the PAR process described at COE: Hiring Professional Track Faculty. Contract renewals for continuing and reactivated faculty should be issued through the department’s FileMaker Pro database process, using the appropriate COE template. A new Fixed Term contract should be issued at the end of every expiring term that will be renewed: Short Term contracts are issued semesterly or annually, Two-Year Fixed Term contracts are issued every two years, and Three-Year Fixed Term contracts are issued every three years.
Required action for expiring Fixed Term contracts
For any Professional Track faculty member whose contract is expiring or has expired, one of the following three actions should be taken:
a) Renew: add a new contract in Workday. See COE: Managing Professional-Track Faculty in Workday > Renew.
b) Move into a Faculty Inactive position (F-INA). See COE: Managing Professional-Track Faculty in Workday > Inactivate.
c) Terminate the appointment. See COE: Managing Professional-Track Faculty in Workday > Terminate
Retired faculty members who have been on Modified Service, but are no longer, should be terminated in Workday. Retired faculty should not be inactivated. If they return to work later, they can be rehired via the Modified Service process.
Rolling contracts
Rolling contracts may be offered only after being approved by the Senior Associate Dean and reviewed by the Chief Business Officer. Approved rolling contracts will be included on the department’s annual instructional budget during spring budget review for the following Fiscal Year. Requests for rolling contracts that have not been approved and included on the department’s instructional budget will be handled as Fixed Term until they can be reviewed for inclusion in the department budget for the following year.
Rolling contracts are issued by COE Faculty Affairs and uploaded to Workday by the department Academic HR Partner.
Maintaining contracts
Academic HR Partners should regularly run the Workday report Faculty Positions Missing Contracts – RPT0976 for their unit sup orgs and take action for any faculty member identified as having a missing or expired contract. As a reminder, all faculty in active positions in the following populations should have a contract in Workday:
Professional-Track faculty (including 0%)
Retired faculty, including Modified Service and Phased Retirement status, regardless of tenure status at the time of retirement
In most cases, the faculty contract will be maintained through a sub-process of other business processes associated with making job changes. For example, processing a Change Job will initiate the Maintain Employee Contract sub-process. However, if a change needs to be made independent of other job changes or if an incorrect contract needs to be corrected, departments can do so following the Maintain Professional Track Faculty Contracts W.I.G.
Process for changing from a rolling to a fixed-term contract
Individuals on rolling contracts must receive a new appointment letter in advance of every academic year that includes an additional year of employment. An individual may be moved from a rolling contract term to a fixed contract term encompassing the same number of years (i.e., 2-year rolling to 2-year fixed or 3-year rolling to 3-year fixed) at the discretion of the supervisor(s). When an individual is moved from a rolling to a fixed contract term, this must be clearly communicated in a new appointment letter.
The end date of the new, fixed term, is dependent on when the change is communicated. If communicated May 1 or earlier, the current year may serve as the first year of the new term. If communicated May 2 or later, the subsequent year will serve as the first year of the new term. Exceptions may be made to this timeline on a case-by-case basis following consultation with the Provost’s Office.
See guidance at ServiceNow: Faculty Affairs & Academic Personnel Services > Knowledge > FA/APS Knowledge Articles > Professional-Track Titles, Contract Terms, and Renewal Guidelines > Professional-Track Renewal Guidelines > Section 6.
Process for non-renewal of a Short Term or Fixed contract
Per ServiceNow: Faculty Affairs & Academic Personnel Services > Knowledge > FA/APS Knowledge Articles > Professional-Track Titles, Contract Terms, and Renewal Guidelines > Professional-Track Renewal Guidelines > Section 7:
When an individual who has been consistently employed in previous years will not be renewed for the subsequent year, this should be clearly communicated in a letter to the faculty member. Non-renewal letter templates are available at ServiceNow: Faculty Affairs & Academic Personnel Services > Knowledge > FA/APS Knowledge Articles > Professional-Track Titles, Contract Terms, and Renewal Guidelines.
Early notification is expected, and the deadline for notification is no later than May 1 of the final academic year of employment, when possible. It is recommended to discuss any plans for non-renewal with the Senior Associate Dean and/or COE Faculty Affairs prior to taking action.
Please send suggested additions to this page and notifications about broken links to COE-FacultyAffairs@austin.utexas.edu.