Specialized Faculty Reclassification Update Fall 2013

Specialized Faculty (SF; previously NTTF)
Reclassification Plan

This fall most Specialized (Non-Tenure Track) Faculty will be reclassified.  The UFF and the FSU Board of Trustees have agreed to a reclassification plan for specialized faculty, which concluded a six-year effort to update SF job descriptions and make other changes to the CBA.  These changes address issues important to SF, including the potential to earn two-year and four-year employment contracts and clarified opportunities for promotion.  The changes specified in this plan, which began with a Faculty Senate Report in November, 2006, have now been approved by the Public Employees Relations Commission (PERC) (May 2013).  Specific changes to the contract called for in this plan will be implemented this fall and are planned to be concluded by December 23, 2013.   This 46-page agreement defies easy summary, but here are some key points:

1. Certain UFF-represented position classifications will be eliminated, and new ones created, with the new classifications providing clear “job ladders” or “tracks” (e.g., Teaching Faculty, Research Faculty, Instructional Specialist, Research Support Faculty, Librarian and Curator) (pp. 2-3, 8).
2. Each of these 6 tracks will have 3 ranks of clear promotion analogous to faculty ranks.
3. The positions of Computer Specialist, Music Specialist and Childcare specialist will still exist.
4. New position classifications may hold honorific “professor” titles with approval from an appropriate academic unit (pp. 16-17).
5. Curators, Librarians and new classifications at the second (II) and third (III) levels (e.g., Associate University Librarian, Teaching Faculty II, Research Faculty III) with clear job ladders and established and rigorous promotion procedures will be given two-year and four-year contracts, respectively (pp. 4-7). Currently, only one-year contracts are issued.
6. Multi-year SF contracts may be curtailed prematurely following an unsuccessful Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). PIP success or failure determinations may be appealed to a special committee, which can make recommendations to the FSU President (pp. 5-6).
7. Current notice of non-renewal requirements for first level (I) SF will remain unchanged except that Level I faculty on Contracts and Grants (C&G) funds will receive at least 30 days notice, if funding permits (p. 10). Currently, no notice is required for Level I C&G-funded faculty.
8. Promotion procedures for SF will be standardized (pp. 11-15).
9. Specialized Faculty (SF) assignments will normally require at least 75% of the assignment be in the SF member’s specialized area (e.g., Teaching Faculty should have at least 75% of their assignments in teaching), with provisions for certain exceptions (pp. 8-9).
10. Those objecting to their reclassification may appeal and also may refuse reclassification, effectively “grandfathering in” to their current positions (pp. 20, 22).
11. Reclassifications will normally be lateral. In no instance will reclassification result in a pay cut (p. 7).
12. Specialized faculty positions may be reclassified to tenure-track positions (p. 21).
13. The University must report near the start of each Fall semester the current numbers of UFF- represented faculty FTEs that are Specialized Faculty (SF) and tenured and tenure track faculty (TTF) and the number of credit hours taught the previous year by faculty in each position classification (p. 4).

For more information contact the UFF-FSU Bargaining team

Memorandum of Agreement Specialized Faculty Reclassification

Presentation on Specialized Faculty Reclassification by Susannah Miller (HR)