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The Provost's Office Policy on Faculty Appointments in Non-departmental Units (hereafter "the Policy") states that for a non-departmental unit to make faculty appointments, it must have an overseeing faculty body, such as a faculty steering or executive committee to approve and review such appointments. Procedures for selecting the faculty comprising this committee and for approving and reviewing faculty appointments to the unit must be set forth in a unit Manual of Operations and Procedures (unit MOP), which must be approved by its college(s) and the Office of the Provost. This document provides guidance in developing a unit MOP with the required procedures for units making faculty appointments. 

Note that the Policy provides for adjunct faculty, visiting, clinical, and other non-tenure-track faculty, and tenured faculty appointments. It does not provide for greater than 0% appointments of tenure-track probationary faculty because of the incompatibility of the two types of appointments. That is, a non-departmental faculty appointment is a term appointment based on a voluntary agreement that must be renewed periodically, whereas those of tenure-track probationary faculty are contracts between the faculty member and the University. Thus, a non-departmental unit may choose simply not to renew an agreement with a faculty member, whereas non-reappointment of a tenure-track probationary faculty member is governed by the University Operations Manual. It is important to note that nothing in the Policy forbids affiliation of nontenure-track faculty with a non-departmental unit or for such a unit to provide part of a faculty member’s salary. In such cases, however, the appointment itself remains entirely in the home department. 

Initially, no faculty in a given non-departmental unit will have the kind of University-recognized appointments that the Policy allows. To avoid a logical bind, the Provost's Office will waive the requirement that appointments must be made by an overseeing faculty body and will approve 0% appointments of adjunct, other non-tenure track, or regular tenured faculty in a non-departmental unit on a one-time basis for each unit wishing to make such appointments. Such units must be able to document their existence and must have a reasonably well-identified faculty or staff member who can act in the role of Unit Executive Officer (UEO) for developing and approving the appointment forms as well as for developing a MOP, which must approved by the relevant dean(s)/VP(s) and the Office of the Provost. Faculty seeking appointment in the unit must have a reasonably clear existing affiliation with such a unit and will be appointed in the unit upon completion of a unit Manual of Procedures and an appointment agreement as specified in the Policy. 

The Provost's Office also will consider requests to approve greater than 0% appointments made by the UEO and approved by the relevant dean(s)/VP(s), while reserving the right to deny the request and enforce the policy requirement that such appointments be approved by a faculty executive committee. 

To make reappointments or additional appointments beyond the initial exempt set, policy guidelines must be followed. 

Any group of UI faculty who wish to form a new unit capable of making faculty appointments should begin with discussions with the relevant deans(s)/VP(s) and contact the Office of the Provost at an appropriate time in those discussions. 

Regarding the formation of an Executive Committee (EC), at a minimum, the unit MOP must specify the following. 

1. Size. A minimum of 4 tenured faculty are required. Depending on the size of the unit, ECs will typically have 5-7 faculty members. Members of the EC may or may not have formal appointments in the unit (see (d)ii.)
2. (S)election process. Many units already have in place an overseeing faculty body for other purposes. This existing body may be adopted as the EC initially, but the unit MOP must describe how its membership will evolve. Possibilities include: (i) election by the unit's faculty; (ii) appointment by the UEO with approval by the EC; (iii) volunteering to serve, with approval of the EC; or (iv) some other mechanism or procedure. The guidelines set forth in this may evolve over time as we learn more about procedures that work well and those that don't, but at present, the Provost's Office wishes to allow for unit discretion in developing a (s)election process. Therefore, conditional on the approval of the unit's Dean(s)/VP(s), the Provost's Office is prepared to approve any reasonable mechanism or procedures for (s)election of faculty to the unit EC.
3. EC "terms of office." Staggered appointments of 3-5 years are recommended for a balance of continuity and change.
4. Composition. (i) The EC ideally should reflect the range and distribution of disciplines represented in the unit and the unit MOP should specify a procedure for ensuring reasonable representation. (ii) The unit MOP should specify whether some or all members of the EC must have University-recognized appointments in the unit or whether some or all members may have only informal affiliations with the unit (such as those that exist currently).
5. EC Chair and UEO. The unit MOP should specify how the EC shall (s)elect its Chair and whether this person is the same or may be different from the UEO. If a unit has a staff member as the UEO, the unit MOP may allow the UEO to participate in discussions regarding faculty appointments and reviews, but the UEO may not vote on faculty appointments or reviews. 

Regarding procedures for approving and reviewing faculty appointments, at a minimum the unit MOP must specify: 

1. procedures for approval and for non-renewal of formal appointments and informal affiliations
2. terms of appointment and affiliation 

Other required elements of unit MOPs: 

1. how the unit's faculty will be defined; for example, if a unit has both faculty with University appointments and faculty with only informal affiliations with the unit, will there be any distinctions made between them with regards to voting rights, ability to serve on the unit EC, etc.
2. how the unit MOP may be modified