Faculty Resources
UAS maintains two types of faculty handbooks – one for full-time faculty and one for part-time, adjunct faculty. These documents provide faculty with the resources necessary to be successful in their roles as at UAS. Everything in the handbooks arises from University of Alaska Board of Regents policies and regulations, UAS policies, and faculty collective bargaining agreements.
Other important materials regarding University planning and governance reside within UAS websites such as the Provost's Office, the Chancellor's Office, and the Faculty Senate website. Faculty are encouraged to visit these websites to be apprised of strategic planning, budget issues, and other matters of importance.
Full-time Faculty
Full-time faculty form the foundation of UAS. Along with providing instruction, they also play important leadership roles in research, service, shared governance, faculty recruitment and evaluation, and much more. The UAS Faculty Handbook is a comprehensive document detailing these importance processes and is intended to be the primary resource for full-time faculty.
Adjunct Faculty
Adjunct faculty play a major role in helping UAS achieve its mission. They comprise the majority of instructors at UAS, making possible the wide diversity of subjects and degrees available for learning. As part-time employees, they have different needs and priorities than other faculty. The UAS Adjunct Handbook reflects this difference. It contains important contact information for questions about instruction, instructional technology, administrative procedures, and more.
Updates
The UAS faculty handbooks are reviewed and updated annually. The full-time Faculty Handbook is updated by an ad hoc working group created by the Faculty Senate President and Provost. This group’s recommended changes are forwarded to Faculty Senate for action no later than their regular May meeting. Once approved by the Chancellor, the resulting final handbook is posted on the web.
The Adjunct Faculty Handbook is updated by the Provost’s Office, in collaboration with the Adjunct Faculty Union President.
The University of Alaska strives to provide its faculty members with the resources necessary to develop as educators and further their academic careers. The documents below provide information regarding some of the resources available to faculty through UAS and the UA system.
UAS Faculty Hiring Checklist - In addition to all UA required hiring guidelines, please see this checklist for UAS faculty recruitments.
University Board of Regents policies and regulations, UAS policies, and faculty collective bargaining agreements provide that faculty performance be evaluated regularly. Different evaluation processes are in place for tenure-track, tenured, term, and adjunct faculty.
Tenure-Track & Tenured Faculty
Evaluation of full-time, tenure-track and tenured faculty at the University of Alaska is governed by faculty union collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). Beginning in May 2018, all UAS tenured and tenure track faculty belong to United Academics.
In addition to the UNAC faculty collective bargaining agreement, the UAS Faculty Handbook is an important resource on the evaluation processes, how faculty should prepare for promotion, tenure, and post-tenure reviews, and guidelines on evaluating faculty performance in teaching, service, and research.
The Provost’s Office provides administrative support to the various faculty evaluation processes, including maintaining tenure-track and tenured faculty review master tracking sheets that summarize when faculty are up for comprehensive evaluation reviews and evaluation planners that succinctly depict the milestones of each evaluation process.
- The UNAC United Academics Master Tracking Sheet AY 2025 is being prepared. The AY 24 list is available here. Please report any updates or corrections to the Provost's Office For more information contact the Academic and Faculty Services Coordinator at (907) 796-6147.
Term Faculty
Term faculty (non-tenure track) faculty in the United Academics bargaining unit are subject to annual evaluation by the dean or director based on their annual activity report under section 9.2.7.a. of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and the UAS faculty handbook. Section 9.2.7.b. of the CBA outlines the requirements and process for term faculty to be evaluated for promotion. These evaluations serve an important role in ensuring that UAS meets accreditation standards and its mission.
Adjunct Faculty
Adjunct self-assessment is part of UAS’ overall effort to provide constructive and timely feedback to adjuncts, focusing on continuous improvement of instruction. It is an important part of improving the quality of UAS’ teaching and learning—key to accreditation and student success. While voluntary, adjunct instructors are encouraged to complete an annual adjunct faculty self-assessment form prior to the end of their current teaching year. The completed self-assessments are subsequently reviewed by the appropriate program coordinator or department chair that then provides a response to the adjunct instructor.
The Faculty Contract Calendar is a foundational planning tool used to set the times for critical recurring events that are fundamental to our institution including faculty contract start/end dates, semester start/end dates, finals weeks, holidays and campus closures, spring break, convocations, commencements, etc. They are the structure upon which academic calendars are built. Faculty Contract Calendars are designed specifically to ensure UAS meets its accreditation and faculty collective bargaining agreement obligations, and to maximize student success. They are developed using the UA common calendar and approved via a shared governance process and posted on the Web years in advance in order to optimize institution-wide planning. These documents are maintained by the Provost’s Office.