Each school, college, and UAB Libraries shall have, and departments may have, written statements of policies that set forth criteria and procedures for new appointments, reappointments, promotions, awards of tenure, leaves, and other matters related to faculty affairs within a faculty handbook. The UAB Faculty Handbook and Policies supersedes unit and department faculty handbooks if in conflict, and unit and department handbooks cannot be less stringent or inconsistent with the Faculty Handbook. Approval of revisions to a unit or department handbook shall follow a process of shared consent of both the faculty and the administration, as in effect from time to time.

Before written school, college, or UAB Libraries policies are put into effect, they should be reviewed by the school, college, or UAB Libraries faculty affairs committee and approved by the dean. Final approval is granted by the Provost. In absence of such school, college, or UAB Libraries policies, the appropriate dean, with the approval of the Provost and President, may establish relevant school, college, or UAB Libraries policies, on an interim basis, which are consistent with this Faculty Handbook. Before department policies are put into effect, they should be reviewed by the school faculty affairs committee and approved by the department chair/library dean. Final approval of department policies is granted by the dean. Approved (signature and date documentation) policies and policy changes as defined by the school, college, UAB Libraries, or department handbooks, should be made available to a faculty member throughout their appointment.

Faculty appointments and changes in faculty status require approval of the appropriate dean and Provost and are not effective until approved by the Provost.
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2.11.1 School, College or UAB Libraries Committees

The policies of each school, college, or UAB Libraries shall provide for a group of faculty to (1) consider and make recommendations to the dean concerning faculty personnel actions related to tenure and promotion and (2) present general advice and recommendations concerning faculty matters to the dean. Among other duties, the committee(s), in consultation with the dean, shall be charged with the responsibility of ensuring adequate faculty personnel procedures in the school, college, or UAB Libraries.

The committee shall be comprised of faculty members elected by the faculty and appointed by the dean. However, no more than one-half of the membership shall be appointed. Administrators (Deans, Chairs, or Division Directors) must recuse themselves from Committee discussion or votes of any individual they supervise.  While tenured, tenure-earning, and non-tenure-earning faculty may serve on the committee, only tenured faculty, regardless of rank, may vote on initial appointments with tenure and awards of tenure. Only faculty members at or above the rank to which the individual under consideration is to be appointed or promoted may vote on initial appointment or promotion.
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2.11.2 Departmental Policies and Committees

(Note, that since the UAB Libraries do not have departments, the Dean of the UAB Libraries shall act in the place of a chair for all library-related faculty policy and employment decisions normally carried out by a UAB departmental chair.)

If departments desire that the policies and procedures for appointment, reappointment, promotion, and tenure be more specific than those of their respective schools or reflect a unique departmental mission, such policies and procedures shall be contained in departmental written policy. Departmental faculty policies and procedures shall be developed by the department chair and departmental faculty, in consultation with the dean, and must be approved by the departmental faculty, department chair, the school faculty affairs committee and the dean. Departmental policies shall not be less stringent than, or be inconsistent with, UAB or school policies.

Unless specifically stated otherwise in a school’s policies, each department within that school shall have a committee (which may include at least three faculty members or up to all faculty in a department who are eligible to vote on tenure and/or promotion decisions) to consider and make recommendations to the chair concerning faculty personnel actions whenever departmental review is required. This committee shall be comprised of faculty members chosen by the faculty.

If a department has less than three eligible committee members, the chair, upon consultation with the eligible department faculty, shall appoint additional eligible faculty member(s) to complete the minimum committee membership of three from either departmental emeritus faculty or outside of the department preferably from a closely related discipline. In the event no faculty are eligible to serve on a departmental committee, then the department chair will form an ad hoc “departmental" committee of eligible faculty members from closely related disciplines to review and make recommendation of the academic merit to the school-wide committee.

All departmental promotion and tenure review committees shall allow only faculty at or above the rank to which the individual under consideration is to be appointed or promoted to vote on such actions. Only tenured faculty may vote on appointments that involve tenure. Administrators (Deans, Chairs, or Division Directors) must recuse themselves from Committee discussion or votes of any individual they supervise.
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