Faculty Appointments and Conditions of Employment

Faculty Appointment Policy

This policy shall apply to all academic units for the appointment to an academic rank. The policy shall be applicable to all full- and part-time positions, permanent and temporary positions, joint, secondary and adjunct positions, regardless of funding source.

To appoint any person to an academic rank requires a positive recommendation from the faculty of the academic unit to which the person is to be assigned. The faculty of each academic unit may formally designate a subgroup to act for the unit as a whole, if it so wishes. Such subgroups may include search committees, department and college executive committees or senates.
There shall be a search committee for each new or vacant faculty position. The University of Delaware Recruitment Manual for faculty, professional and salaried staff members sets forth the policy governing the establishment of search committees and the search procedures for filling faculty positions.
The college dean and department chairperson act for the college and department faculty, respectively. It is understood that they consult with college or department faculty according to college and department policies and procedures in making their recommendations.

Academic rank must be approved by the Provost and appointments with tenure must be approved by the Provost and President.

The full-time teaching assignment at the University of Delaware is twelve credit contact hours or 18 teaching contact hours per week per semester for the academic year. In practice, however, the University adheres to a policy of "administered" teaching loads. Under this arrangement, department chairpersons and deans are encouraged to vary the teaching loads of individual faculty members so long as the total teaching obligations are met with the teaching personnel available. This flexible arrangement makes it possible for the chairpersons to make assignments of individual faculty members on a semester-to-semester basis to stimulate research and scholarship or to provide for unusually heavy committee assignments.