Compliance Certification Report

3.2.9

The institution defines and publishes policies regarding appointment and employment of faculty and staff. (Faculty/Staff Appointment)

Narrative:

The policies and procedures regarding appointment and employment of faculty and staff are defined and published in The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) Institutional Handbook of Operating Procedures (IHOP) (1). The IHOP incorporates the Regents' Rules and Regulations in general (2), including sections of the Rules that address appointment and employment of faculty and staff (3) (4). In addition, the IHOP includes institutional policies related to other faculty and staff issues, administration, compliance, academic and student policies, and health, safety, and security.

Section 5 of the IHOP delineates each of the UTMB faculty employment-related policies and procedures (5). Policies applicable to the employment of staff (and in some cases, students, volunteers, and visitors) are set out in Section 3 (Employee-Related) (6). Orientation and exit processes policies for staff and students in Section 3 apply to faculty as well and are included in the index to faculty-related policies and procedures. Section 6, on compliance-related policies, includes policies that could affect termination or dismissal of both faculty and staff (7).

UTMB’s institutional non-clinical policies are subject to review and approval by the IHOP Committee and the Council of Deans, with the final institutional approval by the Strategic Executive Council. Policies are then sent to the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs for System approval (8). Upon approval by the UT System, all policy updates are published on the IHOP web site and notification of the approvals are set to faculty, staff, and students via the UTMB E-mail Broadcast Daily Announcement.

Policies regarding appointment and employment of faculty are also published in the faculty handbooks for the schools of medicine, nursing, and allied health (9) (10) (11). The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) does not provide a faculty handbook because all GSBS faculty members consists of members, associate members, and special members who have their primary academic appointment in one of the other three schools and who are qualified by their scholarly or creative work and effectiveness in teaching graduate students (12).

UTMB adheres to the procedures outlined in “Creating a Diverse Workforce” workbook (13). The President has delegated to The Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity (OEOD) the responsibility to coordinate implementation of the Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action programs associated with the appointment and employment of faculty and staff within the university (14).