Woman with red umbrella walking past red phone booth

Annual Call

Download 2023-24 Annual Call for Academic Personnel Advancement Actions (PDF)
Download 2023-24 Annual Call Appendix A only (PDF)

July 26, 2023

RE:     2023-2024 Annual Call for Academic Personnel Advancement for Academic Senate and Academic Federation Actions

Dear Colleagues:

With this Annual Call for the 2023-2024 academic year, I am pleased to remind you of changes in policies, procedures, and interpretations that have taken place over the past year.

We strongly recommend that department chairs review this information and distribute it to all academic appointees. We also encourage department chairs to discuss important new items and reminders with academic appointees at a department meeting.

Please pay close attention to the deadlines for both non-redelegated (central campus) and redelegated (dean) actions in Appendix A of this Annual Call.

Please contact our office if you have any questions on any of this information/guidance. Thank you for your assistance and cooperation in continually improving the complex advancement process at UC Davis.

Sincerely,
Philip H. Kass
Vice Provost—Academic Affairs
Distinguished Professor of Analytic Epidemiology,
Population Health and Reproduction (Veterinary Medicine), and Public Health Sciences (Medicine)

 

ACADEMIC RECRUITMENTS

Reminder – Restrictions on New Hire Offers from other UC Campuses: When the candidate is from another UC campus, Deans and department chairs should not make any offers or promises during the recruitment process about increasing off-scale salary. This is required even when the faculty member’s off-scale salary component at UC Davis would be less than the average off-scale salary in the college/school and scale. At least one year must transpire before any adjustment in off-scale will be allowed, with the exception of adjustments mandated by the campus or UCOP. 

Clarification – Required STEAD-certification for Members of Faculty Recruitment Committees: All members of faculty (ladder, Academic Senate, including LSOE series) and endowed chair (internal and external searches) recruitment committees must be STEAD-certified, or certified through participation in Schools of Health recruitment workshops, before the evaluation of applicants ends. Department Chairs should ensure that all recruitment committee members who will be serving on faculty recruitment committees sign up for this training as early as possible. Accessing certification information is described here: https://aadocs.ucdavis.edu/training/stead-faculty-search-committee-workshops/Stead-Certification-Finder-Instructions.pdf. The STEAD workshop schedule can be found at: https://academicaffairs.ucdavis.edu/stead. Registration for the Schools of Health (Medicine and Nursing) workshops can be found at: https://health.ucdavis.edu/facultydev/faculty-development-offerings/faculty-search-committee-training.html.

  • STEAD certification expires after three academic years. A faculty member who participated in STEAD or SOM workshops during the 2020-21 academic year will retain certification until June 30, 2024.
  • SOM/SON faculty recruitment committee members may also participate in the STEAD program to become certified if serving on faculty recruitments described above.
  • Non-UCD members of a faculty search committee must also be certified.

NOTE: The STEAD committee’s additional workshops/sessions are as follows:

  • “Setting the stage” aimed at deans, associate deans, chairs, and staff on preparing for a faculty recruitment and provided at the end of each academic year in order to prepare for upcoming recruitments, and
  • “Implicit Bias in the Review Process” designed as an interactive meeting to provide information and resources to members of the Academic Senate’s Committee on Academic Personnel and the Faculty Personnel Committees (in each college/school).

While these sessions are not mandated, attendance for those groups is encouraged. For more information, please review the STEAD webpage here: https://academicaffairs.ucdavis.edu/stead.

Reminder – Approving Shortlist Reports in UC Recruit: There are three reminders related to approving Shortlist Reports in UC Recruit:

  • The hiring authority, or potential hiring authority, should not be the approver of the Shortlist Report.
  • Search committee chairs must ensure that either the Faculty Recruitment Conflict of Interest (COI) Statement and Form or the Non-Faculty Recruitment Committee Conflict of Interest (COI) Statement and Form is completed and uploaded to the recruitment at the same time the Shortlist Report is submitted for review and approval routing. Both of these documents were updated in 2021 and can be accessed on our Forms and Checklists webpage. The statement and form should be uploaded to the “Documentation” tab, under the “Letters and memos” section of the recruitment. Shortlist Reports will not be reviewed or moved forward to the final decision authority until the COI Statement and Form is added to the recruitment.
  • For Senate Shortlist Reports the “Equity Advisor” role, filled by Academic Affairs, is advisory to the final approval authority. For this reason, Academic Affairs will update the UC Recruit Senate Shortlist Report approval workflows so that the routing reflects the advisory role properly.

Reminder – Resolve UC Recruit Change Requests: Please remember to resolve your UC Recruit change requests. If you do not resolve your change request, the recruitment will not be added back to the to-do list of the approver/reviewer who sent the request.

 

ACADEMIC REVIEWS

New – Good Standing Program: Academic Affairs is finalizing a draft policy that outlines requirements needed for academic appointments to attain the status of “Good Standing.” (Note: The previous policy draft that was distributed for review was entitled “Incentivizing Completion of Mandatory Systemwide Trainings via Achievement of ‘Current on all Trainings and Reporting.’”)  Attaining Good Standing enables appointees to be eligible for: endowed appointments/reappointments, range adjustments on the off-scale components, salary compensation plans, leaves of absence (non-medical), and more. The new Good Standing policy is planned for issuance in fall 2023.

New – Late Submission of Actions: Due to the worsening problem of late actions, Academic Affairs is instituting the following guidelines:

  • Academics should be strongly encouraged to write their optional candidate statements as early as possible, including over the summer for actions due to their department in fall quarter.  Please ask faculty to have their dossiers completed by September 1, 2023 for fall actions, even if they are academic year faculty.
  • Academics who do not submit their materials to their departments by the due dates in Appendix A must request an extension from the Dean for just cause (e.g., illness).  No more than two (two-week) extensions will be granted, and if the dossier is not submitted in, then the action will become an administrative deferral. Eligibility will be updated to the next review cycle unless an exception with strong justification is approved by the Vice Provost.
  • Accelerated promotion actions are voluntary and not eligible for extensions.
  • Departments should identify and receive acceptances from extramural reviewers as early as February or March of the year preceding the advancement action, even if the extramural letters are not due until fall.  Many extramural letter writers will only agree to writing a certain number of letters in an academic year, so the earlier the departments can obtain commitments, the better.
  • Departments are encouraged to conduct preliminary votes well in advance of the deadline for actions that could trigger the need for extramural letters (e.g., promotion or advancement to Step VI or Above Scale).  Earlier voting should minimize delays.
  • Deans should work with their chairs to ensure that departments meet their deadlines for submitting actions to deans’ offices.  This may require departments to hold additional meetings in the fall to discuss advancement actions prior to voting.

New – Housing of Grants: Academic Affairs has learned that some faculty have been advised that the academic unit where their grants and contracts are housed/administered, such as in a department, center, research program, or Organized Research Unit can potentially affect the outcome of their advancement actions.  This is incorrect because where a grant or contract is managed and administered is not a valid criterion for evaluation of academic advancement in the UC Academic Personnel Manual.  Faculty should consult with their chairs, directors, deans, etc. about where their extramural funds are housed/administered without concern that this could have an adverse impact on their merit and promotion actions.

New Dean’s Signature on Promotions: Reminder that Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Croughan would like the deans to sign or co-sign the letters for promotion actions.

New – Student Evaluations for Fall 2022: Because the strike had a manifest impact on instructors and courses in Fall 2022, faculty may voluntarily remove their student evaluations from this specific quarter in future dossiers. It is entirely up to the individual faculty member if they want to do this or not, but the option will now be afforded to them.

New – Breaches of Confidentiality: The list of reviewers is considered confidential. All extramural letters received are redacted so as not to breach confidentiality of the references. If the identity of the reviewers has been revealed, the department must write to each of the named reviewers and explain that there has been a breach of confidentiality and that the candidate not only knows that they served as a reviewer, but also has a sense of their letter. The reviewer should be informed that they have the option of declining any future request from UC Davis with the explanation that their confidentiality had previously been compromised. It is a violation of the system-wide Faculty Code of Conduct (APM 015 Part II D. 5.) to breach established rules governing confidentiality in personnel procedures.

New – Linking Merits and Appraisals in MIV: When merits and appraisals are created as linked actions in MIV, then they share the same packet in their dossiers. If you unlink these actions, the connection between the dossier remains unless you delete one of the actions and start over with an unlinked merit or appraisal. Please make sure if you want these actions to be linked and if linked create the packet accordingly.

New – Strike Impact Statement in MIV: The strike impact statement is an optional statement explaining the impact the strike had on faculty research and teaching activities and any extraordinary efforts faculty may have made in service of the university’s teaching mission. Moreover, faculty will be able to include these extraordinary efforts under University Service in MIV. The upload for this statement is available in MIV. There is a one-page limit.

New – Statement of Contributions to Public and Global Impact in MIV: The statement of contributions to public and global impact is available in MIV. Description: Academic scholarship includes engaging locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, but the full breadth and impact of that work is not always appreciated or easily understood by those who evaluate their merit and promotion dossiers. It is currently difficult to understand, visualize, and evaluate the breadth of academic activities that fall under these cross-cutting and high-priority areas for the university. These activities span the pillars of research, teaching, and service. As such, this optional statement will provide the opportunity for academics to specifically address areas of public and global impact in their dossier. Public and global impact may be evidenced by, for example: peer-reviewed publications, knowledge being brought into the policy and decision-making process, improving professional practice, pedagogical innovations, public exhibitions/installations, grants, contracts or competitive awards, and ways in which academic public and global impact intersects with efforts to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion.

New – Non-Peer-Reviewed Articles in MIV: Articles that are not peer-reviewed, editorials, introductions to books, etc. should not be included with peer-reviewed articles in MIV.  They may be instead placed in the other publication sections in MIV.

New – Advancement from Step 8/8.5 to Above Scale: Faculty merits that are proposed to go from step 8.0/8.5 to above scale should be based on “rare and compelling” reasons (APM 220-18). When invoked, these reasons must be clearly articulated by the reviewing body (department letter, FPC, Dean, and/or CAP) as to why they are “rare and compelling.” It is insufficient to state that the criteria of evaluation are “outstanding” for Step Plus purposes because outstanding efforts are recognized numerous times each year under Step Plus, hence are not “rare,” and outside letter writers will also likely be unaware of the “rare and compelling” requirement under the APM.

Reminder – Step Plus Promotions and Barrier Step Merits: For promotions and barrier step merits which have longer review periods, departments are advised to separate out activities in the most recent review period. Justifications for extra half-step advancements should clearly cite the category (e.g., research, teaching, service, etc.) and specific contributions, either during the most recent period of review (if candidate was awarded for the same category in a previous merit period during the longer period of review) or during the entire period of review (if candidate was never awarded during the longer review period). Candidates may be rewarded again for a category for which they have previously received extra half-step advancements, but this is contingent upon the dossier making a compelling case and clearly identifying the activities in the most recent review period that warrant additional recognition. This guidance follows the clarification endorsed by the Academic Senate on June 2, 2022 regarding promotions and barrier step merits: “For consideration of additional half steps at the time of promotion or barrier step advancement, if Step Plus recognition has been awarded in a previous merit cycle in the review period, further Step Plus recognition for that specific area (e.g., research, teaching, service, professional competence and activities) will require additional and compelling evidence of outstanding achievement that is distinct from what was previously awarded.”

Reminder – APM UCD 285: As outlined in the 2019-2020 annual call, the review criteria for APM 285, Lecturer with Security of Employment (LSOE) Series, was revised effective October 1, 2018. All faculty appointed on or after October 1, 2018, were only to be evaluated under the revised criteria. However, there was a transition period through June 30, 2023, to retain the previous criteria for faculty appointed in the LSOE series prior to October 1, 2018, and who elected to be evaluated under the previous criteria. 

As of June 30, 2023, the transition period for the previous review criteria for the LSOE series has concluded, and the criteria have been removed from the Academic Affairs website. Effective July 1, 2023, all faculty in the LSOE series will be evaluated under revised APM 285 effective October 1, 2018.

Reminder – Distinguished Professor Emerita/us: For Academic Senate Faculty who are eligible for automatic Emerita/us status upon retirement who are at Professor, Step 9 or 9.5 and who will be retiring before advancing to Above Scale, department(s) may prepare a dossier requesting the title “Distinguished Professor Emerita/us” that would be forwarded to the Dean’s office and to CAP per the Delegation of Authority and assessed by the standards of UC APM 220-18.b.4. This action would need to be completed within twelve-months of the faculty member’s retirement. If approved, this title would be conferred upon the date of retirement. This process is a change in title only and will not result in advancement to Above Scale.  

Reminder – Peer Evaluation of Teaching for Any Action: Faculty can request a peer evaluation of teaching for any action to provide a more balanced perspective on their teaching record beyond student evaluations.

Reminder – Items to Include with Extramural Letter Requests: While UC Davis has recently encouraged departments to utilize a more holistic evaluation process for advancements due to the deleterious impact of the pandemic on academic careers, extramural letter writers may not be aware of this. Therefore, when seeking extramural letters, we recommend that Department Chairs also consider including with the request the candidate’s statement, statement of contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and, if available, the COVID opportunities and challenges statement, strike impact statement, and/or the statement of contribution to public and global impact. Any of these items provided to extramural letter writers should first be approved by the candidate, as some faculty may not wish these documents to be shared outside the university.

Reminder Jr. Specialist Reappointment Guidance: Absent serious performance issues, a Jr. Specialist reappointed for a second year in that title must be moved from salary step 1 to salary step 2.

Reminder – COVID Impact Statements in MyInfoVault (MIV): COVID impact statement should be uploaded into MIV as “COVID Opportunities and Challenges Statement.” This should no longer be included as the 6th page of a Candidate’s Statement.

Reminder – Advancement Announcements: Department Chairs should not announce the outcome of a candidate’s merit/promotion to the department faculty. The announcement should be made to the candidate only.

Reminder – Reference Check Process: Reminder that reference checks for the recruitment process of Academic Senate Ladder Rank Assistant Professor, Steps 4, 5, or 6 through Professor, Lecturer with Potential for Security of Employment, Steps 4, 5, or 6 through Senior Lecturer with Security of Employment, and Acting Professor of Law through Professor of Law positions. You can find more details on Academic Affairs’ Reference Check Information webpage.

Reminder– Extramural Letter Solicitation: Extramural letters should be solicited from faculty of a rank equal to or above the rank sought by the faculty member. (APM UCD 220 V4.b.)

Extended - Exception to September 30 Material Submission Deadline for Academic Year 2023-24: If an advancement action is not recommended or approved (i.e., a 0-step increase) by any reviewer (department or equivalent, FPC, Dean, or CAP), academic members may request an extension due to COVID-19-related reasons to include any new activities and achievements between October 1, 2023 through December 31, 2023. The dossier will then be returned to the department for a new vote. If advancement is achieved based on the extended deadline, then the line demarcating periods of review in MIV will be drawn below the materials used in the 2023-24 action. This will be the last year for this exception.

Reminder – Candidate’s Statement: Enforcing the Five-Page Rule: Central review committees have indicated that for reasons of equity they will no longer accept any statements of more than five pages. Deans should return dossiers with longer statements to the departments to avoid delays, because otherwise the review committees will return them. This will also hold for promotion and barrier step actions.

Reminder – Extramural Letter Requirements for Lecturers with Potential Security of Employment: For consistency in the application of peer review standards for all Academic Senate faculty, 6-8 extramural letters, half of which should be arm’s length, are now required for promotion from Lecturer with Potential Security of Employment to Lecturer with Security of Employment. The Extramural Letters Chart has been updated to reflect this change. Extramural letters should sufficiently address teaching contributions beyond a mere review of printed or web course materials. External referees should also be asked to cite their own qualifications to evaluate the candidate’s professional and/or scholarly achievement and activities.  

Reminder – Extramural Letter Requirements for Adjunct Professors and Health Sciences Clinical Professors: Extramural letters are no longer required for Adjunct Professors and Health Sciences Clinical Professors undergoing merit reviews that cross the full rank, step 6 barrier. As with Senate faculty, extramural letters are optional for this barrier review, and if requested, the regular procedure for soliciting letters must be followed. The Extramural Letters Chart and Merit Checklist have been updated to reflect this change. 

Reminder – Extension Requests:  Every year the Annual Call includes advancement deadlines published in Appendix A. The published deadlines exist to ensure that peer and administrative review proceeds in a timely manner and to allow for prioritization of workload for the Academic Senate and Academic Federation review committees. Please remember that extensions must be requested prior to the due date of the action. No extensions for the submission of late merits or promotions will be granted without strong justification. Authority to grant extensions to the published deadlines and/or issue administrative deferrals will depend on the delegation of the eligible action.

Reminder – Annual Review of Faculty Members: Per APM 220-80.b, Department Chairs are responsible for reviewing the status and performance of each faculty member in their department. It is understood that merit eligibility has set intervals (e.g., every two, three, or four years), however, department chairs should be checking in annually with their faculty to make sure they are aware of cases for possible promotion as well as cases of unsatisfactory performance.

Reminder – Voting Procedures: Department Chairs are encouraged to work with their departments to regularly review their voting procedures and peer review guidelines.

Clarification – Department Letter Requirements: For those academic employees in series that do not have a formal position description, where the department has set expectations on % of time/effort in a given domain (e.g., teaching or clinical work), please provide those expectations in the first paragraph of the department letter as context for academic reviews. This includes series such as Professor of Clinical ____ which have been highlighted in similar messages in past annual calls, however, it also expands to include others without formal position descriptions.

For the Adjunct Professor series, the department letter must clearly describe the balance of research versus teaching expected of the candidate, including the percent of time/effort to help reviewers understand Adjunct Professors’ advancement actions better.

Reminder – Position Descriptions: When a position description exists, please upload it to the dossier. The position description should be consistent with the department’s expectations and the academic appointee’s contributions. If there are changes during the review period, the previous and current/new position descriptions should be uploaded and reflect the new percentages and/or duties.

Reminder – Ballots for Accelerated Promotions: Remember to include the lateral promotion option on accelerated promotion ballots.

Reminder – Joint Department Reviews: When a joint department does their concurrent review of an advancement action, the primary department is not required to share their department letter. The reviews should be run independently. (APM UCD 220 Procedure 2)

Reminder – Teaching Expectations for Faculty: All faculty are expected to fulfill all criteria in APM 210 and APM 220 relevant to their series to advance, including teaching students. Departments are encouraged to include in their letter the normal teaching load for faculty in the Professorial and LSOE series. Mentoring graduate students is not a substitute for teaching. If an above-scale faculty member elects not to teach during a review period via course buyouts, taking a leave of absence, etc., the advancement may be denied. Department Chairs should not authorize faculty to opt or buy out all their teaching through course releases, etc. unless it is made clear that future advancement may not be approved.

Reminder – MyInfoVault Considerations: In MyInfoVault, once a redelegated action is completed, it should be sent to Post Audit. Also, please convert your appointees to candidates as soon as they have computing accounts. This allows appointment actions to be archived and prevents issues when the candidate has their first advancement action. If you are not able to convert an appointee, please contact the MIV helpdesk, miv-help@ucdavis.edu.

Reminder – Changes to the Grants and Contracts Section in MyInfoVault (MIV): Four new fields were added to the Grants and Contracts data category in MIV last year: On-Campus Amount, Off-Campus Amount, Number of PIs/Co-PIs, and List all PIs and Co-PIs. These fields were added to give reviewers a more complete understanding of the award, which will aid in their evaluation. These new fields are now required for “Active” contracts and grant records in MIV (effective 7/31/2021). While they are not currently required for “Completed” contracts and grants, these fields should be filled in for all awarded grant records in the review period.

Reminder – Sabbatical Reports now Required in Merit and Promotion Dossiers: Per APM 740-97, sabbatical reports should be part of the supporting materials submitted with any proposal for promotion or merit increase, when the sabbatical took place during the review period. A new upload location for Sabbatical Reports has been added to MyInfoVault (MIV), on the Open Action page. As a reminder, sabbatical reports are due 90 calendar days following return from leave.

Reminder – New Data Category for the Lecturer with Security of Employment series in MyInfoVault (MIV): A new data category has been added to MIV so that those in the Lecturer with Security of Employment series can record their participation in programs of study (workshops, symposia, courses, etc.), that enhance their teaching and scholarly responsibilities, per APM 210-3. The new data category can be found in MIV by navigating to Enter Data→Education→LSOE Programs of Study.

Reminder – Published and Peer-Reviewed Proceedings: Candidates who have proceedings that are published and peer-reviewed are encouraged to link to a copy of the acceptance letter or other appropriate documentation to highlight the venue at which the publication was accepted and/or that reflect the peer review practice used by the venue and acceptance rate.

Reminder – Part-time Administrator Position Descriptions: Candidates are encouraged to upload position descriptions for any part-time administrator appointments that they hold so reviewers can understand the distinction between their administrative service and service related to their academic title, particularly if they are being recommended for extra half-steps for service.

Reminder – Manuscript Revisions: Candidates should not include manuscript revisions that are published by open access scholarly publishers as a separate published journal article in their MIV journal list even if the Pub Med function in MIV provides a separate citation in their journal publication list. This manuscript revision citation can be added to the original manuscript citation.

Reminder – Academic Review Packet Line Drawing for Review Period: All checklists for preparing dossiers for academic review includes guidance to indicate those materials that have been added since last approved action, if applicable, by drawing a line using the feature in MyInfoVault (MIV). Use this feature on all lists in Publications, Creative Activities, and Extending Knowledge (if cumulative). Previous lines drawn should remain for future actions, especially for promotion actions and actions that cross barrier steps. Lines should include effective date and new rank and step for all previous actions. For Senate title series, accomplishments since terminal degree and prior to appointment at UC count towards promotion to the associate rank and accomplishments prior to appointment may count towards promotion to full rank or merit to a barrier step (e.g., APM UCD 220 IV. C. 2. and E. 2.). Previous accomplishments prior to appointment are not counted towards promotion for Federation title series subject to APM UCD 220AF (e.g., APM UCD 220AF IV. E. 1.).

Reminder – Student Evaluations from Winter and Spring 2020: Faculty have the option to exclude evaluations for Winter 2020 and Spring 2020, where review policies for represented employees permit.

Reminder – Documenting Research and Service in a Dossier: Academics who are required to do research as part of their position responsibilities are always encouraged to explain the context and impact of their research and service in their Candidate’s Statement so that reviewers can recognize the uniqueness of their academic endeavors. While all areas of research and scholarship are valued, candidates often appreciate the opportunity to highlight unusual and distinguishing features of their work, such as influencing public policy, international research and engagement, public scholarship, work with underrepresented groups and disadvantaged communities, etc. Highlighting such efforts in the Candidate’s Statement can provide important insights that are otherwise not always evident in an advancement dossier.

Reminder – Faculty Serving as Reviewers or on Editorial Boards: Faculty members should indicate in MyInfoVault (MIV) the number of manuscripts managed each year as part of their editorial board service, and the number of manuscripts reviewed separately for each journal during the review period. As a reminder, on-line links to current journal editorial board membership should always be provided in MIV.

Reminder – Faculty Receiving Awards During the Review Period: Many actions contain references to awards that are unknown to reviewing bodies. In MyInfoVault (MIV), candidates are expected to provide the name of the organization conferring the award, the reason for the receipt of the award, the award’s professional significance, the year the award was received, and a link to the award, if available.

Reminder – Department Chair Service: To help reviewers appropriately recognize service contributions of department chairs, please consult the guidance provided in APM UCD 220 Exhibit D.

Reminder – Serving as Chair on a Thesis/Dissertation Committee: In the TeachingàThesis Committees section of MyInfoVault (MIV), faculty members should include any graduate students whom they have advised in the role of Chair, even if the graduate students have not yet advanced to candidacy. Only students who were currently enrolled during the time period under review should be included.

Reminder – Academic Year Retirement Dates: The prime retirement date for an academic-year appointee is at the end of spring quarter. Retiring at the end of any other quarter will result in pay and service impacts. For example, a retirement date of 12/31/2023 could be possible for fall quarter. However, the academic-year appointee’s last day on pay status would be 10/31/2023 and they would be required to provide service through finals. They would not receive pay checks for December 1, 2023 and January 1, 2024 because they received pay checks on August 1, 2023 and September 1, 2023 as prepayment for fall service. We strongly recommend reviewing information about retirement dates for Academic-Year Appointees on the Academic Affairs website: https://academicaffairs.ucdavis.edu/retirements-and-recalls#Retirement%20Dates.

 

OTHER ITEMS

Reminder – Outside Professional Activities (OPA): As a best practice, Faculty members and Specialists in Cooperative Extension (CE) subject to Conflict of Commitment policies APM 025 and APM 671 should be entering their OPA in the UC Outside Activity Tracking System (UC OATS) as they occur rather than waiting until the yearly notice for submitting annual certification reports. Category I activities require prior approval and should be submitted at least six weeks in advance of the start date. Category I activity requests require additional documentation for review, and not submitting the details could delay the request. Remember that final approval resides with the Provost and must be received before engaging in a Category I activity.

Reminder – Annual Certification Reporting of Outside Professional Activities (OPA): As of July 1, 2023 Faculty members and Specialists in Cooperative Extension (CE) are now able to submit their 2022-2023 OPA Annual Certification reports in the UC Outside Activity Tracking System (UC OATS). Annual certification reporting that is not fully completed is considered non-compliant and could result in a violation of university policy concerning Conflict of Commitment. This underscores the importance of submitting annual certification reports in UC OATS well in advance of the deadline. There are many resources available on the Academic Affairs UC OATS webpage: https://academicaffairs.ucdavis.edu/oats

Notes: Faculty and Specialists in CE who will be resigning or retiring from the University must complete an annual certification report prior to their last day of employment. In order for them to be able to report, department staff need to send an email to the UC OATS help desk (oats-help@ucdavis.edu) with the following details: first and last name of the person, reason for their separation (e.g., resignation, retirement, etc.) and the effective date. Providing this information allows us to manually enable the annual certification report for them. Recall appointments could be impacted if retired faculty have outstanding annual certification reports.

Reminder – Conflict of Commitment Policies (APM 025 and APM 671) and Conflicts of Interest in Research: Whether paid or unpaid, faculty members must disclose all Category I and II OPA. Faculty members are required to obtain prior approval before engaging in Category I activities. Approval of Category I activities is not guaranteed, so each Category I request must be submitted for consideration in advance of the commencement of the activity. Failure to include all of the required details, including the “Additional Information Requirements for Category I Prior Approval Requests” documentation, may result in the request being returned and cause further delays of the review and approval process. Final approval from the Provost must be received in advance of engaging in the activity or a violation of university policy concerning Conflict of Commitment could result. Faculty members must use UC OATS for obtaining prior approval.

In addition, there are financial Conflict of Interest (COI) disclosure requirements that research faculty must observe to ensure that all the Federal, State, and UCD Policy COI disclosure rules and regulations are satisfied. For more information, please go to the following webpage: https://research.ucdavis.edu/policiescompliance/coi/. Also, if you are involved in international research, collaborations with researchers outside of the United States, or other international activities, there are COI disclosure rules, grant reporting obligations, and/or export control licensing requirements that may be triggered by these activities. For complete details and guidance, please go to the following website: https://research.ucdavis.edu/policiescompliance/international-relationships-and-activities/.

 

ACADEMIC PERSONNEL POLICIES – NEW AND REVISED

SYSTEMWIDE

Academic personnel policies issued during 2022-2023 may be found at: https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/academic-personnel-policy/policy-issuances-and-guidelines/index.html

Revised – Issued December 15, 2022, revised Academic Personnel Manual (APM) Section 715, Leaves of Absence/Family and Medical Leave and Section 760, Family Accommodations for Childbearing and Childrearing were effective January 1, 2023. Substantive changes were made to reflect an increase in the percentage of income replacement provided by the Pay for Family Care and Bonding (PFCB) pay option offered to eligible employees to apply to qualifying leaves as approved by the Council of Chancellors on April 6, 2022. Revisions were made to APM – 715 and 760 to reflect the increase in the PFCB income replacement calculation from 70% to 100% of eligible earnings effective January 1, 2023.

Revised – Issued January 6, 2023, revised APM Section 025, Conflict of Commitment and Outside Activities of Faculty members and Designated Other Academic Appointees and Section 671, Conflict of Commitment and Outside Activities of Health Sciences Compensation Plan Participants are effective July 1, 2024. Revisions to these policy sections were based on recommendations made in made in the Office of Ethics, Compliance and Audit Services, Systemwide Foreign Influence Audit Report published in February 2021.

Revised – Issued May 22, 2023, revised APM Section 500, Recruitment, General is effective immediately. Technical changes to remove the April 30 appointment deadline for employment of a faculty member holding a tenure or tenure track appointment at any institution which is a member of the Association of American Universities as well as the deletion of Appendix A.

Rescission – Issued May 22, 2023, the rescission of APM 501, Recruitment, From Other California Institutions, effective immediately. This section of the APM is rescinded on the basis that the policy has been rendered obsolete by the technical revisions to APM – 500.

CAMPUS

Local campus academic personnel policies may be found at: https://academicaffairs.ucdavis.edu/apm/apm-toc

New – Issued February 17, 2023, new policy APM UCD 340, Appointment and Advancement of Continuing Educators, is effective immediately. This newly issued local policy is solely used by the UC Davis Division of Continuing and Professional Education (formerly University Extension) to oversee the appointment and advancement of the Continuing Educator title.

Revised – Issued June 16, 2023, revised APM UCD 280, Adjunct Professor series is effective July 1, 2023. Revisions to this policy included:

  • Clarifying language regarding the teaching expectation and assessment of Adjunct Professors
  • Updates to the Condition of employment section to include the appropriate policy references
  • Clarifying language regarding the inclusion of percentages for teaching, research, and service in the department and the dean’s letters of appointment