Faculty & Staff
Faculty and Staff Handbook » School of Pharmacy
Faculty and staff Citizenship
Faculty governance responsibilities
The School and University operates under the system known as faculty self-governance. In effect, this means that the faculty, not the administration, establishes certain rules and policies for the conduct of the educational, research and service programs of the Institution. Self-governance is accomplished through a partnership with the administration that is held accountable by the State for the efficient and effective operation of the University.
The process of faculty governance can only work when every faculty member takes seriously his/her responsibilities. Therefore, active, constructive participation in faculty committees and faculty meetings is critical. Each faculty member must be a part of the decision-making process and contribute to the implementation and betterment of the programs of the School. Individuals can not be hesitant to fully contribute, speak-up, and seek win-win opportunities for fear of meeting promotion and/or tenure goals. Self governance fails when individual needs are placed above the good of the whole.
Good citizenship means active participation in recruitment, evaluation, and peer assessment of fellow faculty members. Good citizenship mean initiating activities that further the School, its academic, service and research programs, even thought the activities may not directly benefit your personal instruction, research and service. Good citizenship means treating the resources of the School (building, furnishings, budget, etc.) as if they were your own. Good citizenship means taking pride in the School, promoting your colleagues and the staff, and assisting our candidates in what ever way possible to the betterment of the program.
A key function of the faculty that must be taken seriously by everyone is in the peer evaluation. Often, untenured, or persons below the rank of professor, will hesitate to be critical of their peers of higher rank or with tenure. There is no more important resource for the school than its faculty. Therefore, with self-governance, the faculty must fairly evaluate, but with a constant level of quality, their peers. Individuals who do not exhibit the level of quality expected can not be maintained within the faculty regardless of how friendly they may be, or the level of rank.
Peer relationships among faculty and staff
Although everyone will not be good friends, the working relationship among all faculty and staff must remain productive and effective. Therefore, you are expected to maintain a positive working relationship with each member of the faculty and staff, regardless of your personal relationships. Individuals who breach their working relationships will be subject to personnel actions as prescribed by the policies and procedures of the Office of Human Resources.
Faculty and staff relations must also be maintained in a productive and effective manner. Staff are not the servants of the faculty, nor are staff empowered with the governance responsibilities expected of the faculty. Faculty have their unique responsibilities and obligations and staff have their own unique responsibilities and obligations. The administration of the School expects both faculty and staff to develop a trust relationship that is built on individual and positional responsibilities. A breach of respect for individuals based on their job duties will not be tolerated.
Participation in the faculty interview process
As stated above, the selection of faculty members is a critical aspect of the faculty governance process. Thus, every faculty member is expected to fully participate in the interview and selection process for faculty members.
It is the policy of the School that all faculty positions will follow an equal opportunity, affirmative action process in seek and reviewing applicants. The dean, in consultation with the respective chair and the department members, will identify the discipline and or focus for the position being recruited. Once the dean has given his/her approval to search, the respective chair shall appoint a search committee for each position that contains no less than two members from the department and one member from the other department. (When School-wide searches are conducted, the committee membership will be equally divided between the two departments.) The chair is responsible for writing and placing the advertisement for the position with the recommendation and input from the search committee. The committee will be responsible for:
- Assisting in recommending prospective applicants or seeking potential nominations.
- Reviewing applications for individuals to interview. This includes checking references.
- Recommending two, and in special cases three, individuals to interview on-campus. The committee may conduct telephone interviews with other candidates prior to recommending individuals for on-campus interviews. The department chair shall extend the official interview offer in order to commit the resources of the department to pay expenses.
- Develop, in consultation with the chair, an interview schedule. The schedule should include time with faculty of both departments, tour of facilities and the community (preferably with a Realtor), one-on-one meetings with individuals with similar teaching, service and/or research interests, the dean and the chair. Small group meetings with individuals who would not be directly involved with the candidate is acceptable. For faculty who would function in a clinical site, the interview schedule must include visits with appropriate faculty members of the medical school or physicians with whom the candidate would be expected to work. In developing the schedule, meals are to be limited to no more than two people with the candidate without special approval of the chair. Faculty must limit their consumption of alcoholic beverages to a minimum amount. Alcoholic beverages identified on the receipt can not be paid from searches paid from state funds.
- Spouses of candidates may, with special permission of the chair, be invited to attend the interview at the School's expense.
- Appoint one member of the committee to host each candidate during their visit. The host is responsible for hotel reservations, meeting and delivering the candidate to the airport, overall facilitation of the interview, including publicizing and facilitating (slides, projectors, etc.) the seminar.
- The committee shall solicit and consider the opinions and feedback from all persons who interviewed the candidate in making their recommendation to the chair.
- The chair shall be responsible for making a recommendation to the dean.
- The dean shall extend the formal offer.
The search committee's final act is to prepare the appropriate affirmative action paperwork and deliver it to the chair. The chair shall notify all candidates as to the disposition of the search, prepare the Personal Action Forms for appointment, and file the affirmative action paperwork.
» Seminar attendance
» Interview process
» Meals, city and area tours
Committee participation
All faculty will be expected to serve on standing or ad hoc committees of the University, School, and/or department. The amount of time devoted to committee activities shall be negotiated between the faculty member and the chair. Please refer to the School of Pharmacy Bylaws regarding membership on standing committees of the School.
Doctoral Candidate/Faculty relations
Attendance and participation at School mixers and social events
Support of the profession and health care community
Support of the Amarillo, the Panhandle, and West Texas
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