Faculty Governance and Policies

• SMU policy manual. Section 2 is dedicated to Academic Affairs with 24 sub-sections covering topics ranging from faculty research leave to descriptions of faculty appointments.  
• Childbirth/parental/medical leave. Requesting childbirth, parental, or medical leave is a two-step process and follows Policy 2.14 Additional Faculty Family and Medical Leave Benefits. The first step is to notify Human Resources (contact: Anitra Walker at anitraw@smu.edu) in line with the FMLA leave requests. The next step follows the same process described above using this Faculty Leave Form. The Faculty Leave Form begins with a PowerLink and auto-routes for approval signatures to the designated department chair, dean, and provost office. If faculty have questions, they are encouraged to reach out to the Associate Provost for Faculty Success to talk through this process by emailing facultysuccess@smu.edu.
• Faculty leave. A single Faculty Leave Form is used for all faculty leave requests, which are covered in Policy 2.13 Faculty Leave Programs and include research leave, junior faculty research leave, special research leave, leave without pay, administrative leave, and secondment leave. The form begins with a PowerLink and auto-routes for approval signatures to the designated department chair, dean, and provost office.
  
• Faculty recruitment and hiring. Guidelines for recruiting and hiring faculty can be found at this site, which includes relevant procedures and forms. The Office of Faculty Success partners with the Office of Equity and Access, the deans, and the departments to recruit and retain a diverse and talented faculty community. Several short tutorial videos, located in this Box folder, provide department coordinators and faculty search chairs with more information on the internal processes associated with faculty search and recruitment, as well as clear directions on how to use the digital forms.
• Faculty transitioning into retirement. Faculty who are considering retirement should visit with HR to learn about the resources available to them as SMU employees. HR hosts many workshops, and faculty can also request individual and confidential appointments to learn more. Once faculty have made the decision to retire, they should inform their dean in writing. Faculty are honored with a Provost-hosted Retirement Party, as well as recognition at the May graduation ceremony.
• Inclement Weather and Emergency Operations Guidelines. Guidelines on how classes are conducted during inclement weather and emergency operations can be found at this site. This includes additional information on program and school/college specific inclement weather policies and guidelines for faculty on making up missed contact hours.   
• Use of Technology-Based Modalities for Instruction. Regular, in-person instruction is expected for all courses. While neither expected nor required, faculty may make selective, additional use of remote synchronous or asynchronous instruction – if feasible and appropriate – only for students who have excused absences as an option to support their academic continuity. Guidelines developed with the Faculty Senate concerning such faculty discretion can be found here.

SMU uses a number of platforms with single-sign on authentication that provides secure faculty access:

• Operationalized workload guidelines. SMU faculty have access to all department-level and unit-level guidelines related to the university-wide workload policy 2.7 Faculty Workload and Compensation. Click here for a direct link to the Box folder where all department-level and unit-level workload guidelines can be found.
• Annual Faculty Activity Reports. FAR’s are managed through the Digital Measures interface. Questions about requirements should be directed to the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs within each School/College.
• Interfolio. Interfolio is the system used for two main functions: search committees for faculty recruitment and promotion and tenure.
• Faculty Insight in Academic Analytics. This offers a tool for faculty development, including searching for collaborators, funding opportunities, and suggested awards and honorifics.

The SMU Promotion and Tenure Policies are found in Policy 2.11 Guidelines for the Award of Rank and Tenure.

• School/college- and department-level promotion and tenure guidelines are housed within the academic units of the respective schools. Annually, each school/college submits any revisions to the Provost Office so that the most recent versions can be accessed centrally through this Box folder by using SMU password-protected login credentials.
• COVID-19 responses related to promotion and tenure. Two key communications were sent to faculty from the Provost to clarify the university responses to the pandemic, including an automatic one-year extension for all pre-tenure faculty, including faculty who joined in the AY 20-21:
  • COVID-19 response memo from April 20, 2020
  • COVID-19 response memo from March 17, 2021

Several areas at SMU are deeply tied to the faculty governance and policies. These areas maintain websites where you can find detailed information about any of the related topics:

• Faculty Senate. Current Faculty Senate Members and the Faculty Senate Bylaws can be found on these sites. For more information contact Julie Maynard, Administrative Assistant for the Faculty Senate, at jmaynard@smu.edu.
• Office of Institutional Access and Equity. Some of the main areas covered include concerns and complaints on discrimination from a protected basis, employee accommodations on the basis of a disability, and a variety of trainings and workshops.
• Office of Institutional Planning and Effectiveness. This office helps SMU maintain compliance with all principles, requirements, standards, and policies of SACSCOC and the U.S. Department of Education.
• Office of Student Academic Engagement and Success. This office works to make sure that SMU students are aware of the academic opportunities and support systems that operate across campus to ensure their academic success and enrich their experiences inside and outside the classroom.