Faculty Promotion

MECC Promotions for Full-Time Faculty-Ranked Employees – Guidelines and Working Procedures 

EFFECTIVE DATE:  02/09/2021 

I. Purpose:  

To provide the criteria and describe the annual process to be used in determining MECC promotions for full-time faculty-ranked employees, to include administrative, professional, and teaching faculty.  

II. Definitions:    

Faculty:  those full-time employees who hold faculty rank and teach or occupy a professional or administrative position which is exempt from the classified service.  

Promotion:  an upward change in rank based on the guidelines set forth in the VCCS-29, Normal Minimum Criteria for Each Faculty Rank, of the VCCS Policy Manual (Section 3.7 Faculty Promotions).  

Related occupational experience:  the number of years of related occupational experience whereby one year of related occupational experience contains twelve (12) months.  This is full-time experience or full-time equivalent experience.  Further guidelines are provided in VCCS Policy 3.7 Faculty Promotions, as well as VCCS Policy 3.8.0.1 Faculty Compensation, General Provisions.   

Year of service:  For purposes of eligibility for promotion, a year of full-time employment for both nine-month and twelve-month faculty is full-time employment for two academic semesters (fall and spring), the salary for which is chargeable to a single fiscal year's budget.  Employment for less than this period shall not constitute a year of full-time employment and shall not count towards the time eligibility period for a promotion. 

Special consideration:    For purposes of eligibility for promotion, dual enrollment experience in the MECC Dual Enrollment Program prior to full-time employment will be recognized as teaching experience.   
 

III. Policy:  

A. Mountain Empire Community College encourages each faculty member to seek professional and educational advancement through the opportunity of promotion in rank.  

B. The minimum qualifications for promotion in rank are stated in the VCCS-29, Normal Minimum Criteria for Each Faculty Rank, which can be found in Section 3.7 of the VCCS Policy Manual.  VCCS Policy Section 3.2 Faculty Qualifications for Academic Rank, as well as Section 3.2a Explanation of Policy – Qualification of Faculty are also helpful resources.         

C. A military leave of absence, for a member of a reserve unit who is called to active duty, and who, upon completion of her or his military obligation, returns immediately to the college, shall not disqualify the active military duty period as counting towards a year of service for purposes of promotion.  An educational leave of absence, with or without pay, shall not disqualify the year of its occurrence as counting towards a year of service.  No more than two academic years may be exempted from the years of full-time service requirement because of educational leave. 

D. Other periods of leave, with or without pay (except for the use of earned annual or sick leave), exceeding 14 calendar days cause a discontinuity for a semester, disqualifying it from counting towards a full year of employment, unless specific arrangements have been made between the president and faculty member.  The arrangements must be in writing and in the faculty member's personnel file prior to the beginning of the leave. 

E. In calculating graduate hours in the teaching field, only those courses that clearly indicate the discipline (title of course or prefix) shall be used.  If the course is not so designated by prefix and/or title, the faculty member must obtain appropriate documentation from the institution describing the course content and its direct relationship to the discipline.  Appropriate documentation may include any of the following:  a letter from a college official, college catalog information, or course content description.  

F. In calculating years of service or related occupational experience, no portion of a year shall be used in the total years (i.e., must round down).  Experience is counted in terms of full-time experience.  The same time period can only be counted once (e.g., cannot count teaching experience and related occupational experience that overlap for both teaching and related occupational).      

G. All pertinent documentation required for consideration for promotion must be received in the Office of Human Resources.  This includes, but is not limited to, unofficial or official college transcripts, required faculty evaluations, course content descriptions, etc.  

H. The approval of a promotion shall be based upon an individual's meeting the criteria established by the VCCS and by the college.  The president reserves the right to make the final decision regarding rank promotion that is in the best interest of the college.  

I. Faculty eligible for promotion shall receive $X.XX, or the minimum amount necessary to bring the faculty member’s salary to the minimum of the new rank, whichever is higher.  This salary increase shall be added to the faculty member’s annual base salary.  

J. Salary increases as a result of promotion in rank shall become effective using the following schedule:   

• Effective July 1:  Administrative and Professional Faculty, and 12-month Teaching Faculty  

• Effective August 16: 9-month Teaching Faculty, and 10-month Teaching Faculty   

IV. Procedures:     

A. The faculty member submits the following documents to his/her immediate supervisor by the dates detailed in the Promotion Process Due Dates table below:  

1. A letter of request specifically detailing all qualifications met under the VCCS-29 and any noteworthy items to support the promotion request (e.g., last performance rating, professional activities and accomplishments, professional development, etc.).  

2. Faculty Transcript Analysis Sheet, showing all course work and credit hours completed in fulfillment of the VCCS requirement.  

3. Unofficial or official college transcripts for the credit hours mentioned above.   Note:  Required degree or graduate coursework must be completed prior to the start of the next contract year (i.e., July 1 for A&P faculty, August 16 for teaching faculty).  All promotions are contingent upon receipt of official transcripts received in the Human Resources Office prior to the start of the new contract year.    

B. The immediate supervisor verifies and signs where appropriate the above listed documents and submits the request for promotion, a letter of recommendation, Faculty Transcript Analysis Sheet, and the completed VCCS-10, Faculty Qualifications Summary to his/her next level supervisor(s) according to the dates below.  The supervisor also submits the Checklist for Faculty Promotion, with the promotion packet to ensure all items are present in the promotion package.  

PROMOTION PROCESS DUE DATES 

C. Once the promotion package is submitted to the immediate supervisor for consideration, the supervisor is responsible for conducting a comprehensive review of the qualifications and achievements of the faculty member in response to VCCS and college criteria and signing Checklist for Faculty Promotion.  Upon approval, the package is forwarded to the next level as provided above in the Promotion Process Due Dates table.  If not approved at the supervisor level, the promotion package is returned to the respective faculty member with a written explanation for the denial.    

D. Once received in Human Resources from the respective Vice President, a second review of each promotion package will occur to ensure compliance with VCCS and college policy and will inform the respective vice president of the outcome.  Promotion requests not approved by Human Resources will be returned to the respective vice president with a written explanation for the denial.  

E. The Director of Human Resources or his/her designee will provide the final list of eligible promotion candidates to the President and the Vice President of Financial & Administrative Services.  This list will include the individual and summary costs to the college for full implementation of all promotion requests.  

F. Prior to the issuance of the faculty employment contract, the Director of Human Resources or designee will inform each supervisor, and the next level manager up through the respective executive officer, of the final decision regarding rank promotions.  The supervisor will provide written notification to individuals not selected for promotion as to the areas for improvement or specific reasons for non-promotion 

V. Other Information:    

VCCS-10, Faculty Qualifications Summary