1.1: Membership of this Committee shall consist of the Dean of the Faculty, who shall serve as the chair but not vote, and six elected tenured members of the Faculty who have been at Trinity for at least five years and who serve three-year, staggered terms. No member may serve consecutive terms or concurrently serve on the Committee on Appointments and Promotions. There shall be at least one Faculty representative, and no more than three, from each of the following: the natural sciences, the social sciences and the humanities/arts. The Committee shall have no more than one member from any one department. (Passed October 16, 2003, amended December 5, 2005)

1.2: The elected members of the Committee shall designate one of their number to attend meetings of the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees at which issues of educational policy are on the agenda.

2: Jurisdiction, Obligations, Procedures

2.1: It shall be the responsibility of this Committee to consider questions of educational policy, to review requests for Faculty positions, and to offer advice about the disposition of such requests to the Dean of the Faculty, who is responsible for allocating Faculty positions. In making its deliberations, the Committee is attentive to (1) the strength and integrity of College majors, (2) the obligation of Departments and Programs beyond the major, (3) the need for curricular experimentation and innovation, and (4) student choices and their effect on teaching responsibilities.

2.2: Responsibility for defining the role of unaffiliated FTE in the Faculty and curriculum rests with the Dean of the Faculty, acting with the advice of the Educational Policy Committee and the Curriculum Committee.

2.3 Apart from matters of staffing allocations, all proposals brought by this Faculty Committee for a vote before the Trustee Academic Affairs Committee must have been approved by Faculty vote.

2.3 The Committee shall make an annual written report to the Faculty summarizing its deliberations. The Dean shall likewise make an annual written report to the Faculty specifying the position allocations he/she has made. Both reports will be made available to the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board for informational purposes. (Passed December 5, 2005)

2.4 Allocation of Faculty Positions – Guidelines

2.4.a: Faculty positions allocated by the Dean of the Faculty, with the advice of the EPC, should typically be assigned to one or more academic departments. In the case of Faculty whose academic disciplines and duties lie outside currently existing departments, tenure, when granted, will be deemed as being to the College.

2.4.b: As a general policy, new full-time Faculty positions allocated by the Dean of the Faculty, with the advice of the EPC, will be designated as tenure-track positions. The creation of positions that deviate from this policy must fit within a few limited exceptions, as outlined below:

2.4.b.i: Positions where there is a demonstrated necessity for the rotation of special tasks or skills within a department or the College;

2.4.b.ii: Positions which the Dean of the Faculty, with the advice of the EPC, designates as experimental;

2.4.b.iii: Short-term, adjunct, or visiting positions;

2.4.b.iv: Replacements for leaves and sabbaticals;

2.4.b.v: Positions where, after the College policy on the presumption of tenure has been made known to all parties, it is unavoidable that an externally funded position or chair be designated as non-tenure-track.

2.5 The Dean of the Faculty shall report annually to the Committee the allocation of contract positions for the coming year.

2.6 It is the policy of the EPC that, except in extraordinary circumstances, positions returned to the college as a result of denial of reappointment or tenure will be returned to the department or program upon the submission of a full proposal and its review by the EPC. (Passed November 8, 2005)

2.7 The Committee will receive prompt notification from the Dean of the Faculty of all pending hirings in tenure-track positions both departmental and extra-departmental. (Passed April 8, 1997)

2.8 The Committee may advise the Dean of the Faculty about the size of the Faculty and the status of departments and programs, subject to the provisions specified in sections 3.1 through 3.1.d, below.

3. Changes in Faculty Size and the Status of Departments and Programs

3.1: The Educational Policy Committee has the responsibility of making recommendations to the Faculty for changes in the total Faculty size and for the creation, elimination, or reorganization of departments and programs. If approved by the Faculty, such recommendations shall be forwarded to the President for approval by the Board of Trustees. Deliberations in each of these areas will be governed by the following rules, which incorporate Faculty resolutions passed on May 9, 1974, October 8, 1974, and December 11, 1979: 

3.1.a: Decisions concerning the size of the Faculty and the disciplines to be represented therein are judgments having unusually important consequences for the College. Therefore, any formal inquiry to be undertaken by the EPC into these issues must first be approved by the Faculty, and normally a motion to change the size of the Faculty may be brought to the Faculty for a vote only after the Faculty has voted at a previous meeting to authorize the EPC to conduct such a formal inquiry. (Amended April 11, 1995)

3.1.b: If such an inquiry might lead to the discontinuation or reorganization of a department or program, the department's chair or the program's director shall be given reasonable opportunity before Faculty approval is sought to present to the Committee a statement in behalf of the department or program, which statement may argue the case against the undertaking of any formal inquiry.

3.1.c: If Faculty approval is granted for a formal inquiry, the chair or director involved shall be given reasonable opportunity to participate in all phases of the inquiry.

3.1.d: While the Faculty delegates to the Educational Policy Committee the responsibility for advising the Dean of the Faculty about routine adjustments in the staffing of individual departments or programs, any recommendations for overall changes in the size of the Faculty, or for (other) substantial changes in the educational policy of the College, must be approved by the Faculty.

4: Special Opportunity Hires

4.1: Some tenure lines, previously known as Target of Opportunity positions, will be designated for special opportunity appointments that will help to diversify the faculty

4.2: Proposed special opportunity appointments will be governed by three criteria:

4.2.a: First, these appointments must add significant value to the College, value being defined as bringing to the College scholars and teachers of exceptional achievement or promise who will diversify the faculty and thereby fulfill part of our academic mission.

4.2.b: Second, each such appointment must add to the College’s approved curricular offerings.

4.2.c: Third, each prospective recipient of a special opportunity appointment must have clear achievement or promise as to make it highly probable that she/he would have emerged as a candidate of choice in a conventional search, if such had been undertaken. It is the addition of such persons to the faculty without a search that the special opportunity appointments program makes possible.

4.3: The following are the procedures for applying for a Special Opportunity hire:

4.3.a: The Dean will announce the availability of any Special Opportunity positions for the upcoming year no later than the first day of classes in the fall semester.

4.3.b: A Department or Program must submit a proposal to the EPC detailing the curricular merit of the area of the identified candidate. Duplication of curricular areas will be discouraged.

4.3.c: Proposals can be submitted to the EPC for action at any time after October 15th. The EPC will respond in an expedited fashion to any proposal with a decision of whether the curricular area of the identified candidate meets with the EPC’s strategic goals. Proposals will be received and reviewed on a rolling basis.

4.3.d: EPC decisions will be based on the normal published criteria it uses to review any department or program requests.

4.3.e: The A & P committee will review the qualifications of any candidate for a Special Opportunity Hire position and make a recommendation to the Dean.

4.3.f: The Dean will have the final authority to decide whether to make a special opportunity hire.

4.3.g: The Dean must consult with the Affirmative Action Officer prior to making an appointment. The AA Officer must certify that an appointment meets the College’s goals of diversity. Therefore any appointment must conform to Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action policies followed by the College.

4.3.h: In its annual report, the EPC will inform the faculty about any Special Opportunity Hires which were made during the preceding year.

4.3.i: If a tenure line designated for a special opportunity appointment becomes vacant, it shall be made available only for another such hire. This includes positions currently held by faculty appointed under the now discontinued TOP program. It will be the responsibility of the Dean’s office to keep track of all such positions and to report annually the status of them to the EPC. (Passed May 20, 2005)

5: Other Mechanisms for Diversifying the Faculty

5.1: Trinity College is committed to appointing and retaining faculty who represent a wide diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, and academic interests. Faculty appointments, typically made through the standard approved search process, must therefore follow the College’s Affirmative Action guidelines. The College, however, needs flexibility in responding to outstanding opportunities that may help diversify the faculty. Accordingly, the following two provisions have been adopted by the EPC with the goal of increasing diversity.

5.2: Early Termination of Search

5.2.a: It will be the practice of the College that if, in the course of searches for candidates for allocated positions, an especially outstanding candidate emerges who in the opinion of the search committee would bring diversity to the faculty, and the search committee feels that this candidate is the only one it wishes to recommend to the Dean, it may, with the consent of the Dean, close the search, informing all other candidates of this fact, and present that candidate to the Dean. In order to make this practice viable, job advertisements should be worded so as to state the date the search committee will begin to review applications rather than a deadline for applications.

5.3 Early Replacement for Retirements

5.3.a: Occasionally, an opportunity may arise to hire a faculty member of exceptional achievement or promise whose appointment would significantly enhance the diversity of the faculty, but for whom no vacancy currently exists. As an alternative to making a Special Opportunity Appointment, if a suitable department/program expects to have a vacancy within three years, it may request to hire the individual in that department or program, in anticipation of the coming vacancy. Such a request must follow the same guidelines and procedures as a special opportunity hire as described above. By accepting this anticipatory appointment, the department/program agrees not to seek an additional replacement position when the anticipated vacancy actually occurs. At that time, the recipient of the anticipatory appointment will occupy the vacated position, and thus it will not be available to the EPC for reallocation.

(Passed May 20, 2005)