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Discretionary Salary Increase guidelines for part-time faculty for the 2020 reporting period

Andrew Bruso

The following memorandum was sent to all faculty and staff via email on Feb. 24.

TO:         Deans, Department Chairs, and Academic Faculty

FROM:  Barbara G. Lyman, Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Stella Deen, Chair, Committee on Salary Increase

DATE:    Feb. 24, 2021

RE:          Discretionary Salary Increases (DSI) for PART-TIME FACULTY: 1/1/20-12/31/20 Reporting Period – Guidelines

The 2016-2022 Collective Bargaining Agreement between United University Professions (UUP) and New York State includes the provision for Discretionary Salary Increases (DSI) for the 2020 reporting period.

The DSI program rewards meritorious performance. Thus, the program’s success depends on careful documentation and thoughtful review of faculty performance. The information that follows is intended to assist candidates as they prepare their documentation and to guide reviewers (departmental sub-committees or committees of the whole and department chairs) through the evaluation process that has been established at New Paltz.

In consideration of COVID-19 impacts, the documentation required for the application has been streamlined to only five items, and the paper-based process has been replaced with the use of SharePoint as the submission platform. The process for submitting recommendations has been simplified so that a fillable PDF form known as the review sheet will be used for submitting recommendations for every level of review. Please note, recommendations will be made using the review sheet rather than using separate letters of recommendation.

A SharePoint site has been set up for each dean’s academic division. Each SharePoint site contains subfolders for each department. Each department’s subfolder contains separate folders for full-time faculty, part-time faculty, and professional staff applicants for DSI. Each applicant will have an individual folder in SharePoint.

To summarize, using SharePoint will avoid the paper process and streamline steps. Into the individual applicant folders in SharePoint will go:

  • each applicant’s documents as a single PDF file which is to contain five (5) items as listed below
  • a single fillable PDF form used to enter an individual’s recommendation from each level of review (portions filled out in turn by the departmental committee, chair, dean, and provost)

When complete, the above will serve as the basis for and record of the president’s decision.

GUIDELINES FOR DSI FOR PART-TIME FACULTY

Discretionary Salary Increases (DSI) are the prerogative of each campus president.

I. ELIGIBILITY FOR AWARD

In keeping with eligibility requirements for full-time faculty, part-time faculty with initial appointments after Jan. 1, 2020 semester are not eligible for DSI.

You are eligible to apply for DSI for the 2020 reporting period (Jan. 1 – Dec. 31) if:

    • you taught at least one course prior to 2020 and at least one course during the reporting period (spring 2020 and/or fall 2020); or
    • you were initially appointed in spring 2020 and taught both spring 2020 and fall 2020 semesters

II. BASIS FOR AWARD
The recommendation prepared at each stage of the DSI application process will be based on the extent to which a candidate demonstrates exceptional performance over and above expectations. Because part-time faculty members are expected to focus on their teaching and associated activities rather than on creative/scholarly activity or college-wide service, part-time candidates for DSI should document their teaching accomplishments during the reporting period.

III. AMOUNT
The amount and timing of award payments for part-time faculty will be determined in conjunction with the funds available.

IV. INITIATING A REVIEW FOR DSI
Primary responsibility for initiating a DSI application lies with individual faculty members. It is appropriate for department chairs and members of departmental sub-committees to encourage deserving colleagues to present themselves as candidates for DSI.

V. PROCESS

A. Overview: Part-time faculty who wish to be considered for DSI will prepare an application of supporting materials as outlined below. The first stage of review for DSI takes place at the department level by the departmental sub-committee (if applicable). The review then proceeds to the department chair (if applicable), dean, provost and president. The Central Committee is not involved in the review process for part-time faculty.

B. Documentation:

  1. Review/Cover Sheet (Use this link to view and download)
  2. Current curriculum vitae (See newpaltz.edu/acadaff/guidelines.html.) The date of your initial appointment at New Paltz should be clearly identified.
  3. Brief listing (no more than three pages) outlining accomplishments that justify the award. This may include:
    1. A description of the teaching accomplishment(s) – e.g., course revision, teaching innovation, etc. – and what prompted it (them)
    2. Goals that the candidate hopes to achieve
    3. Discussion of the actual or anticipated success
  4. List of courses taught for the reporting period (i.e., spring 2020 and fall 2020). Include course enrollments and any special course attributes (writing intensive, diversity, experiential, capstone, evening, weekend or online course, etc.).
  5. Syllabi for the courses listed in “c.” Where the same course was taught multiple times, only one syllabus is required.
  6. Reviews and recommendations: During this transition year, recommendations from each level of review are to be submitted via the review/cover sheet instead of separate letters.

DEADLINES FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

March 8, 2021:   PDF application for DSI submitted to dean or designee via email

March 22, 2021: Departmental sub-committee/committee of the whole recommendations due to Department Chairs

April 5, 2021:     Department chairs’ recommendations due to Dean

April 26, 2021:   Deans’ recommendations due to Provost