Faculty Members


​​The university’s permanent and temporary faculty are classified as either academic-year or twelve-month based on the number of months they are appointed to work per year. 

Academic-Year Faculty

This group of faculty employees are paid based on the academic calendar. This group includes most teaching associates‚ lecturers‚ and tenured/tenure-track professors‚ as well as some department chairs. Payments are issued based on the academic pay plan‚ which consists of six payments each semester‚ or 12 payments for the academic year. For more information‚ please see the Academic Pay Plan​.

Sick Leave

Absences are reported for each academic day not worked‚ regardless of whether or not the faculty member had class assignments or office hours. For example‚ a full time faculty member who is out an entire week‚ but only teaches Tuesdays and Thursdays‚ would report eight hours of sick leave each day of that week. A half-time faculty member would report four hours each day‚ etc.

Twelve-Month Faculty

Those appointed into twelve-month classifications are paid based on the State Pay Calendar​ as opposed to the academic calendar. This group may include graduate assistants‚ certain tenured/tenure-track professors‚ and some department chairs.

Sick Leave & Vacation

Twelve-month faculty earn both sick leave and vacation‚ and report absences in accordance with the State Pay Calendar. The hours reported are based on the appointment time-base. For example‚ if an employee is appointed as a twelve-month department chair at 60%‚ they would report 4.8 hours of leave each day of the State pay calendar.

After one full year of employment‚ a faculty member shall take at least 40 hours of vacation each calendar year. Any part of the 40 hours not taken during the calendar year will be forfeited as of January 1 of the subsequent year. For part-time‚ twelve-month faculty‚ the amount to be used and/or forfeited is based on a pro-rated basis. Upon permanent separation from a twelve-month position‚ any vacation is paid out to faculty.

Faculty Early Retirement Program (FERP)

FERP employees are those who continue to teach after retiring from the university. Upon service retirement‚ FERP employees may elect to carry over a maximum of 48 hours of sick leave from their previous position into their FERP position. While in the FERP program‚ they may accumulate a maximum of 160 sick leave hours. In addition‚ sick leave is reported based on the academic pay calendar‚ except in the case of twelve-month Librarians (who are also eligible to accrue vacation). For more information‚ please contact Payroll Services at 619-594-5251.

For detailed information on faculty leave accruals, please see the Unit 3 Bargaining Agreement.