HUMAN RESOURCES

Academic Rank - Board Policy 3092 delineates faculty titles or ranks of Lecturer, Instructor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor and the requirements for each.

Classifications of Faculty

• Contract Faculty - A person who is a non-tenured, probationary employee under contract.

• Regular Faculty - A person who has achieved tenure and permanent status.

• Temporary Faculty - Any academic employee of the District who is not a contract or regular faculty member. There are several distinct kinds of temporary employees: (a) Adjunct (also known as part-time) faculty; (b) daily substitute faculty; (c) hourly substitute faculty; (d) long-term substitute faculty; (e) one-year acting or interim faculty; and (f) part-time or full-time faculty for categorically funded projects or programs.
  
  
• Equivalency Process - All current faculty who wish to add a teaching area and do not hold a life credential and all applicants for teaching positions must meet the minimum qualifications for the discipline in which they teach. Any applicant or current faculty member who does not meet the minimum qualifications may apply for equivalency. Equivalency is not a waiver of minimum qualifications; it is granted in cases where the qualifications are not identical, but equal to or exceed the minimum qualifications of the discipline. Petitions for equivalency are available in the District Human Resources office. The equivalency process is included as Appendix H of this handbook.

Faculty Service Areas (FSAs) - A Faculty Service Area is defined as "a service or instructional subject area or group of related services or instructional areas performed by faculty." FSAs are considered only in the event of a layoff of faculty. Essentially, FSAs provide the basis for the "bumping rights" of more senior employees. At Riverside Community College, each contract and regular faculty member has received, or will receive at the time of hire, the FSA(s) for which he or she meets minimum qualifications as adopted by the Board of Governors, California Community Colleges, or by equivalency, as determined through the equivalency process of the District.

Also, all faculty members who possess valid community college credentials as of June 30, 1990, have met the minimum qualifications, until the expiration date of the credential(s), for all areas authorized by the credential(s). Each November 20, the District will notify all full-time faculty of their current FSA status.

Professional Qualifications - The State no longer issues community college teaching credentials. Instead, instructors must meet the minimum qualifications of their disciplines. (See the Minimum Qualifications for Faculty and Administrators in California Community Colleges published by the Chancellor's office and available in the office of Human Resources.) However, faculty members with valid community college teaching credentials also meet the minimum qualifications for the subject areas listed on their credentials. (Contact the Human Resources office for clarification.) If a faculty member has expertise in another subject area but does not meet the minimum qualification of the discipline, he or she may petition through the equivalency process to add a teaching area to his or her faculty service area.

Resignations and Retirements

• Resignations - Academic employees must file written notice with the President or his designee of their intention not to accept appointment for the succeeding year. Preferably, this should be done by March. This requirement also applies to requests for unpaid leaves of absence for the succeeding year.
• Retirements - It is the responsibility of academic employees to handle their own retirement processing. Suggestions and counseling are available in the office of the Vice President, Administration and Finance. After a person has been officially retired and is receiving the monthly retirement allowance from the State Teachers' Retirement System (STRS), the individual is eligible to apply for a Retired Teacher Authorization. This authorization to work must be renewed annually. A person, retired under STRS, may be employed in a certificated position. However, the State sets mandated dollar limits each year. It is the responsibility of the employee to check with the office of Human Resources to determine the exact amount without losing eligibility for retirement income. Contact Human Resources at ext. 8588.
• Sick Leave - All full-time faculty employed on a ten-month basis receive ten days of sick leave per year. Adjunct faculty earn hourly sick leave at the rate of one hour for every eighteen hours taught. Full-time faculty with assignments exceeding ten months receive additional sick leave benefits on a pro-rated basis.

  Steps in Hiring Faculty

  A. Full-Time Faculty Tenure Track Position

  All full-time faculty members hired by the Riverside Community College District must possess, prior to the effective date of employment, the minimum qualifications established by the Education Code, Section 87356, or will be certified to possess equivalent qualifications through a process established by the Academic Senate and the District Board in accordance with the Education Code Section 87359b. Any standards exceeding minimum qualifications can be applied only if appropriate steps have been taken to eliminate any adverse impact (Sec. 53022, 53023).

  All full-time faculty members hired into tenure track positions will be hired in accordance with the steps established below:

  1. Position Identification

  a. The appropriate Vice President, after consultation with the Provosts, Deans of Instruction, Department Chairpersons, Area Deans and/or Directors will review subject area and program needs to determine strengths, weaknesses, special skills needed, including affirmative action goals, and prepare a report for the District President. Concurrently, the report will be sent to the Academic Senate which may make recommendations to the District President.

  b. Based upon recommendations received, the District President will determine if a position will be opened.

  c. The department chairperson or area deans and directors, in consultation with the department faculty, will develop the job announcement, including the position description, minimum qualifications, and other characteristics (required, preferred, or desired). This announcement will be forwarded to the appropriate Vice President and/or Provost. When appropriate, requirements may exceed minimum qualifications set by regulation as long as a diversified pool of applicants is achieved (Sec. 53023).

  d. Before positions are announced, the Diversity, Equity, & Compliance Director and the Associate Vice President of Human Resources will review the job announcement and position description to ensure technical and legal accuracy in conformity with the District's equal employment opportunities and affirmative action, nondiscrimination commitments, and with sound personnel principles.

  2. Hiring Process

  a. The initial screening of applications shall be accomplished for the purpose of determining which applicants will be invited for interview. The screening committee appointed by the District President or designee shall be composed of five to eight individuals, including at least the following: three to six faculty members, including at least the department chairperson and at least one other faculty from the academic discipline where the opening occurs, and one or two administrators. The faculty membership shall include at least two females and two ethnic minorities, except when such representatives from the faculty are not available. Faculty members, except in unusual circumstances, shall be tenured. As circumstances are appropriate, the District President or designee may appoint a student, community representative, and/or a faculty emeriti to the screening committee.

  The District will seek to include broad participation by faculty members in the hiring process. The District President or designee will inform the President of the Academic Senate of the composition of the screening committee; this composition will also be reviewed by the Diversity, Equity, & Compliance Director and the Associate Vice President of Human Resources to ensure compliance with the Affirmative Action and Staff Diversity Policy.

  b. A select number of qualified candidates, screened from the initial pool, will be invited for a personal interview at their expense. A diversified pool of applicants must be identified or additional corrective action should be taken to achieve this goal prior to the continuation of the process. If this diversification cannot be achieved, the District President or designee should intervene and determine if additional steps need to be taken. Such steps may include, but are not limited to:

  • the extension of the deadline with additional recruitment focused on historically underrepresented groups;

  • the inclusion of applicants from historically underrepresented groups who may be expected to meet these additional qualifications, within a reasonable length of time, through appropriate training or experience because they failed to meet locally established "desirable or preferred" qualifications beyond state minimum;

  • the modification or removal of locally established qualifications beyond state minimum qualifications and the extension of the deadline for application (Sec. 53023).

  c. The interview will be conducted by the screening committee and may include a teaching or skills demonstration. All candidates interviewed for a particular position will go through the same process.

  d. The committee shall recommend at least two, unranked finalists to the District President and/or designee via the chair of the screening committee.

  e. The committee may decide that no candidates from those interviewed will be recommended as finalists, in which event the District President or designee, after consultation with the screening committee, will determine whether to extend or terminate the process.

  f. The District President's designees and the chair of the screening committee may conduct the second level interviews, forwarding their recommendation to the District President who may choose to interview the finalist.

  g. Once a selection is made, Human Resources will extend a tentative offer of employment to the successful candidate contingent upon Board approval. After the successful candidate accepts the tentative offer of employment, unsuccessful candidates will be notified in writing that they were not selected.

  h. No full-time faculty member in a tenure track position will be hired who has not been interviewed and selected as a result of the process established in items A.1. and A.2., inclusive.

  i. Every effort will be made to conduct the hiring process for full-time tenure track faculty positions during the course of the academic year.

  j. All references to the District President may be interpreted to include "or designee(s)."

Links to District Policies

Adjunct Faculty Initial Hire Agreement

Faculty Assignment Agreement