Policy Alignment Frequently Asked Questions

For the purposes of alignment with the KU-UAKU memorandum of agreement (MOA), faculty members include tenure-line faculty (professor and librarian titles), instructional faculty (teaching professor, professor of the practice, lecturer, instructor, and visiting professor titles), and unclassified academic staff (research professor, clinical professor, curator, scientist, and specialist titles). Policy types differ in terms of what faculty categories need to be addressed within the scope of that policy. For example, only faculty members with multi-year appointments need to be addressed within unit annual evaluation policies.

We expect that most units will need to make at least some revisions to their policies on annual evaluation, promotion and tenure, progress toward tenure review, and post-tenure review. All units will also need to have written workload policies, which most currently do not. Units that include instructional faculty (e.g., teaching professors, professors of the practice) or unclassified academic staff (e.g., clinical professors, research professors) will need to have policies for annual evaluation, comprehensive review, and promotion review for these faculty members.

The KU-UAKU memorandum of agreement (MOA) specifies that all policies should be in alignment with the MOA within 12 months of the effective date of the MOA. The MOA was effective on April 15, 2026, which means that all policies must be in alignment with the MOA and approved by the relevant offices or committees for inclusion in the university policy library by April 15, 2027.

Yes. The Office of Faculty Affairs requests that departments, centers, and schools submit their new or revised policies to our office according to the schedule on our policy alignment page. This timeline, with staggered deadlines by policy type, will allow for necessary reviews and approvals prior to the policy alignment deadline of April 15, 2027.

Before submitting to the Office of Faculty Affairs for review, the new or revised policy should be approved by the unit faculty members through unit-level shared governance procedures (e.g., by a department vote) and by the appropriate administrator (e.g., dean, associate dean, or vice chancellor for research). All submitted policies should be formatted using the provided policy library template, which is linked to on the policy alignment page. For revised policies, changes from the previous version of the policy should be highlighted or redlined.   

There will be a designated form for electronic submission of new and revised policies related to alignment with the KU-UAKU MOA. The form will also include a checklist regarding alignment of the new or revised policy with university policy, the KU-UAKU MOA, and KBOR policy as appropriate. Using the electronic submission form will allow the Office of Faculty Affairs to keep track of which policies have been submitted and where each policy is in the review process. Please do not submit your policy documents by email.  

As always, new and revised policies relevant to the faculty role will be reviewed by the Office of Faculty Affairs and the Office of Policy Administration. Certain policies may also require additional review, consistent with university policy and principles of shared governance (e.g., promotion and tenure policies will be reviewed by the Standards and Procedures on Promotion and Tenure (SPPT) Committee. After policies are submitted using the electronic submission form, the Office of Faculty Affairs will direct each submitted policy to the relevant offices and committees for review. 

The Office of Faculty Affairs will ensure that each policy is sent to the relevant offices or committees for approval. The Office of Policy Administration will notify your unit when all necessary approvals have been secured and the document is available in the policy library. 

Determining alignment with disciplinary standards (sometimes referred to as “benchmarking”) is up to the unit. As part of the submission process, the Office of Faculty Affairs will be requesting information about the unit's process for determining alignment with disciplinary standards (e.g., what tools did you use, what peer institutions did you make comparisons to?). Administrators (e.g., deans) may ask for additional information about alignment with disciplinary standards or university standards as part of their review processes. More information about benchmarking processes is available here. 

If your unit includes faculty members with joint or split appointments, your policies should address expectations and processes for these faculty members, including if and how processes or expectations differ depending on percent appointment within the unit. However, for faculty members with joint or split appointments, your unit is only responsible for addressing the roles that are housed within your unit.  

KBOR’s policy manual has recently been updated with regard to workload, annual evaluation, promotion and tenure, and post-tenure review. All of the articles on these topics were approved by KBOR as part of their approval of the contract. The KU-UAKU MOA article on post-tenure review reflects both these KBOR policy updates and historical approaches at KU and will guide KU’s approach to post-tenure review going forward. The policy development guidance documents, found on the Office of Faculty Affairs policy alignment resources page, incorporate guidance for alignment with both the KU-UAKU MOA and recent changes to the KBOR policy manual.

Academic Program Review will still take place during the 2026-2027 academic year, but we have adjusted the policy submission calendar for units that are completing academic program review this year so that these units do not have a policy alignment deadline in the same month that their self-study is due. Although some deadlines are shifted, the overall 12-month timeframe for completion of policy revisions remains the same for these units, as required by the MOA. 

KU’s program review with KBOR is scheduled again for 2028-2029, and HLC requires a mid-cycle review report during the same timeframe. The current department review schedule ensures that all units have completed review by that time. For additional questions about academic program review, please contact Academic Affairs.

There are certain policy elements that are mandated by the MOA (for example, written annual evaluation reports must be provided to faculty members by March 1 of each year). However, units can discuss procedures and standards in the language that makes the most sense for their units. For most policy types, the Office of Faculty Affairs will have template language available that units can opt to use if they wish. However, there is no requirement to use this specific language – as long as your policy is in alignment with the MOA and school/college and university policy, you can use the language and formatting that works best for your unit.

AI can be a useful tool as long as we start and end with human checks on policy content and alignment. KU has a site license with Microsoft Co-Pilot that includes features such as access to Microsoft documents that may aid in policy creation or revision.

Guidance documents are currently available on the policy alignment page for annual evaluation policies, with more coming soon. Units are not required to use the provided templates, but can do so if desired. Templates may also be modified to suit unit needs. Additional resources will be coming soon.  

Yes. The OFA has mini grant funding available. Departments, schools, or centers can apply for grants of up to $4,000 to support policy development work.

Please email facultyaffairs@ku.edu and we will direct your question to the appropriate person or office.