Dear Colleague:

Service at a research university, with its emphasis on the discovery and dissemination of knowledge, is a challenge and a privilege that we all cherish.  To assure a smooth functioning of the whole, organizations that deal with many thousands of individuals have to adopt formalized procedures and rules.  The Faculty Handbook attempts to minimize the time and effort needed to become familiar with University policies that define your obligations as well as measures for your protection and security.

Aspects of University governance, benefits, and institutional support change and must be communicated to faculty.  Compliance policies and procedures are instituted to satisfy federal and Commonwealth laws and must be made familiar to the faculty.  The Handbook also serves as a guide with respect to the resources and services available to the faculty.  However, only aspects of University governance of particular interest to faculty are included herein.  If you need to pursue detailed procedures such as the planning of new programs, grievances, or other contractually binding processes, please refer to the full text of applicable policies. 

With this edition, the Handbook will be available only online. This online handbook will be presented in two versions: one as a PDF file, suitable for printing in whole or in part, and a second version (accessible later this calendar year) in HTML.  Topics are accessible through the table of contents as well as through a key word index at the end of the document.

The Handbook does not constitute a contract of employment.  Changes to the Handbook will be included as promptly as feasible so that the University community has the most current description of policies and procedures available at all times.

It is my hope that this edition of the Faculty Handbook will aid your work within the University as we endeavor to make this institution an ever more distinguished and dynamic part of our community.