 | Board of Visitors minutes January 27, 1989 |  |
PURPOSE:
In June of 1986 Governor Baliles formed the Decentralization Steering Committee to oversee a Higher Education Decentralization Study. The study was in response to a request from the college and university presidents to identify administrative functions where authority and responsibility could be appropriately delegated to the institutions. The Steering Committee established several task forces and charged them with making recommendations.
The Personnel Decentralization Task Force observed that definitions found in the Governor's Consolidated Salary Authorization Plan specified by job title the types of positions which may be designated as teaching, research and administrative. The institutions' Boards of Visitors have full authority to appoint faculty, however, there are restrictions on their appointments of individuals to administrative and professional positions. The Task Force recommended that the Governor's Consolidated Salary Authorization be amended to provide for two distinct categories of faculty. These changes would permit each institution latitude to designate the number and types of positions which can be assigned administrative/professional status.
The conflict between colleges and universities and the Commonwealth's Department of Personnel and Training is partially attributable to state governments view of these positions. The traditional view is that these positions should be directly and literally associated with academic or student personnel activities. This places a more narrow definition on them than is either realistic or necessary. In reality, virtually all administrative and professional personnel work in an academic environment. They constitute a unique and separate employment market in which the institution must compete. They are all associated either directly or indirectly with an academic enterprise.
The Task Force's recommendation was to create a new category of positions entitled "Administrative and Professional Faculty". The definitions and qualification criteria are listed below:
| Board of Visitors minutes January 27, 1989 | |