Multi-Year Contracts for Instructional, Research and Clinical Faculty

C.R.S. § 24-19-104, recently amended by Senate Bill 23-048, allows state institutions of higher education to offer contracts of up to five years under certain circumstances to faculty members who are not tenured or on the tenure track. At the University of Colorado, for the purposes of this policy, faculty who are not tenured or on the tenure track are in the Instructional, Research, and Clinical (IRC) faculty category. The University of Colorado allows the campuses to offer the maximum contract duration to IRC faculty as specified in section II of this administrative policy statement (APS).   The APS also outlines a statutory exception related to faculty appointments which are focused on clinical care as described in C.R.S. § 24-19-108.

1. Instructional and Librarian appointments (see C.R.S. § 24-19-104(1.5)(d))
   1. Instructional, Research, and Clinical faculty members with at least .5 FTE classroom teaching assignment may be eligible for a contract of up to five years.  The contract may contain other duties beyond .5 FTE classroom teaching, as long as the minimum .5 FTE classroom teaching is maintained.
   2. Instructional, Research, and Clinical faculty members with at least .5 FTE librarian appointment may be eligible for a contract of up to five years.  The contract may contain other duties beyond .5 FTE librarian assignment, as long as the minimum .5 FTE librarian assignment is maintained.
2. Research appointments (see C.R.S. § 24-19-104(1.5)(c))
   1. Instructional, Research, and Clinical faculty members may be eligible for contracts up to five years for specific funded research to be performed in a university setting. These appointments can be at any FTE but are only for research.
3. Exceptions – Clinical care appointments (see C.R.S. § 24-19-108(1)(b))
   1. As outlined by C.R.S. § 24-19-108: “…any specialty track faculty member whose primary job assignment is clinical care and who is employed at a state institution of higher education...” is subject to a statutory exception regarding length of appointment.
       
   2. Based on this exception, Clinical Series faculty whose primary job assignment is clinical care do not have a statutory limitation on their employment agreement. Primary job assignment is construed to mean at least 50% of their FTE appointment. These faculty may have at-will, limited, or indeterminate employment agreements.
4. Per subsection (C) of Regent Policy 5.C.3 – Instructional, Research, and Clinical Faculty Appointments, campuses are encouraged to provide multi-year contracts to high performing faculty as permitted by applicable state law and available financial resources.  Faculty members working under such contracts are not eligible for tenure, and appointments shall not be deemed to convert such faculty to tenure-track status.

1. Each campus shall have a process for the review and approval of multi-year contracts.
   1. The faculty member’s performance and the unit’s needs and budgetary resources shall be considered when a recommendation is made, reviewed, and approved.
       
   2. The head of the primary unit in which the appointment will be held shall have primary responsibility for establishing appointment criteria, and for considering the merits of a multi-year contract for an individual faculty member and issuing a recommendation to the dean.
       
   3. The dean of the school, college, or library will have final approval authority for multi-year contracts, subject to state law, regent policy, this APS, and campus requirements.
2. The vice president for academic affairs, working with the Office of University Counsel, will promulgate a Multi-Year Contract template with approved terms and conditions that comply with applicable state law and university policy.  Copies of the template may be requested from the Office of University Counsel. 
   1. Each contract will provide for an appointment of no more than five years and may provide for a probationary period of not more than one year.
       
   2. Each contract shall specify the percent of the appointment that will be allocated to leadership and service, or other areas if any, and must be in accordance with section II.A, B, or C of this APS.  Any changes during the term of the contract must be agreed to in writing by both the faculty member and the approving authority.
       
   3. Each contract shall provide that any decision regarding reappointment following the contract’s expiration is within the university’s sole discretion.

1. Article 5.C.3:  Instructional, Research, and Clinical Faculty
2. Regent Policy 5.C.3:  Instructional, Research, and Clinical Faculty Appointments
3. APS 1009 - Multiple Means of Teaching Evaluation

• Adopted:  March 14, 2013.
• This policy was updated in May 2014 to be consistent with the passage of HB14-1256, which was signed into law on March 27, 2014; March 18, 2020, became effective July 1, 2020, with the rollout of the new regent article and policy 5 regarding faculty; September 2, 2021, revised for changes related to the Equal Pay Act and made retroactive to January 1, 2021; August 3, 2023,  administrative clean-up to reconcile relevant statute and updates required by Senate Bill 23-048, which go into effect in August 2023.
• Last Reviewed:  August 3, 2023 (Limited review and revision based on revision to C.R.S. § 24-19-104).