Faculty and Staff handbooks (University of Michigan)

The first faculty handbook was published in September 1978 for instructional staff. It was created with the cooperation of various University Senate committees, the Academic Affairs Advisory Council, and the Office of Academic Affairs to provide a summary of employment policies and practices. The handbook served to orient new faculty to key policies and provided an easy reference source for continuing faculty.

The body of policies and practices governing faculty are derived from the direction of the Board Regents and executive officers of the university, as well as federal and state legislation, and principles and custom. This body of policies exists within several authoritative sources, including the university's Standard Practice Guide (SPG. The SPG is available online at: http://spg.umich.edu/ ), the Board of Regents' Proceedings (also available online at: http://www.umich.edu/~regents/ ), and policy directives from individual executive officers. These sources remained the authoritative versions of policies after the publication of the handbook.

Similar handbooks were published for the primary research staff (March 1982) and primary librarian staff (May 1984). The handbook for research staff was published as the interim version of what would become a joint faculty handbook for instructional and primary research staff. The first handbook published jointly for instructional and primary staff was issued in December 1994. It was published by the Office of Human Resources and Affirmative Action. Primary staff includes research scientists, archivists, curators and librarians.

The format of the handbook changed with the Fall 1998 faculty handbook, published by the Office of the Provost. The handbook was modified to become a navigational tool, indicating which sources had information on the various policies. This was also the first handbook published in both online and print form. The online version linked to the authoritative sources of the policies whenever electronic versions were available. For the Fall 2004 handbook, the online version was the complete authoritative handbook and the print version was abridged. As of August 2005, the online version is located at http://www.provost.umich.edu/faculty/handbook/

The staff handbooks serve the same role as the faculty handbooks, providing summary information on the various policies governing staff employees. The first handbooks, published ca. 1978, had different versions for professional and administrative staff, technical staff, and office staff. After 1985, there was a single handbook for allied health, office, professional and administrative, and technical staff. The staff handbook had been updated periodically in print form and is also available online. As of August 2005, the online version is located at http://www.umich.edu/~hraa/staffhandbook/

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Sources Consulted:

Faculty and staff handbooks (introductions and prefaces).

Michigan Daily, "Faculty hail 1st new handbook since '78 edition," March 2, 1995.

From the guide to the Faculty and Staff handbooks (University of Michigan), 1973- 2007, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)