Above-Scale
Advancement to the rank of Professor, Above-Scale is a singular honor for UCLA faculty members, and carries with it the right to use the title Distinguished Professor. This designation is granted only when there is sustained and continuous evidence of excellence in all categories (research, teaching, professional activity and service) since advancement to Step VI. Evidence of such ongoing engagement in research would be the usual markers used by CAP; examples include publication of scholarly books and/or research articles in refereed journals, creation or performance of artistic works, or other outlets demonstrating creative scholarly contributions. The successful candidate will provide evidence of excellence in recent teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels, as appropriate.
Academic Appointee
One who is engaged primarily in one or more of the following: teaching, research, and public service, and whose duties are closely related to the university’s instructional and research functions. Academic appointees include faculty as well as researchers, deans, chairs, postdocs, some Cedar Sinai employees (those who have an academic appointment), appointees in the Clinical Professor Series: Volunteer Series and possibly other titles. Academic appointees do not include UNEX instructors, CTSI affiliates who do not have academic appointments, and IDP roles that are not reflected with academic appointments. Academic Appointee appointments may be paid or unpaid.
Academic History
(1) Data used to calculate the Eligibility of an Academic Appointee. (2) A page in the Dossier showing academic employment history.
Academic Personnel Manual
Academic Recruit
UCLA's system for managing the recruitment of academic appointees.
Academic Senate
Governance organization through which the University of California faculty share in the operation and management of the University. See also: senate.ucla.edu
Accelerations
Advancement in step in advance of eligibility or to a higher step than normal. Usually occurs after the candidate has produced some extraordinary achievement, won some major award, received some outstanding recognition in her/his field, or been extraordinarily productive. Accelerations should not be proposed to correct a perceived inequity in rank or step.
Additional Department
The department that an appointee has a joint or split appointment in.
Affiliation
Whether an appointee is a primary or additional member of the department. Primary indicates that your department is the appointee's home department. Additional means the appointee has a joint or split appointment in your department, with a primary appointment elsewhere.
Appointment Basis
The pay basis for the appointment, Academic Year (AY) or Fiscal Year (FY). HSCP appointees should be marked as FY.
Area
We are using this term to represent sub-departments. Some schools call these divisions, some call them sections. We agreed on this term so as not be confused with the Divisions in the College of L&S. Most departments do not have areas.
Current Appointment
The current approved (with final approval), appointment. Any change which is currently in the review is considered an Action in Progress.
Effective Date
The date the appointment change based on the action outcome will take effect.
Eligibility
What type of academic personnel action an academic appointee is eligible for at a specific time, based on on normal periods at rank and step as defined in the Academic Personnel Manual.
Four Year Review
Documents 4 year review actions for Associate and Full Professors in the HS Clinical and Adjunct Professors Series within the School of Medicine, who have appointments at less than or equal to 50% time, or are WOS (Without Step).
Last Advancement Action
The appointee's last action that resulted in a change in series, rank, or step. This could be an appointment, merit, promotion, or change in series.
Master Data
Business critical data that is often used by several functional groups and stored in different data systems across an organization. Some data about academics may be considered master data.
Merit
An advancement in salary step or to an above-scale salary rate without a change of rank.
Merit Equity Review
The Office of the President has mandated that each campus provide a mechanism for ensuring that all University ladder faculty members are at the appropriate rank and step that is consistent with achievement. The Merit Equity Review (MER) was established for Ladder-Rank faculty and has been in effect since July 1, 2003. A request for a MER must be a substantive request that will require all supporting information as described in the CALL relating to the rank and step of the proposed advancement. A significant discrepancy between the faculty member’s existing rank and step and that of his/her peers within the same discipline must be identified.
Open Access Policy
On July 24, 2013, the Academic Senate of the University of California passed an Open Access Policy, ensuring that future research articles authored by faculty at all 10 campuses of UC will be made available to the public at no charge. More details can be found at: https://escholarship.org/about_open_access.html
Primary Department
The appointee's home department.
Profile
An Opus feature that will allow faculty to edit, import, export, and otherwise manage their scholarly data for purposes of academic review and reporting. It will include faculty academic history, scholarly activities, and will be populated with data from authoritative campus sources. Other fields will need to be manually entered or updated by the individual faculty member, proxy, or administrator.
Promotion
An advancement from one rank to a higher rank within a series, usually to the next rank.
Reappointment
The renewal of a previous appointment, immediately following the ending of a previous appointment in the same series.
Review Initiator
The individual who is the immediate supervisor of the candidate for review and is the person responsible for the recommended action. The RI will be able to view information for all Librarians in his/her organization using Opus. The RI, along with the candidate will be responsible for compiling the documentation for the Librarian’s dossier using Opus. The RI will also submit a recommendation and evaluation for the candidate in his/her domain via Opus.
Sabbatical
Sabbatical leaves are granted to enable recipients to be engaged in intensive programs of research and/or study, thus to become more effective teachers and scholars and to enhance their services to the university.
Regular Sabbatical Leave provides salary at varying percentages of regular salary, depending on the amount of accrued sabbatical leave credit, and the option elected by the eligible faculty member. One on such regular sabbatical is excused from all regular duties to enable the individual to devote full-time to research and/or study.
Sabbatical Leave in Residence may be taken by a member of the teaching staff who is eligible for a regular sabbatical and who, in addition to a program of research and/or study at one of the University campuses, will teach at the home campus or another campus, one class which meets regularly at least three hours each week during each term of the sabbatical period; or will perform an equivalent amount of instructional service in a course or in a clinical setting regarded as essential to the program of that campus. One on sabbatical leave in residence shall be freed from all other teaching obligations and from all committee and administrative work.
Specialty
We are using this term to represent entities below the Area (sub-department) level. Only Dentistry and the School of Medicine have specialties.
Self Statement
A statement explaining the Candidate's goals and describing them within the context of their field of interest and the priorities of their Department. Part of the Dossier.
Shibboleth
The enterprise-wide UCLA single sign on technology used by Opus. It is managed by IT Services Identity Management Team.
Start Date at Current Rank
The date the appointee started in their current rank - cumulative since their start date at any UC.
Start Date at Current Series
The date the appointee started in their current series - cumulative since their start date at any UC.
Start Date at Current Step
The date the appointee started at their current step, within their current rank - cumulative since their start date at any UC.
Symplectic
Elements is software licensed by the UC system and the California Digital Library in order to encourage open access deposit and to collect, understand and showcase the scholarly activities of academics.
Tenure Clock
Measures the number of years that an Assistant Professor has accrued since hire date. There is an eight year limit on the Tenure Clock. The 8 year limit can be extended by initiating a Time off the Clock request due to childbirth, adoption, or other circumstances.
Tenure Service Unit
Whether the appointee should accrue service based on semesters, quarters, or months. If the appointee is paid on an Academic Year (AY) basis, they should accrue service based on semesters or quarters. If the appointee is paid on a Fiscal Year (FY) basis, they accrue service based on months.
Tenure Service Units: AY
The number of quarters, semesters, or months the appointee accrued toward the 8 year limit for the current academic year. If the appointee has a full time appointment, they would accrue 3 quarters, 2 semesters, or 12 months.
Tenure Service Units: Total
The total number of quarters, semesters, or months the appointee has accrued since they were hired by the UC. This includes any service credit they may have accrued at another UC prior to their appointment at UCLA (if known).
Tenure Service Units: Years
The total number of years toward the 8 year limit the appointee has accrued since they were hired by the UC. This includes any service credit they may have accrued at another UC prior to their appointment at UCLA (if known).
The CALL
UCLA's policies and procedures manual for academic appointees.
The College
The UCLA College is home to more than 85 percent of the university’s 28,000 undergraduate students. Together, its four academic divisions—Humanities, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences—encompass 34 departments, 109 undergraduate majors, more than 50 graduate degree programs and over 40 PhD programs that span research and teaching across both traditional and emerging disciplines in the liberal arts and sciences. A fifth division, Undergraduate Education, serves as the campus driver of excellence and innovation in the undergraduate experience.
Time off the Clock
An extension of the eight-year limit of the Tenure Clock as an Assistant Professor due to childbirth, adoption, or other circumstances.
TOC Credited Service Units: AY
The number of months towards the 8 year limit the appointee will accrue in the current academic year.
TOC Credited Service Units: Total
The number of total months toward the 8 year limit the appointee has accrued within the UC.
TOC Credited Service Units: Years
An appointee is automatically eligible for a year off the clock due to childbirth, and may request time off the clock for other circumstances per the CALL: Appendix 14:VII. This field represents how many years the appointee may take off the clock. As the appointee is not required to use this time off the clock, this field does not impact eligibility. This field is only editable by AAPO.
TOC Credited Service Years: Total
The number of years on the clock, or years toward the 8 year limit the appointee has accrued within the UC.
TOC Credits Taken
While an appointee is permitted up to 2 years off the clock due to childbirth or illness, that appointee is not required to use those years. This field represents how many years the appointee has opted to use. This field does impact eligibility and pushes the 8 year limit date back by one year.
TOC Years Taken
The number of TOC years the appointee has opted to take. For example, they may have 1 TOC Credited Service Year (due to childbirth), but they have not exercised their option to 'take' the credited year. In this case, the 8 year limit review will proceed on time. If the appointee decided to 'take' the credit, the 8 year limit review date will be moved back one year.
UCPATH
A University of California systemwide program to align HR and payroll processes and technology across all campuses, medical centers and research units. It replaced the UC's 30-year-old payroll/personnel system.
UID
A unique identification number for UCLA students and employees. The UID number is utilized by all of the Student System applications is the common thread that allows applications to tie various student and employee data together.
Visiting Scholar
A person who has an academic appointment at another institution and is participating in a short-term educational, research, or other academic project at UCLA under the supervision of an academic appointee. The appointment is without compensation.
VIVO
VIVO is an open source platform for research discovery developed by the community and stewarded by Duraspace. VIVO also contains an ontology for representing scholarship. The platform supports the recording, editing, searching, browsing, and visualizing of scholarly activity. It also encourages research discovery, expert finding, network analysis, and assessment of research impact.
Waiver
The faculty member has requested and been approved for having their additional departments waive participation in his/her personnel actions. Primary departments cannot waive participation.
Waiver Term Length
The total number of years the waiver will be in effect before it expires (not years remaining).