Part IV: Part IV. Academic Units, Codes, and Seven Year Program Evaluation

Contents

1. Definition of Code Unit
2. Organizing as a Code Unit
3. Creating New Code Units and Making Changes to Existing Code Units

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I. Definition of Code Unit

By virtue of their professional disciplinary and inter-disciplinary expertise, East Carolina University faculty members are responsible for creating and implementing degree programs, associated curricula, and for performing numerous other activities essential to educating students, advancing knowledge and serving the university and the community. To fulfill this responsibility effectively, faculty members organize into self-governing departments, schools or colleges. The resulting organizational boundaries are neither arbitrary nor a reflection of individual interests. Disciplinary and interdisciplinary boundaries derive naturally from differences in the subjects studied and the methods required to generate new knowledge of these subjects. The operations of a faculty group organized around shared subject matters and research methodologies are governed by a document referred to as a "unit code." ECU uses the expression "code unit" to refer to a department, school or college whose operations are governed by a unit code. Differences between unit codes arise because of the subject matter and research methods of different code units. These differences require unique procedures that govern teaching, research, service and other assignments as well as the specific code unit’s criteria for appointment, reappointment, promotion and tenure, for example. The unit code document is created by a group of faculty members and approved by the applicable code unit voting faculty members as defined below (Part IV, Section II, subsection III), the Unit Code Screening Committee, the Faculty Senate, and the Chancellor. In this process, the administrator to whom the code unit administrator reports, typically a dean, reviews a draft code and may provide advice. When the code unit is a college and the next higher administrator is the Provost, the unit code is submitted directly to the Unit Code Screening Committee without review at this step by the Provost.

II. Organizing as a Code Unit

Requirements: To be eligible to organize as a Code Unit, a new or existing department, school or college, (or departments, schools or colleges created by splitting or combining existing code units), shall satisfy the following requirements:

1. Code Units shall contain sufficient faculty members to create and sustain one or more degree programs and their associated curricula (excepting the libraries). What suffices in any given case will be decided by the Provost or Dean of Brody School of Medicine's delegate (as appropriate to supervisory authority) in consultation with the faculty with at least one year of service who will be members of the Code Unit if established, the chairperson(s) or director(s) and the appropriate dean.
2. Code units shall be organized so as to distribute faculty and administrative responsibilities as follows (this list is not exhaustive of the duties of faculty members and administrators).
   1. Faculty: Faculty members are expected to perform responsibilities that may include, but are not limited to, providing course instruction in one or more degree programs and in General Education courses as appropriate; conducting research and/or creative activities and providing clinical service (as appropriate to the discipline); for advising majors; supervising graduate theses and dissertations and initiating recommendations on curriculum, degree program requirements, personnel actions, evaluation criteria, the unit’s strategic plan, the unit’s assessment activities, student, faculty and staff awards and the unit’s code of operations.
      
   2. Administration: The unit administrator is expected to perform responsibilities that may include, but are not limited to, faculty evaluation, for assigning duties to the unit’s faculty members, for recommendations regarding initial faculty salaries and salary increments, for the use of the unit’s budget, for fundraising, for maintaining the unit’s contracts, records and reports, for managing the unit’s support staff, for the unit’s compliance with all university policies, rules and regulations and for the unit’s compliance with all actions required by higher administration.
      
      In carrying out these responsibilities, the unit administrator shall promote equality for their students, faculty, and staff, a commitment to the core value of equality of opportunity in education and employment as described in the UNC Policy Manual 300.8.5 Equality within the University of North Carolina (pdf).

III. Creating New Code Units and Making Changes to Existing Code Units

1. Proposals recommending the creation of a code unit or units, or changes to an existing code unit: Proposals shall be initiated by a Code Unit Proposal Committee. A Code Unit Proposal Committee may be self-constituted by action of at least one-fourth of an existing code unit’s faculty members (but no fewer than three faculty members) or may consist of at least three faculty members appointed by a chairperson, director, dean, the Dean of Brody School of Medicine's delegate, the provost or the chancellor. The faculty members appointed to the committee will be some or all of the faculty members who will be members of the new or changed unit(s) except in a case when the people who will constitute the faculty of a new unit are not yet employed by ECU. In the case of the creation of a new code unit or changes to an existing code unit, proposals will include a provisional code of operations for the new or changed unit(s).

2. A Provisional Code will conform to the ECU Faculty Manual and, as much as is practicable, to the guidelines and requirements for Unit Codes that are set forth in this document [see Part IV, Section II, subsection IV]. A Provisional Code will be approved by the Educational Policies and Planning Committee, the Faculty Senate and the chancellor, and will be used for a maximum of three semesters after the formal development of the new unit. No later than three semesters after the creation of a new code unit having a Provisional Code, the faculty of the unit will develop and have approved an official Unit Code.

3. In the case of a provisional code that has been in use for three semesters in a code unit in which there are fewer than three eligible voting faculty members who have been employed for at least twelve consecutive months in the unit, the deadline for developing and having approved an official unit code shall be extended until there are three faculty members in the unit who are eligible to vote on the unit’s code (see Part IV, Section II, subsection III).

If faculty members will be displaced by the creation of new code units or by changes to existing code units, the proposal must address this situation.

In addition to creating new code units, some of the changes to existing code units that proposals may address include but need not be limited to:

1. dissolving a code unit without terminating the employment of the faculty members in the unit,
2. dividing a code unit into two or more code units,
3. merging a code unit with one or more other units,
4. moving a code unit to another school or college,
5. changing a code unit's status from a department in a college to a school, or from a school to one or more departments in a college, or the reverse,
6. renaming a code unit (As of May 2019, System Office no longer requires ECU to notify or seek permission for changes in unit name nomenclature.),
7. moving groups of faculty and/or disciplines from one coded unit to another (This type of move does not require UNC System Office approval.),
8. reorganizing departments within a code unit,
9. any combination of the above.

Changes in all code units will not be implemented until the faculty members in the units affected and the Faculty Senate have the opportunity to recommend to the Chancellor approval or disapproval of the proposed changes as originally presented or as amended by the affected units or the Faculty Senate. (FS Resolution #19-75, December 2019)

4. For units coded at the college level, a department's name change only is not required to follow the processes described in subsection III. Department name changes within a code unit do require updating the department name in the unit code. Further, approved department name changes must be provided, at a minimum, to the following: 1) the Provost (or designated representative); 2) Institutional Planning, Assessment and Research; 3) Department for People Operations, Success, and Opportunity (POSO); 4) Registrar's Office with special attention to the catalog editor; 5) the Faculty Senate Office; and 6) other administrators or entities appropriate to the relevant discipline.

5. Procedures for creating or changing code units:

1. The Code Unit Proposal Committee will provide copies of its proposal to all of the faculty members and administrators of the departments, schools or colleges addressed by the proposal.
2. Within 15 working days after the proposal has been distributed, the Code Unit Proposal Committee will meet to discuss the proposal with the faculty members of affected departments, schools and/or colleges or with representatives elected by each affected unit, with the unit administrators, and with the appropriate deans and the Provost (or their representatives).
3. Within 10 working days after this meeting, the permanently tenured faculty members of each affected unit, including the unit administrator(s), will meet and vote their approval or disapproval of the proposal in its original form or as amended by their action.
4. Within 10 working days the chair of the Code Unit Proposal Committee will forward to the next higher administrator the results of the unit's action.
5. Within 10 working days the next higher administrator will communicate in writing to the Code Unit Proposal Committee and to the Provost the following items: the unit faculty's action and their concurrence or non-concurrence with that action.
6. The Code Unit Proposal Committee shall present copies of the proposal, the affected units' faculty recommendations, and the relevant administrators' concurrence or non-concurrence to the chair of the Educational Policies and Planning Committee. The committee shall consult with appropriate deans and the Provost, and, if it deems necessary, with other faculty members and administrators. Within 40 working days (during the regular academic year), the committee will report its recommendations to the Faculty Senate.
7. The Faculty Senate will vote, in a timely manner, to recommend to the Chancellor the approval or disapproval of the proposal as originally received by the Educational Policies and Planning Committee or as amended by the Faculty Senate.
8. If the proposal is approved by the Chancellor (and higher authority if necessary), implementation of the proposal will be overseen by the next higher administrator(s) over the new or changed code units.

Upon approval of new unit codes, the old unit code of a unit that has undergone a change of the sort listed above will become null-and-void.

If faculty members in code units that meet the conditions for splitting into separate code units do not choose to split into separate code units, faculty in individual departments or schools (as appropriate) may democratically develop written rules for their internal organization and operation. These rules will be housed in the department’s or school’s administrative office.

Contents

1. Definition of Unit Code
2. Approval Process for New and Revised Unit Codes
3. Faculty Who May Vote on a Unit’s Code of Operation
4. Minimal Unit Code Requirements
5. Use of “Guidelines” by a Code Unit
6. Faculty Workload Guidelines
7. Five Year Review of a Unit Code
8. Faculty Senate Office Records
9. Unit Code Training
10. Unit Code Availability
11. School or College Constitutions or By-Laws
12. Acceptable models for code units in reorganization plan

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I. Definition of Unit Code

Each Code Unit shall develop a Unit Code of Operations that will provide for the conduct of the unit’s affairs according to Robert's Rules of Order, Newly Revised and the requirements set out below in subsection IV. A new or revised Unit Code shall be approved by the applicable code unit voting faculty members of the unit, as defined herein (see subsection III. below). A copy of each Unit Code, after approval, is housed within the Faculty Senate Office, the Code Unit Office, and is available for review by faculty and administrators within the unit. (FS Resolution #19-37, April 2019)

II. Approval Process for New and Revised Unit Codes

Each Code Unit will develop its own Unit Code of Operations, following the process described in this section of this document. Upon approval at the unit level, the unit administrator shall forward the new or revised Unit Code to the next higher administrator above the unit for advice. If the code unit is a college and the next higher administrator is the Provost, this step is not required. The Code Unit shall consider advice received and may amend its proposed code if approved by the applicable code unit voting faculty members as defined herein (Subsection III). The Unit Code next is submitted to the Unit Code Screening Committee of the Faculty Senate for review. Upon being approved by the Unit Code Screening Committee, the Unit Code is submitted to the Faculty Senate for review and, if approved, to the Chancellor for final approval. If the Chancellor requires revisions, they shall so indicate in writing and shall return the Unit Code to the unit for the required revisions. After revision, the code shall be approved by the applicable code unit voting faculty members as defined herein (Subsection III) and upon approval shall be dealt with as described above, up to and including receiving the chancellor’s approval or request for further revisions.

III. Faculty Who May Vote on a Unit’s Code of Operations

Responsibility for voting on a Unit Code rests with full-time faculty with a commitment to the unit demonstrated as follows. All permanently tenured faculty members with at least 12 consecutive months in a greater than 50% assignment in a unit and all full-time faculty with at least six years in a greater than 50% assignment in a unit count towards a quorum and may vote on the unit’s new or revised Code. This includes administrators who meet these conditions. An affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of faculty voting is required to approve a new or revised Unit Code.

A faculty member on non-medical leave from a greater than 50% assignment in a unit may vote if the faculty member wishes to do so but does not count towards a quorum unless they are present at a vote. A faculty member on approved medical leave is not permitted to participate in any University activities during the period of approved medical leave without written university approval. Faculty members with 50% or less assignment in a unit do not vote on the unit’s code.

In tenure-granting units, only permanently tenured, eligible voting faculty may vote on or amend a unit’s tenure, promotion, and post-tenure review criteria. A separate affirmative vote of at least a majority of voting tenured faculty is required to approve new or revised tenure, promotion, and post-tenure review criteria. Such approved criteria may not be further amended during the approval process of the full new or revised Unit Code by all voting faculty. (FS Resolution #19-37, April 2019)

IV. Minimal Unit Code Requirements

To provide consistency, unit codes should be developed following an approved outline that includes:

1. a preamble
2. definitions of the unit's faculty, its criteria for serving as a voting faculty member of the
   unit, and, where appropriate, its approved criteria for appointment to the graduate faculty
3. criteria for emeritus or emerita status in the unit
4. the administrative organization of the unit
5. the membership, terms, and duties of standing committees
6. responsibility for program coordination and curriculum oversight
7. current, updated, and approved faculty workload guidelines for fixed-term, probationary
   (tenure-track), and tenured faculty
8. current, updated, and approved guidelines, criteria, and weights governing the evaluation of
   tenured, and tenure-track faculty members annually and otherwise for all personnel actions,
   including recommendations for raises, merit awards, reappointment, promotion and the award
   of permanent tenure (ECU Faculty Manual, Parts VIII and IX).
9. guidelines, criteria, and weights governing the evaluation of fixed-term faculty members annually and otherwise for all personnel actions, including new or subsequent appointments, performance evaluations and advancement in title
10. standards for post-tenure review
11. procedures for meetings within the unit
12. procedures for the unit's voting faculty members to indicate in a timely fashion and by vote their approval or disapproval of the unit's major planning documents, assessment documents, Guidelines for Unit Academic Program Review, and other major reports prior to their submission in final form to person(s) outside the unit
13. procedures for discussing with its unit administrator the unit's annual budget request and annual report
14. amendment procedures.

In furtherance of UNC Policy 300.8.5 (Policy on Equality Within the University of North Carolina), unit codes may express a commitment to building a culture and community that continues to ensure that diverse persons of any background, from North Carolina and beyond, are invited, included, and treated equally.

V. Use of “Guidelines” by a Code Unit

When a Code Unit chooses to maintain a separate document that includes guidelines stating procedures to be followed with regard to faculty evaluation and/or matters not addressed in the unit’s code, the Faculty Manual, or the ECU Policy Manual, these guidelines shall be approved by applicable code unit voting faculty members (see “III” above). Amendments to Guidelines shall be approved by applicable code unit voting faculty members (see “III” above). Such Guidelines shall be referenced in the Unit Code, shall be in compliance with all policies in the ECU Faculty Manual and the ECU Policy Manual, shall be housed in the Code Unit’s administrative offices, in the office of the next-higher administrator and in the Faculty Senate office. At the time of the mandatory review of a unit’s code, a unit’s guidelines, if any, shall also be reviewed by the Unit Code Screening Committee for compliance with university policy. (FS Resolution #19-37, April 2019)

VI. Faculty Workload Guidelines

Each academic unit must, in consultation with the dean, establish and maintain workload guidelines that comply with the ECU Faculty Manual and the ECU University Policy Manual (ECU Policy on Faculty Workload). The guidelines must be approved by the dean or Library director and referenced in the unit code.

The guidelines must:

1. include an example work plan for each faculty appointment type (probationary term, permanently tenured, or fixed-term) according to their discipline and which is reflective of the missions of the university, the college and academic unit;
2. establish ordinary percentages for faculty workload in teaching, research/creative activity, patient care and related clinical responsibilities (if applicable), and service for each faculty appointment type which together constitute the 1.0 FTE in a manner consistent with the missions of ECU and the academic unit;
3. identify with reasonable particularity guidelines under which deviations in the ordinary percentages for a given academic unit may be approved;
4. provide qualitative and quantitative examples of efforts, including reasonable measures of outputs (i.e., organized course sections taught, student credit hours produced, research/creative activity productivity, etc.) connected to facilitation of career progression (i.e., reappointment, promotion, tenure, post-tenure review, advancement in title).

The following are definitions of faculty responsibilities:

1. Teaching
   In addition to organized courses, the faculty member’s instructional workload also includes other instructional efforts and considerations such as: course level (bachelors, master’s, doctoral); course categories; instructional format (lecture, lab, etc.); mode of delivery (virtual, F2F, hybrid); programmatic accreditation requirements; team-taught courses; course enrollment; new course prep; course development or significant redesign; development of instructional materials; developing courseware or other materials for technology-based instruction; office hours; supervision of undergraduate research projects, masters’ theses, and doctoral dissertations; academic advising; directing students in co-curricular activities such as plays; preparing and equipping new laboratories; supervision of teaching assistants; supervision of internships; mentoring students or other faculty; and other activities that support student success.
2. Research/Creative Activity
   Faculty members holding additional responsibilities for research/creative activity as identified in their annual work plan can have their teaching workload adjusted on a commensurate basis. These activities may include, but are not limited to: working in laboratories and studios; conducting empirical and/or theoretical research; engaging in development or translational work; producing creative works; community engagement which results in creative or scholarly outcomes; writing articles for scholarly, trade, and professional outlets; digital scholarship and exhibits; data mapping and dashboarding; monographs; grant proposals; editing scholarly journals; juried art exhibits; curation of archives or exhibitions; performing or creating plays, dramaturgy, concerts, or musical recitals; conducting sponsored research; and similar activities.
3. Patient Care and Related Clinical Responsibilities
   Refers to the prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of physical and mental well-being through services offered by licensed healthcare professionals (Health and Human Rights Resource Guide) conducted on behalf of ECU. At ECU, these duties will be further defined by applicable Unit Codes and Department guidelines but include activities related to direct patient care.
4. Service
   Faculty members holding additional responsibilities for service as identified in their annual workplan can have their teaching workload adjusted on a commensurate basis. Examples may include but are not limited to: committee service for a program, department, college, university, or system; professional or academic membership at the local, state, national or international level; advising student groups; mentoring; community service; and administrative responsibilities such as serving as a department chair, program director, or center director, and assistant or associate deans. Faculty members may also be assigned administrative responsibilities, including but not limited to, department chair/head, program director, center director, and assistant or associate deans. ECU Institutional policies and unit codes shall specify the means and extent by which administrative responsibilities count towards a faculty member’s total workload.

Each unit’s faculty workload guidelines will be maintained and made available by the Faculty Senate Office and undergo review by its unit faculty every 5 years.

VII. Five Year Review of a Unit Code

The Unit Code Screening Committee shall report to the Faculty Senate at its last regular meeting of the academic year the unit codes that have not been reviewed within the five year period and might not be in compliance with updated university policies, rules and regulations.

VIII. Faculty Senate Office Records

A copy of each approved Unit Code shall be maintained in the Faculty Senate office. Included with the approved code shall be a page containing the signatures of the chair of each reviewing body and the Chancellor or the Chancellor's delegate.

IX. Unit Code Training

The Chair of the Faculty includes an introduction to unit codes and guidelines in the annual new faculty and new administrator orientation sessions.

X. Unit Code Availability

Every tenured, probationary (tenure-track) and fixed-term faculty member in a Code Unit shall be provided with a copy of or link to the Unit Code and the unit Guidelines, if any, upon becoming a 51% FTE or greater member of the unit. (FS Resolution #12-40, March 2012)

XI. School or College Constitutions or By-Laws

A School or College in which departments are code units may establish a constitution or by-laws. These shall be developed with input from the School or College faculty and the Dean. They must specify the procedures for their ratification and amendment. Prior to their ratification, constitutions and by-laws must be submitted to the Unit Code Screening Committee for review and advice. After review and amendment, if necessary, the constitution or by-laws shall be approved at a general meeting, such as fall convocation, by a majority of the tenured faculty members present and voting. Upon ratification, the Constitution or by-laws shall be re-submitted to the Unit Code Screening Committee for approval and, if approved, forwarded for review and approval to the Faculty Senate and, subsequently, the Chancellor.

If a School or College constitution or by-laws contains provisions for a School or College Promotion and Tenure Advisory Committee, the applicable policies and procedures must be submitted to the Faculty Governance Committee for review and approval prior to ratification of the constitution or by-laws. (FS Resolution #19-20, March 2019)

XII. Acceptable Models for Code Units in Reorganization Plan

Please see the diagram of Acceptable Models for Code Units in Reorganization Plan (PDF).

1. The Academic Program Review will be conducted according to the Academic Program Review Guidelines (pdf).
2. Changes to these guidelines need to be approved by the Educational Policies and Planning Committee and the Faculty Senate.
3. The Academic Program Review shall be used in the development of the program’s operational and strategic planning.

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(FS Resolution #11-45, March 2011)
(FS Resolution #15-63, May 2015)
(FS Resolution #17-39, May 2017)
(FS Resolution #19-07, February 2019)
(FS Resolution #19-37, April 2019)
(FS Resolution #19-75, December 2019)
(FS Resolution #21-02, February 2021)
(FS Resolution #21-21, April 2021)
(FS Resolution #21-22, April 2021)
(FS Resolution #23-61, January 2024)
(FS Resolution #24-76, February 2025)
(FS Resolution #24-81, March 2025)