About
What is a Personal Circumstances Flag?
The Personal Circumstances (PC) Flag offers tenured and professional-track faculty the opportunity to designate a year within the scope of a multi-year review (CPR, Promotion, etc.) as having been impacted by personal circumstances, similar to the probationary extension available for tenure-track faculty. This notation, but not the reason for it, would be available to review committees to provide context for that particular year being reviewed.
A faculty member may request up to two PC Flags while in rank, for events starting with occurrences in the 2019-20 academic year. The Provost's Office will not award retroactive PC Flags for circumstances that occurred before 2019-20.
For more information, please see the Provost's Office page on the Personal Circumstances Flag.
Reasons to Request a PC Flag
General examples
- Disability or illness of the faculty member
- Status of the faculty member as the principal caregiver of a preschool child
- Status of the faculty member as a principal caregiver of a disabled, elderly, or ill member of the family of the faculty member
COVID-specific examples
- For a faculty member who is the principal caregiver for a dependent but COVID led to a lack of care availability (e.g., childcare, school, eldercare) for the dependent
- Sickness of individual or of their a dependent for whom the faculty member is the principal caregiver would already count under more general health of self and dependents
Eligibility
Eligiblity for the Personal Circumstances Flag
Eligible faculty titles which can apply for the PC Flag include the following:
- Associate Professors
- Professors
- All professional-track faculty titles
Impact on Faculty Evaluation
Comprehensive Periodic Review
The Personal Circumstances (PC) Flag does not in and of itself adjust the timing of Comprehensive Periodic Review (CPR). However, it should prompt reviewers and peer review committees to reframe the review period for the faculty member. For example, if a faculty member is going through CPR who has been approved for one PC Flag during the period of time under consideration, the peer review committee should consider the body of work as having been completed in five years rather than six.
Promotion Review
There is not a mandatory year in which promotion for tenured and professional-track faculty must take place. Reviews are considered accelerated when the number of years in rank plus the number of Personal Circumstances (PC) Flags is less than six. For example, a tenured Associate Professor in their sixth year in rank who has one PC Flag would be considered accelerated whereas a tenured Associate Professor in their seventh year in rank with one PC Flag would not be considered accelerated.
Third Year Review (Professional-Track Only)
Certain professional-track faculty titles are required to undergo a third-year comprehensive review during their 5th, 6th or 7th semester in rank. However, professional-track faculty with one Personal Circumstances Flag requested prior to their third year in rank would instead go up for the third year review in their 7th or 8th semester in rank.
Annual Review
Faculty with an approved Personal Circumstances (PC) Flag should still be evaluated for the annual review period for which the flag covers. Having a PC Flag designates the year as having been impacted by personal circumstances to provide context to the review committee.
Process
Requesting a Personal Circumstances Flag
Faculty who would like to request a PC Flag must complete and submit a Personal Circumstances Flag Request Form, which will be routed via DocuSign to their Department Chair/Director, Dean, and the Provost’s Office. After the request has been final approved by the Provost's Office, a copy of the decision will be provided to the faculty member as well as other approvers on the request form. Approved PC Flags will be documented and viewable in the Provost’s Office Faculty Profile system. A faculty member may request up to two PC Flags while in rank.
Rescinding Approved Personal Circumstances Flags
A PC Flag will never be automatically added to a faculty member’s record. However, they can be rescinded at the faculty member’s request.
A request to rescind an approved PC Flag must be submitted in writing to the Department Chair, who will then submit the request to the College. Once the approved PC Flag is rescinded, the faculty member's mandatory review(s) will occur as normal.
Timeline
Deadline to Request a Personal Circumstances Flag
A faculty member should submit their request for a PC Flag as soon as it is apparent that personal circumstances have impacted the faculty member’s work. The Provost's Office will not award retroactive PC Flags for circumstances that occurred before 2019-20.
Questions or concerns: Contact CNS Faculty Affairs
