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Handbook of Operating Procedures
Handbook of Operating Procedures
Chapter 2 - Faculty and Academics
Publication Date: July 14, 2009
Responsible Executive: VP for Academic Affairs

2.23 Professional Expectations for Faculty

The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) expects its faculty to adhere to the highest standards of professional conduct and to exemplify the core values of the University: integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration, and innovation. As leaders of UTSA’s community of scholars, faculty serve as important role models for other members of the UTSA community. Thus, they are expected to exemplify ethical leadership and professional behavior in teaching, research, service, and collaboration with colleagues.

A delineation of professional expectations governing relationships with professional colleagues and students cannot anticipate every potential problem. Thus, these expectations begin with a statement of general principles from which all subsequent expectations follow:

  1. Faculty members strive to benefit those with whom they work and serve and take care to do no harm. In their professional actions, faculty members seek to safeguard the welfare and rights of those with whom they interact. When conflicts occur among members’ multifaceted obligations or concerns, members should attempt to resolve those conflicts in a responsible fashion that avoids or minimizes harm. Because faculty members’ professional judgments and actions affect the lives of others, they must avoid personal, financial, social, organizational, or political actions that might lead to misuse of their influence. Faculty members strive to be aware of the possible effects of their own physical and mental health on their ability to conduct themselves professionally with their colleagues, students, and members of the larger community;
  2. Faculty members behave respectfully toward all members of the university community and respect the rights of individuals to maintain confidentiality, safety, and self-determination. They strive to recognize the social/interpersonal dimension of their roles and establish relationships of mutual trust with fellow workers. They are aware of their professional and scientific responsibilities to society, their professional disciplines, and to the communities in which they work. Faculty members uphold professional standards of conduct and ethical codes within their disciplines and use them to clarify their professional roles and obligations. They take appropriate responsibility for their behavior, and they seek to avoid conflicts of interest that could lead to exploitation or harm;
  3. Faculty members are aware that special safeguards may be necessary to protect the rights and welfare of vulnerable persons and communities. Faculty are aware of and respect cultural, social, and individual differences and consider these factors when working with members of such groups. Faculty try to eliminate the effect of their biases based on those factors, and they do not knowingly participate in or conduct activities which reflect the operation of such biases.

This set of principles should guide the participation and conduct of all faculty.

Professional conduct includes, but is not limited to:

  1. Supporting the free inquiry and exchange of ideas;
  2. Participating in university governance through appropriate university bodies and providing input into decisions through those bodies relating to degree requirements, hiring and promotion of faculty, development of teaching and workload policies, and assessment of colleagues in accordance with fair procedures and processes;
  3. Participating in curriculum decisions to ensure the effectiveness of the curriculum in educating students; Demonstrating professional behavior in teaching and work with students, including:
    1. providing a syllabus within the first week of classes that incorporates expected learning outcomes and expectations regarding completion of assignments and examinations;
    2. maintaining at least three hours of office time each week during a semester when scheduled to teach;
    3. meeting with classes as scheduled or providing reasonable prior notification to students and administration that a class will not meet;
    4. being on time to classes and meetings with students;
    5. returning assignments with appropriate feedback in a timely manner;
    6. evaluating students based on criteria directly related to course expectations; using reasonable judgment in working with students who have missed assignments for valid and verified reasons;
    7. listening to points of view shared by students in a professional and respectful manner;
    8. upholding academic integrity, including making students aware of and adhering to UTSA plagiarism policies for students and not taking credit or misusing the work of students in any way;
    9. honoring commitments to participate in student activities;
    10. maintaining appropriate boundaries with students, including not entering into a romantic or otherwise inappropriate relationship with a student for whom a faculty member has, or should expect to have in the future, any responsibility for the instruction, evaluation, or supervision of that student;
  4. Pursuing research and discovery and facilitating learning with appropriate standards of scholarly inquiry, including adherence to standards of research conduct and the avoidance of the intentional misuse of data, research results, or authorship;
  5. Refraining from interference with personal security; making threats of physical harm or harassment (sexual or otherwise); committing actual physical harm or harassment; or committing vilification, derogation, slander, libel, misrepresentation, misuse of confidential information, or other hostile workplace practices toward another member of the university community that results in the interference of that person’s ability to perform his or her university duties;
  6. Adhering to established policies relating to confidentiality and conflict of interest;
  7. Not discriminating against students, staff or other colleagues within the University community because of age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, country of origin, political beliefs, veteran’s status, ability or disability, socioeconomic status, or for other personal arbitrary reasons;
  8. Adhering to federal, state, The University of Texas System (UT System), and University policies, including those relating to the submission of annual and other required reports, submission and oversight of grants and contracts, disclosure of information regarding intellectual property, completion of mandatory compliance training, appropriate use of University resources, and appropriate reporting and maintenance of inventory.

Efforts to resolve disagreements relating to faculty conduct should be made through appropriate channels using mediation if feasible. Any sanctions applied as the result of professional misconduct will provide appropriate opportunities for due process through established procedures for faculty grievances.

Failure to adhere to the standards delineated above, or the committing of serious misconduct not specified above, could result in exclusion from merit pay and other sanctions, up to and including dismissal as a faculty member, subject to the procedures included in this Handbook of Operating Procedures (HOP).

Portions of this section are adapted from the American Psychological Association Ethical Principles of Psychology and Code of Conduct (2002) and the University of California Academic Personnel Manual Faculty Code of Conduct (2002).

Related Policies:

Editorial Amendment Issued March 2010