Frequently Asked Questions

Each college is assigned a Faculty Affairs Coordinator.  The Faculty Affairs Coordinator is your primary point of contact for any faculty related questions.  Coordinator assignments can be found on the Contact page.

Promotions become effective at the beginning of the next fiscal or academic year contract.  Full-time faculty are issued either a fiscal year (12-month) or academic year (9-month) employment contract annually, usually in June preceding the start of a new fiscal year on July 1. These are “term” contracts for a period of only one year. Contracts for 12-month faculty begin at the first of the month and usually begin on July 1 of the contract year.  Contracts for 9-month faculty typically begin mid-August of the contract year.

Promotional salary increases associated with the annual tenure and promotion process are not guaranteed.  The increase, if any, is dependent upon the budget for the following year, and the percentage increase is determined by the President.  If a promotional salary increase is granted, the promotional increase is calculated on the faculty member’s current 9-month base salary if the faculty member is on a 9-month contract or it is calculated on the faculty member’s current 12-month base salary if the faculty member is on a 12-month contract.

If a faculty member receives a promotion, merit and/or equity increase, the following formulas are applied for the calculation:

Total new Academic Year Salary for 9-month Faculty (no stipend):

• (Current Academic Year 9-month Base * Merit %) + (Current Academic Year 9-month Base * X% promotion) + Equity (if applicable) = New Academic Year 9-month Base Salary

Total new Academic Year Salary for 9-month Faculty (with stipend):

• (Current Academic Year 9-month Base * Merit %) + (Current Academic Year 9-month Base * X% promotion) + Equity (if applicable) = New Academic Year 9-month Base Salary
• If stipend is continuing in the new Academic Year:
  Current Academic Year 9-month Stipend * Merit % = New Academic Year 9-month Stipend 

Total new Fiscal Year Salary for 12-month Faculty (no stipend):

• (Current Fiscal Year 12-month Base * Merit %) + (Current Fiscal Year 12-month Base * X% promotion) + Equity (if applicable) = New Fiscal Year 12-month Base

Total new Fiscal Year Salary for 12-month Faculty (with stipend):

• (Current Fiscal year 12-month base * Merit %) + (Current Fiscal Year 12-month base * X% promotion) + Equity if applicable = new Fiscal Year 12-month base
• If stipend is continuing in the new Fiscal Year: Current Fiscal Year 12-month Stipend * Merit % = New Fiscal Year 12-month Stipend

Contract conversions are typically effective at the beginning of the new contract start date.  The formula to convert a 12-month faculty to a 9-month faculty position is: 

Current Fiscal Year 12-month Base Salary / 1.3

Contract conversions are typically effective at the beginning of the new contract start date.  The formula to convert a 9-month faculty to a12-month faculty position is: 

Current Academic Year 9-month Base Salary * 1.3

Part-time faculty are employed on an as-needed basis.  Total compensation for part-time faculty is determined on a course-by-course basis, semester-by-semester. Part-time faculty typically receive 5 paychecks per semester (August – December during Fall Semester and January – May during Spring Semester).  Paychecks are typically issued the last day of the month.

For more information, please visit the Payroll Office Website.

Part-time faculty are paid on a per credit hour basis.  Each department has a per credit hour rate for part-time faculty member which is dependent upon discipline as well as the highest degree held by the part-time faculty member.

Please refer to this list of common scenarios regarding when it is appropriate to record hours for ACA and when to submit payment requests for part-time faculty. 

Limited Term faculty who are employed for a full Academic Year (9-months) receive monthly payments at the end of the month during the academic year (August-May).  Each paycheck will include one-tenth of the faculty member’s annual academic year salary.  The first five checks will correspond to the fall semester and the last five will be for the spring semester.

For more information, please visit the Payroll Office Website.

Limited Term faculty who are employed for one semester will receive monthly payments at the end of each month during the semester in which they are employed.  Each paycheck will include one-tenth of the faculty member’s annual academic year salary.  Fall Semester payments are made August – December; Spring Semester payments are made January – May.

For more information, please visit the Payroll Office Website.

Academic Year (9-month) faculty receive monthly payments at the end of each month during the academic year (August-May).  Each paycheck will include one-tenth of the faculty member’s academic year salary.  The first five checks will correspond to the fall semester and the last five will be for the spring semester.

For more information, please visit the Payroll Office Website.

Fiscal Year (12-month) faculty receive monthly payments at the end of each month during the fiscal year (July-June).  Each paycheck will include one-twelfth of the faculty member’s fiscal year salary. 

For more information, please visit the Payroll Office Website.

This form is required to be submitted by Department Chairs for all additions, deletions and changes to 9-month and part-time faculty payments made for the summer sessions after the initial payroll workbook has been submitted to Payroll and for all additions, deletions and changes made to part-time faculty members during the spring and fall semesters after the initial workbook has been submitted to Payroll.

For more information, please visit the Payroll Office Website.

Overloads are “last minute” additions, not preplanned forms of extra compensation.  Under certain circumstances, qualified teaching faculty and administrative faculty may be called upon to take on additional teaching, research, or service responsibilities at the home institution. Whenever possible in this situation, the institution should consider adjusting the individual's primary duties to incorporate the extra duties associated with the overload(s). If it is determined that a workload adjustment cannot be made, the faculty member's contract should be amended to reflect a temporary change in compensation warranted by the additional responsibilities. A contract modification should also be done when faculty are involved in joint staffing agreements that warrant additional compensation at another USG institution (see Section 5.3.3 in the Business Procedures Manual).

Contract modifications should be done using the USG Contract Addendum for Temporary Overload Compensation. Because overloads involve a modification to a faculty member's original contract, Section 5.3.2 of the Business Procedures Manual on Extra Compensation does not apply to faculty overloads.

KSU's procedures for complying with and interpreting Regents Policy are outlined in the KSU Faculty Handbook, Section 4.2.4. Prior approvals for proposed overload compensation are expected to be secured using the required Overload Compensation Form before the overload assignment commences.

For more information, please see the Overload Compensation Guidelines.

Full-time, contracted faculty members, 9-month and 12-month, are eligible (as an addendum to their contract).  Administrators at the level of dean or above are not eligible for overload compensation.

Limited Term faculty members are not eligible for additional compensation in the form of an overload because they do not receive contracts. Any pay adjustments for limited term faculty must be submitted on a Faculty Status Change form.

Part-time faculty members are not eligible for overload compensation.

Administrative Stipends are strictly for Administrative Faculty. Minimum requirements to be eligible are:

• Faculty must be on a 12-month contract
• At least 50% of the workload duties must be administrative
• More of a long term assignment but the stipend is removed when these qualifiers change or are removed.

All workshops are considered “faculty development” and are part of normal job expectations.  Therefore, faculty cannot receive direct compensation (money) for attendance at workshops. 

Because overloads are temporary addendums to a faculty contract, the overload cannot cross over fiscal years.  A new addendum must be completed at the start of a new contract period.

There is not one single answer for this question.  The grant documentation, including budget and funding agency and KSU policy dictates if you can earn additional money from your grant.  Please visit the Office of Research Website for contact information.

Any questions regarding graduate faculty status or eligibility should be directed to the Office of the Dean of the College of Graduate and Professional Education.  Please visit their Website for contact information.

All faculty leaves of absence requests should begin with Human Resources.  Human Resources will provide an Academic Affairs Leave of Absence Form to be completed by the Faculty member.  For more information regarding leaves of absence, please see the KSU Faculty Handbook, Section 4.2.5.

In all cases in which an approved leave of absence is based on FMLA (the Family Medical Leave Act) or for educational/professional purposes, the faculty member’s third-year/tenure/post-tenure review (or third-year/promotion/sixth-year review for Lecturers/Senior Lecturers) clock will automatically be stopped for one academic year if the leave of absence is for one semester or more. The faculty member must make a request to the Provost within 14 days of the beginning of the leave that the third-year/tenure/post-tenure review (or third-year/promotion/sixth-year review for Lecturers/Senior Lecturers) clock be delayed for one academic year for an approved leave of absence due to FMLA or for educational/professional purposes lasting less than one semester. (KSU Faculty Handbook, Section 4.2.5)

There is not a form available to request the delay in the tenure clock.  The request can be submitted to the Provost via e-mail or hard copy letter.  The faculty member must make a request to the Provost within 14 days of the beginning of the leave that the third-year/tenure/post-tenure review (or third-year/promotion/sixth-year review for Lecturers/Senior Lecturers) clock be delayed for one academic year for an approved leave of absence due to FMLA or for educational/professional purposes lasting less than one semester. (KSU Faculty Handbook, Section 4.2.5)

The Provost will issue a letter of approval or denial to the faculty member requesting the leave of absence.  Based on BoR policy (8.3.7.4), no leaves of absence will be granted beyond two years for any non-tenured, tenure track faculty member. (KSU Faculty Handbook, Section 4.2.5)

An official transcript is a document issued by the institution attended by the applicant, and the document lists all courses taken and any degrees conferred.  The official transcript is issued in a sealed envelope or via secure electronic delivery (i.e., e-script) and is delivered to an official officer of the hiring institution (the hiring manager or the hiring institution’s Academic Affairs Office) in the sealed envelope or directly via the secure electronic delivery.  If the seal is broken by any person other than an official officer of the institution, the transcript is considered to be unofficial.

All full-time and part-time faculty who do not meet the minimum degree requirements as outlined in the table below MUST have an approved SACS Faculty Credentials Compliance Form on file before the Provost/VP for Academic Affairs will make an offer of employment.

Applicants that have degrees from outside of the United States must request a course-by-course credential evaluation of their transcript. The National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (www.naces.org) lists members who may be contacted for assistance in evaluating foreign credentials (Kennesaw State University Office of Institutional Effectiveness Faculty Credentials Guide)

Dr. Ed Rugg, USG Accreditation Consultant & Reports Editor, created a document entitled “Faculty Roster Compliance Do’s and Don’ts” to assist KSU during consolidation when writing justifications for faculty listed on the course roster.  This document is being released with Dr. Rugg’s written permission.

The Office of Academic Affairs does not have established minimum enrollment requirements for each semester.  Guidelines for Summer Minimum Enrollment have been established by the Office of Academic Affairs.  However, these summer guidelines are not absolute limits nor a strict policy.  As always, anything less than the minimum class size can be authorized based on discussions between Chairs and Deans.  Chairs & Deans will have to decide whether or not to cancel a class on a case-by-case basis.