Judi McDonald and her colleagues in the faculty senate are aiming to make the stress and uncertainty of annual faculty contracts a thing of the past. McDonald cringes when she thinks about colleagues struggling through the spring and summer, unsure if they would be able to return to the jobs they love until the paperwork came through, sometimes after they began teaching the following fall.

As the chair of faculty senate, she made major headway on a project she says started four or five years ago after conversations with anxiety-ridden colleagues.

“What I saw from some colleagues was a period of stress that started in April and lasted until they got their contracts, which sometimes wasn’t until October,” McDonald says. “Some of them had worked here much longer than I had and they’re going through the stress of their contracts, waiting on the paperwork.”

McDonald began exploring what it would take to change the system, and devised the “continuous contract.” It allows college administrators to issue ongoing contracts with a minimum notice period for termination of the contract.

A change in the faculty manual will go into effect in August, giving colleges the option of issuing “continuous” contracts, rather than “temporary” contracts, which were sometimes just one year, and often caused much undue angst. They will apply to clinical and assistant professors and instructors, who make up nearly half of WSU’s faculty.

Brendan Walker chaired the Faculty Affairs Committee, which worked on re-wording the relevant section of the Executive Policy Manual addressing the change.

“It will give these faculty members additional options, and additional security,” Walker says. “It creates a new continuous track, whereas before everyone in that classification was on a temporary track.”

The Office of the Provost was an ardent supporter of the shift. Kelly Ward, vice provost for faculty affairs and recognition, worked with McDonald and other faculty senate members to navigate the change.

There are other efforts in the works, and recently implemented, that aim to better recognize the contributions of clinical, assistant, and instructional faculty. Awards have been added in recent years to recognize outstanding instruction, and other vital contributions to the University’s success.

Walker points out that the continuous track is advantageous for colleges, as well as the faculty members. The continuous contracts allow for more stability and should help with long-range planning. The new track extends the notification period for non-reappointments of faculty without cause, which will help reduce potential gaps in employment.

“WSU is a haven for really quality people that are going to be committed and dedicated,” Walker says. “This was a really fantastic example of the faculty senate and administration working together to create positive change. And in terms of WSU’s overall mission and goals, this type of policy will allow us to attract better people and keep better people.”