The Illinois Board of Higher Education will undertake a study of policies and practices affecting part-time and non-tenure track faculty.

The hearing is to gather information that will be integrated into the study.

Steve Cunningham, the associate vice president of administration and human resources, will attend the public hearing today at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago.

NIU has fulfilled the requirements of House Joint Resolution 19, a directed journal assembly. They are Illinois Board of Higher Education’s policies and practices that affect temporary faculty.

“NIU has a great history of working with temporary faculty,” Cunningham said. “We have a new collective bargaining agreement, which are new policies which involve appointed new temporary faculty as needed and how decisions are made.”

We are in a market condition where faculty members are far more difficult to recruit, Cunningham said.

One change the university has added is instead of having one-year contracts, colleges can grant up to three years.

“Both parties get a higher degree of reliance,” Cunningham said. “It can retain the individual’s interest.”

Non-tenure track faculty also are evaluated on their workload and the nature of their classes, especially those that require a substantial amount of work.

“We’ll also look at sick leave, along with an aggressive look of the status of salaries in response to the future market,” Cunningham said.

Non-tenure faculty teach up to 16 percent of credit hours, but they are important credit hours, Cunningham said. They mostly teach core competency courses.

Cunningham will have a small part in the hearing, in which he will explain NIU’s policy for non-tenure faculty. Several representatives from other universities also will be in attendance.

Cunningham says that NIU’s policy most likely won’t change.

“NIU has good policies and we can demonstrate some positive and effective ways,” Cunningham said.