Academic Notices of Non-Reappointment

University and campus policy requires that full-time permanent academic professional employees, as well as full-time Postdoctoral Research Associates on hard funds, be provided minimum amounts of prior notice from the Board of Trustees, if their contracts will not be renewed. The required minimum notice is based on years of service completed and the funding source. Specified minimums are as follows:
Academic Professional Employees:

Hard funding (e.g. State dollars) Heading link

Less than 4 years 6 months
4 years or more 12 months

Soft funding (e.g. grants) Heading link

Less than 4 years 2 months
4 years completed 6 months
5 years completed 7 months
6 years completed 8 months
7 years completed 9 months
8 years completed 10 months
9 years completed 11 months
10 years completed 12 months

Director of Intercollegiate Athletics and Coaches:

Less than 4 years 3 months
4 years or more 6 months

The notice period may begin any time during the year, but must extend long enough to incorporate the time remaining on any current contract, as well as the required notice period.

Academic professionals who are less than full-time or those above whose percentage jobs include “visiting,” “interim,” or “acting” in the title are not entitled to formal notice from the Board. A courtesy notice from the unit is strongly encouraged.
Postdoctoral Research Associates
Hard funding: Notice from the Board must be given 6 months before the end of the contract. If it is issued later than 6 months before the contract’s expiration, an additional year of appointment must be offered.

Soft funding: Formal notice from the Board is not required. A courtesy notice from the employing unit is strongly encouraged.

For groups above, the requirement for notice must be met even if a grant runs out of funds, so units need to plan well in advance of a grant’s termination date. Other funds would have to be located to supplement the grant funds to meet the requirement for notices of non-reappointment. In all cases, a current contract must be honored.

To determine the minimum notice required, computation will begin with the first day of continous permanent full-time service . Total work days in a pay period equals a month; twelve pay months equal a year. Periods of full or partial leave without pay will not count toward the service requirement. Breaks in service of more than 30 calendar days due to separation from the University causes the service clock to start anew, but a separation of less than 30 days will be handled like a leave without pay. Transferring from one notice-eligible position to another does not interrupt the service clock. In addition, please remember that appropriate notice is required for an employee who has more than one academic professional position totaling 100% time, unless one or more of the positions have titles including the terms “visiting”, “acting”, or “interim”. Notice can be given on only one of the percent positions, but the employees must be made aware in writing that as a part-time employee she/he will no longer have notice rights for the other position(s).

The process requires the employing unit to give a letter to the employee stating “We are asking the Board of Trustees to issue a notice of non-reappointment.” Please do not put dates in this letter, since any miscalculation or missed deadline would require a new letter be given. A copy of that letter is sent with the transaction request to the central HR processor, including a comment that the home address found in banner is correct. Notices are sent to the employee’s home by the Board office, so this verification is very important.

For information pertaining to the specific non-reappointment guidelines for tenure-track and non-tenured faculty please refer to the following website.

For additional reference information pertaining to the Academic Professional Non-Reappointment process, please refer to the UIC 101 Academic Professional Non-Reappointment UIC 101: Academic Professional Non-Reappointment page. A reference guide for supervisors and department heads also is available.