The APP was last revised in 2006. Although it serves as a functional document to guide our academic processes, it has gaps and is poorly organized (for example, policies and procedures for tenure are distributed over four sections of the current APP). Some important areas are not well defined (such as confidentiality and employment terms and conditions) and some procedures in the current APP are no longer followed in practice (for example, employed faculty are no longer reappointed annually).

It is also an opportunity to bring our academic policies up-to-date: to endorse broader definitions of scholarship and education, to reward the increasingly collaborative nature of scholarly activity, and to recognize the full scope of academic activities at UMass Chan.

The goal of the revision process is to generate a document that is clear and transparent, that maintains our existing academic standards for appointment, promotion and tenure, that meets the needs of UMass Chan now and in the future, that can be supported by both faculty and administration, and that is legally sound.