Policy Alignment: Putting Our Contract into Practice
The KU-UAKU collective bargaining agreement requires KU’s academic units to update existing policies and develop new policies in several areas, including annual evaluations, promotion and tenure, periodic reviews, post-tenure review, and workload.
This is a process, not a single deadline. Units are developing and reviewing policies throughout the 2026–27 academic year, with opportunities for faculty and academic staff to participate through unit-level shared governance. The Office of Faculty Affairs has established staggered submission dates so that policies can be reviewed and approved on a rolling basis rather than all arriving at the end of the one-year implementation period.
UAKU is working with Faculty Affairs throughout this process to support implementation of the collective bargaining agreement and to help ensure that bargaining-unit members have meaningful opportunities to shape policies that affect their work.
Timeline
The collective bargaining agreement establishes April 15, 2027 as the one-year deadline for policy alignment. Faculty Affairs has established earlier submission dates so that policies can be reviewed, revised, approved, and published on a rolling basis rather than all being submitted at the end of the one-year period.
From Faculty Affairs – Policy Alignment Resources
Faculty Affairs maintains policy alignment guidance, templates, checklists, submission deadlines, FAQs, and submission process.
Policy area – Faculty Affairs submission date
Annual Evaluations – October 15, 2026
Promotion & Tenure/Progress Toward Tenure – December 1, 2026
Comprehensive / Promotion/Post-Promotion Review for Instructional Faculty and/or UAS – January 15, 2027
Post-Tenure Review – February 15, 2027
Workload – March 15, 2027
Final policy alignment deadline – April 15, 2027
Note: Annual evaluation policies come first because they need to be in place for the upcoming annual evaluation cycle. Workload policies come later because the CBA requires every unit to have a written workload policy, and many units are developing these policies for the first time. Policies may refer to a workload policy while it is still being developed, as long as the workload policy is in place before it is needed.
How Policy Development Works
- A unit develops or revises a draft.
The draft should address the requirements of the CBA, university and KBOR policies, and the needs and practices of the academic unit.
- Faculty and academic staff participate through shared governance.
The CBA requires unit policies and revisions to be developed and reviewed with bargaining-unit-member input through unit-level shared governance. Where existing governance structures don’t include particular bargaining-unit classifications, the unit must provide meaningful opportunities for those employees to review and provide input before the policy is finalized.
- The unit revises the draft.
- The appropriate administrator endorses the policy.
- The policy is submitted to Faculty Affairs for review.
- Faculty Affairs and other appropriate offices/committees review the policy.
- The policy is finalized and published.
A draft is not a final policy.
Policy development is an iterative process. A draft may change substantially as faculty and academic staff provide input, units work through shared governance, and Faculty Affairs and other university offices review the document for alignment with the CBA and other governing requirements.
What Does UAKU Recommend?
- Does the policy address the requirements of the collective bargaining agreement?
- Does it accurately reflect the work and responsibilities of people in the unit?
- Does it address all bargaining-unit classifications covered by the policy?
- Are the expectations clear and understandable?
- Are procedures and timelines clear?
- Does the policy account for different job classifications, ranks, appointments, and assigned workloads where appropriate?
- Does the policy provide the rights, protections, and due-process provisions required by the CBA?
- Has the policy been developed and reviewed through the unit’s shared-governance process?
- Have people whose job classifications are not ordinarily represented in that governance structure had a meaningful opportunity to provide input?
Finding something that needs to be changed is part of the process. Faculty input is most useful when it identifies a specific provision that needs clarification, an affected group that has not been adequately considered, or a requirement of the CBA or other governing policy that needs to be addressed.
Questions or concerns?
If you have questions about the policy-development process, shared governance, or how the CBA applies to your unit’s policy, contact UAKU (info@uaku.org). We’re happy to help.
Individual Policies
Annual Evaluations
Due to Faculty Affairs: October 15, 2026
CBA: Article 17
What is changing: Units must have a written annual evaluation policy that applies the CBA’s evaluation standards to the work and responsibilities of all their faculty and academic staff.
What the CBA requires:
- Clear expectations for each area of responsibility
- Written criteria, procedures, timelines, and instruments
- Policies that account for classifications, ranks, and assigned duties
- Examples of performance for each evaluation rating
- Faculty development and institutional support, including PIPs and differential allocation of effort
- Due-process rights
What faculty should look for:
- Are expectations clear for each area of responsibility?
- Does the policy reflect assigned duties and workload?
- Does it account for different classifications and ranks?
- Are the criteria, procedures, and timelines clear?
- Are the rating expectations clear?
- Does it include required rights and protections?
Promotion & Tenure And Progress Towards Tenure Review
Due to Faculty Affairs: December 1, 2026
More information coming soon!
Comprehensive, Promotion & Post-Promotion Review For Instructional Faculty And/Or Unclassified Academic Staff (UAS)
Due to Faculty Affairs: January 15, 2027
More information coming soon!
Recent Communications and Updates
More information coming soon!