Research Pro Tempore to Career Reclassification Process

Purpose 

Pro tempore (pro tem) appointments are intended to be for no more than three years. For pro tem funding contingent research positions (research assistants, research associates, research scientists, research engineers, research professors), after 3 years the incumbent can be reclassified to a funding contingent career position. In rare cases, a unit may reclassify a pro tem researcher before the 3 year term. This reclassification process is designed for the sole purpose of reclassifying faculty in pro tem research positions into career research positions. This process is designed to keep the employee connected to their position in MyTrack (the old process separated the employee from the PD). 

Process

All research pro tem to career reclassifications will be submitted via MyTrack. You will not submit an RTO.  

  1. Open the position description for the person you will be reclassifying in MyTrack by clicking on “edit” from the PD library.  
  2. Scroll all the way to the bottom and click "Restart approvals" so that you can edit the PD. 
  3. From the reason drop down menu, select “Reclassification (SEIU or UA)” 
  4. Change the Position Type drop down to “Faculty - Career” and the Duration drop down to “Ongoing”. 
  5. Update the title to remove “pro tem”, if applicable, or otherwise correct.  
  6. If a research assistant, check that you have the correct rank (A, B, or C) selected. This is NOT a time to change a rank, but it is an opportunity to correct errors on the PD. 
  7. Review the department summary, position summary, and duties to ensure they are still accurate.  
  8. If you make changes to any other fields, attach this form (index, timesheet org, FTE, etc).  
  9. If you seek to adjust the salary as part of the reclassification, attach this form AND faculty pay action form.  
  10. If requesting credit towards promotion at the time of reclassification, including time served as pro tem, attach email approval from VPRI for the credit. 
  11. When you are done editing the position description, select the approval process “Research pro tem to career reclass”.  
  12. Make sure that you have the correct approvers in the approval process. The VPRI Chief of Staff must be included as the VP/Proxy approver. 

Allowed Faculty Categories 

  • Research assistant 
  • Research associate 
  • Research scientist 
  • Research engineer 
  • Research professor 

Allowed Position Description Changes 

The following are changes you can make as part of the reclassification process beyond the required changes to reason, title, position type, and duration.   

  • Changing the title (beyond the removal of “pro tem” will require attaching form) 
  • Timesheet org (requires attaching form) 
  • Expected FTE (requires attaching form) 
  • Position funding, index, account code, and/or percentage (requires attaching form) 
  • Department summary – this is a great time to update the department summary if it’s no longer accurate or is out of date.  
  • Position summary – please update the summary to accurately reflect the work of the position. It’s expected that the position may have evolved a bit over time, and this is an excellent time to update the position summary to reflect those developments. However, if the position has changed so much that it’s a completely different position, please discuss it with your recruitment consultant. Also, please be sure to remove references to the limited nature of the position. 
  • Duties – please update the duties to accurately reflect the work of the position. It’s expected that the position may have evolved a bit over time, and this is an excellent time to update the duties to reflect those developments. 
  • Pay – You may also update pay at this time if it is appropriate.  Please attach both this form and the Pay Action Form. Increasing pay as part of a reclassification should only be done if 1. Pay would otherwise be below the salary floor, or 2. Current pay would cause equity concerns with other comparable career faculty.  

 What this process is NOT  

  1. A method for reclassifying instructional positions. Pro tem instructor, lecturer, professor of practice, and clinical faculty positions will continue to follow the guidelines here: https://hr.uoregon.edu/pro-tem-employment  
  2. A method for promoting faculty. Changes in rank will not be approved via this process (e.g. research assistant to senior research assistant I).  
  3. Similarly, this is not a method to change a faculty member’s category (e.g. post doctoral scholar to research associate; or research assistant to research associate).  
  4. A way to significantly change or increase the duties of the position. If a position changes significantly enough, it should be a search.  That said, some changes are expected, particularly if the PD hasn’t been reviewed or updated for 3 years.