EPA Non-Faculty Classification Guidelines

EPA Non-Faculty positions are broadly divided into three categories: Research, Instruction, and Senior Academic and Administrative Officers (SAAOs). Any position which is requested for classification to EPA non-faculty status must be classified into one of these categories. These categories are summarized below per UNC General Administration guidelines. Detailed guidance on these criteria is also available at the UNC General Administration web site in policy number 300.1.1 and 300.2.5. EPA Student employees are of themselves a separate classification and not included under EPA non-faculty classification guidelines.

In considering whether a position qualifies for a particular EPA non-faculty classification category, an important guideline is whether at least 50% or greater of the position's primary duties and functions satisfy the job content and criteria specified by the EPA non-faculty guidelines.

Positions newly proposed for EPA non-faculty status or existing EPA non-faculty positions subject to review or reclassification require as part of the minimum position qualifications the possession of a post-baccalaureate degree such as a masters degree, doctorate degree, J.D., or M.D. degree. Exceptions will be made for permitting less than post-baccalaureate credentials in the following specific circumstances:

• When a hiring manager articulates in a research or instructional position request alternative qualifications that include very substantial and unique scholarly or research experience which includes a significant number of years of directly relevant professional experience (e.g., 7 to 10 years or greater). Such requests should be exceptional in nature and cite the specific unique circumstances that necessitate consideration of candidates with less than a post-baccalaureate degree.
• Positions that otherwise qualify for EPA non-faculty status in the areas of academic/instructional information technology, undergraduate academic advising, coaching, development/funding raising, admissions or financial aid where a minimum of a baccalaureate degree is deemed acceptable if the position minimum requirements reflect an appropriate level of directly relevant professional experience.

Absent meeting either of these exceptions, the relevant masters degree, doctorate, or other relevant terminal degree such as a J.D. or M.D. will be required as a minimum qualification for all EPA non-faculty position requests. Positions with lesser requirements should be considered for possible classification as an SPA position. 

^{Note: These revised criteria for minimum educational requirements were formally adopted by the campus EPA Non-Faculty Classification Committee on February 2, 2007.}

EPA non-faculty positions qualifying for designation as "Instructional" are characterized by the following:

• The duties must be associated with regular academic and educational experiences provided by the university, or are uniquely supportive of those academic and educational experiences, and must involve significant and independent interaction with participants in the University's instructional and educational program.
• The position must require that a substantial proportion of the work commitment be devoted to instructional activities or to the direction of educational/academic supportive activities.
• The position requires the exercise of discretion in determining the nature and content of the instructional or educational activities assigned and evaluating their effectiveness.

For purposes of determining whether the specific duties and responsibilities of a position quality it for "Instructional" status, the following specific instructional subcategories and related criteria are provided by UNC General Administration:

Instructing: Positions whose primary purpose is to determine course content, teach and evaluate enrolled students in courses for academic credit. These positions include Lecturers and other teaching positions that may funded in codes other than 1310.

Academic Advising: Positions whose primary purpose is to advise students on academic matters such as selection of a major area of study, course selection, and academic performance.

Academic Preparation And Enhancement: Positions whose primary purpose is to improve academic preparation through such means as tutoring and supplemental instruction or to direct programs designed to enhance the educational experience of enrolled students or of targeted secondary school students to help prepare them for post-secondary education.

Co-Operative Education: Positions whose primary purpose is to develop co-operative education experiences for students with employers, monitoring progress, and evaluating student performance with direct impact on grade assignment.

Laboratory Management: Positions whose primary purpose is to manage practical experience and research laboratories and that participate in selection of experiments, protocols, and procedures which best support the instructional or research goals and in evaluating progress towards goals.

Instructional Consulting: Positions whose primary purpose is to assist, advise, and critique faculty and other instructional staff on instructional matters such as course content, curriculum structure, and instructional technique.

Instructional Technology:  Positions whose primary purpose is to utilize a variety of telecommunications and/or advance media-based technology to plan, design, and administer distance education curricula and/or programs in support of instructional and research activities that are directly related to the institution's academic mission. Note: This sub-category does not include those involved in routine computing operations, maintenance, or network support.

Continuing Education: Positions whose primary purpose is to design and deliver courses, seminars, etc., extending the benefit of the institution's regular academic and research activities to participants.

Coaching: Positions whose primary purpose is to coach student athletes for teams sponsored by the institution. Note: Positions must be actively engaged in coaching students. This does not include positions ancillary to an athletic program. 

Academic Standards: Positions whose primary purpose is to develop and/or administer academic standards and curricula for degree granting programs.
 
Student Support Services: Position whose primary purpose is to develop, direct and administer services for students and/or faculty that have a direct impact on the quality of students' educational experiences and are directly linked to the institution's academic programs.  These positions include professional staff that design and deliver programs and/or seminars that involve direct student interaction with students and enhance the overall academic and learning experience outside the formal classroom setting. Note: These positions do not include operational or facility maintenance functions.

Professional Librarians: Positions whose primary purpose is to support instructional and research activities by advising students and faculty on the selection and effective use of library resource materials and by working with faculty on instructional and research matters such as collection development. Note: Individuals qualifying for this category generally have the Master of Library Science degree and qualify as professional librarians.

Counselors: Positions requiring credentialed professionals whose primary purpose is to: provide clinical and developmental counseling or psychological services to students to enhance their psychological growth, emotional well-being, and learning potential; and, advise academic and academic support program directors of special needs, trends, and suggested program revisions based on the interaction with the student population. 

Note: Positions whose primary purpose is "... to direct staff in the development and administration of programs which focus the academic resources of the institution on the resolution of community and regional issues and foster the incorporation of these issues in the institution's academic research programs ..." should be considered for EPA non-faculty "Research" status under the "Community Service" category.

 

Positions qualifying for designation as "Research" are characterized by the following:

• The position must require substantial independence in creativity or research efforts and in the interpretation and dissemination of research results.
• The duties must be integral with the University's instructional or research activities and represent an extension of the regular academic and educational experience provided by the University.
• The position must require that a substantial portion of the total work commitment is devoted to those research activities.

For purposes of determining whether the specific duties and responsibilities of a position quality it for "Research" status, the following specific sub-categories and related criteria are provided by UNC General Administration. 

Academic Computing: Positions whose primary purpose is to direct staff in providing electronic data processing services that directly support the institution's academic and research missions. Note: The positions supervise staff that support specific academic and research programs as opposed to general LAN or operational computing support services.

Academic Research: Positions whose primary purpose is to serve as principal investigators or research associates for primary or secondary research projects that may advance or enhance a field of academic learning.  These positions function with substantial independence and expertise in research design, implementation of research procedures, data analysis and interpretation of results. Note: These positions do not include operational support related positions.

Community Service: Positions whose primary purpose is to direct staff in the development and administration of programs which focus the academic resources and research products of the institution on the resolution of community and regional issues and foster the incorporation of these issues in the institution's academic research programs.

Institutional Research: Positions whose primary purpose is to direct staff in the collection of data and information concerning students, faculty, facilities and related items used for reporting and directly supports the institution's planning and assessment processes.

Research Administration: Positions whose primary purpose is to direct staff serving as principal investigators assigned to research projects; or positions that serve as directors of sponsored research including determining if project proposals as consistent with the institution's academic and research policy, advising staff on the development of project proposals and negotiating with sponsoring agencies particularly as it relates to terms and conditions that affect academic freedom and ownership of the product. The latter positions which "direct" sponsored research are only approved EPA non-faculty at the institutional-level or for a School-level role serving directly in a Dean's Office (see Note 2 below).

^{Note 1: UNC General Administration guidance (as recent as the 5/24/06 UNC General Administration EPA Personnel Workshop) stipulates that these positions do not include individuals whose primary duties are to develop or write contracts and grants or to provide administrative support to these activities.}

^{Note 2: Clarification was requested from UNC General Administration (GA) Office of the Associate Vice President for Human Resources on 11/9/06 as to whether School-level Director of Research Administration/Sponsored Research positions qualify for EPA non-faculty Research Administration status. GA's guidance is that School-level Director positions reporting directly reporting within a Dean's Office qualify but they must be Director-level roles, supervise one or more staff members, and directly exercise research policy administration/compliance responsibility for the entirely of their respective School.}

Technology Transfer: Positions whose primary purpose is to manage the flow of research innovation, disclosures, patents, trademarks, copyrights and other aspects of technology transfer.  These positions include professional staff who assess each disclosure for its technical and commercialization merits, develop relationships with industry, negotiate business transactions for the exchange of intellectual property rights, collaborate with regional and state economic development agencies and/or engage in other aspects of technology transfer such as negotiating licensing or equity agreements.  These positions also provide outreach services such as training and education to university faculty and students.

 

Position qualifying for designation as "SAAOs" are specifically identified below or characterized by the duties and responsibilities noted:

• The chancellor, vice chancellors, provost, deans, and the directors of major administrative, educational, research and public services activities of the University designated by the Board of Governors.
• Associate and assistant vice chancellors and associate and assistant deans. UNC General Administration has also clarified that this also includes other derivations of the above including vice deans, executive associate deans, senior associate deans, and assistant and associate provosts.
• "Other Officers" to include:
• • members of the chancellor's professional staff;
  • those responsible for the administrative direction of separately designated divisions or departments of institutional activity commonly associated with institutions of higher education;
  • those positions whose primary responsibility is to attract external funds for and/or market the University; and,
  • other officers holding positions characterized by active, continuing involvement in formulating, interpreting, and implementing institutional policy and exercising substantial independence of administrative authority and discretion in areas such as program planning and design and allocation of resources.

All positions to be classified as SAAO must be approved both at the campus-level and UNC General Administration EPA-Non Faculty Classification committees. This necessarily involves a longer period of time than gaining approval for a Research or Instructional position. Therefore, to ensure a department does not unnecessarily invest a large amount of time going through the SAAO classification process, and thereby delaying recruitment, extra care should be exercised before presuming a position qualifies for SAAO status.

The following guidance may be helpful in evaluating potential positions for SAAO status based on the latest information and interpretations available to us from UNC General Administration. Remember, in each case, we are referring to positions where the referenced responsibilities compose 50% or greater of the position's overall responsibilities.

• Department and School-level professional positions whose primary duties are management of financial/budget, grants, human resources, and facilities management activities or supervision of staff who coordinate such activities do not generally qualify for SAAO status absent an Assistant or Associate Dean designation. SAAO status for such functions is generally limited to those positions that direct such functions at the campus-wide level or serve as a deputy to such an individual in an especially complex campus-wide unit or function. While such positions may have been previously approved and presently filled as EPA under differing EPA non-faculty classifications guidelines, such positions will not be newly approved for EPA non-faculty status.
• Professional and management-level positions whose primary duties directly involve attracting external funding for the University (e.g., fundraising) do generally qualify for SAAO status. Individuals in fundraising support roles that do not directly "ask" prospective donors for gifts as part of their primary duties do not qualify for SAAO status.
• Director-level positions whose primary duties are directing the marketing of the University externally generally do qualify both at the institutional-level (e.g., University central offices with a campus-wide scope of responsibility), at the School-level (see Note 1) when the position resides within the immediate Office of the Dean, and in "free-standing" revenue generating units of the campus. However, such positions must direct the full range of strategic marketing/communication activities for the unit in question. Marketing Assistants, Graphic Artists, Writers/Editors, Webmasters, and other professional-level communications and marketing specialists who only have responsibility for a specific segment of the communications function as opposed to the broader scope of communications responsibilities and/or do not meet the organizational reporting criteria specified above do not qualify for SAAO status.

  ^{Note 1: Guidance was requested from UNC General Administration Office of the Associate Vice President for Human Resources in October, 2006 which confirmed the EPA SAAO status of School-level Communications Directors reporting within the Office of Dean with responsibility for marketing the School-externally.}

• Individuals appointed as University Attorneys who provide legal counsel on an institution-wide basis have by practice been classified as SAAOs by the the UNC General Administration EPA Classification Committee.
• Professional positions who exercise direct decision-making authority in financial aid and admissions decisions generally qualify for SAAO status. This means these individuals have the authority to directly commit the University in regards to these decisions. Those who only support these functions or simply make recommendations in these areas generally would not qualify.
• Those positions seeking SAAO status under the subcategory of "Other Officers" typically either direct a University-wide office or serve as a principal deputy to such an individual in directing a more complex University-wide function. These positions are characterized by active, continuing involvement in formulating, interpreting, and implementing institutional policy and exercising substantial independence of administrative authority and discretion in areas such as program planning and design and allocation of resources.
• Regardless of duties, positions within the Schools designated at the Assistant/Associate Dean-level or derivations of that title are automatically afforded SAAO status. The award of such ranks however must have the approval of the Dean and the Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost.
• Regardless of duties, positions within the University Administration designated at the Assistant/Associate Vice Chancellor-level or derivations of that title are automatically afforded SAAO status. The award of such ranks however must have the approval of the relevant Vice Chancellor and the Chancellor.
• Newly created Vice Chancellor positions must be approved by our campus Board of Trustees and the UNC System President prior to any appointment being conferred (see UNC General Administration Policy # 600.3.4, Section D.1.b.).

Note: The above represents guidance based on criteria communicated by UNC General Administration and our experience with decision-making by the EPA subcommittee at UNC General Administration. Any final classification decision is based on the outcome of the reviews by both the Campus and General Administration EPA classification committees.