Faculty Personnel Advisor
(FS Bylaws Article 13)

The Faculty Personnel Advisor is Carrie Kortegast, Associate Professor
Department of Counseling and Higher Education
ckortegast@niu.edu 

Article 13

The faculty personnel advisor is a resource person whose services are available to any faculty member in the university. In cases in which the issue in question is covered by a collective bargaining agreement between a faculty union and the university Board of Trustees, the faculty personnel advisor may refer a faculty member to their union representative. The faculty personnel advisor has no role in the grievance procedures that are part of collective bargaining agreements that cover the work of faculty. The advisor's role includes such activities as the following:

• Advise faculty members about the personnel policies and procedures within the university and the courses of action open to them; 
• Advise and assist faculty members who are experiencing difficulties with the personnel process; 
• Advise and assist faculty members dissatisfied with personnel decisions; 
• Observe the workings of the personnel process and recommend needed changes or clarification; 
• Advise faculty members pursuing the resolution of other concerns or issues. 

13.1 Qualifications

The advisor shall be a full-time faculty member. The advisor shall have had experience with the personnel process at various levels, and be familiar with the administrative structure and operations of the university.

13.2 Conditions of Employment

13.2.1 The advisor shall receive an annual stipend equal to one month of the median salary of all tenured professors, which will be consistent with the stipend of the operating staff and supportive professional staff personnel advisors, funded through the budget of the Faculty Senate.

13.2.2 Secretarial assistance shall be provided. 

13.2.3 The advisor shall receive a three-year appointment consisting of 11 months each year. The advisor may serve no more than two consecutive terms. 

13.2.4 The university will keep personnel records pursuant with record and retention regulations. The advisor will keep all active records in a locked secure location in their academic department. All in active records will be kept for a minimum of three years, and then the records will be dispositioned and destroyed by the personnel advisor. 

13.2.5 The advisor shall submit a written annual report, which will summarize the activities of the advisor (in such a way as to keep clients' identities anonymous), identify the strengths and weaknesses of the personnel process, and make recommendations for changes in the personnel process. The annual report s hall be submitted to the Faculty Senate at the last meeting of the spring semester and subsequently provided to the executive vice president a nd provost.  

13.2.6 The advisor will undergo training with Human Resource Services, Employee Assistance Program, the Office of the General Counsel, the Office of Ethics and Compliance and the Office of the Ombudsperson, in order to ensure that they are familiar with NIU's administrative structure, policies and procedures. 

13.3 Method of Selection

Typically, the advisor shall be elected by the Faculty Senate in the spring for a three-year term to begin at the start of the fall semester.