This memo is intended to clarify the long-standing Department policy for the assignment of faculty offices. The guidelines below have been discussed and approved by the Steering Committee and the Department Chair.
1 Responsibility for faculty office assignments resides with the Department Chair, in consultation as necessary with the Steering Committee, using the following principles.
2 In any semester, office changes may need to be limited to avoid undue expense and disruption.
3 Absent other considerations, priority for available offices is by seniority in rank (amongst those faculty members for whom an available office would be a clear upgrade). Declining to move does not affect a faculty member’s priority for offices that may become available in the future.
3 Departing departmental administrators (Chair, Associate chair, Graduate Coordinator, Undergraduate Coordinator, etc.) have priority for available offices. This priority takes precedence over seniority in rank.
4 At the Chair’s discretion, priority for office-assignment can be used as part of an offer to recruit a new senior faculty member, or as part of a counter-offer.
5 Little 424 is reserved for faculty with the rank of Distinguished Professors, and for distinguished visitors.
6 Any conflicts, including, but not limited to, those that may occur when multiple faculty have the same seniority in rank, are to be decided by the Chair, in consultation with the Steering Committee as necessary.