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2025 Archived Announcements

April 2025

Misconduct Disclosure Requirements: Changes to SB 791

Effective April 1, 2025, UC Merced has modified the implementation of SB 197. Specifically, we are no longer asking candidates to disclose allegations of misconduct violations, we are only asking candidates to disclose substantiated allegations of misconduct. The Authorization of Information Release form and FAQs have been updated. Please refer to APO's Misconduct Disclosure Requirements webpage which includes this information.

Diversity Statements at the University of California (REVISED)

After thoughtful consideration, the Board of Regents has directed President Drake to take action to ensure that standalone diversity statements are no longer required or optional for new recruitments. For additional information, please refer to the Systemwide Guidance. 

GLAAS Appointments

Friendly reminder, all new hire and re-hire appointments require that the school or unit set up an intake appointment for the student. The student must not begin work until their intake paperwork has been completed.

New Leave Forms

Effective April 1, 2025, please begin using the below new leave forms-

ASE Leave Request Form

Leave of Absence Request Form (for all other academics other than ASE’s)

Sabbatical Leave Request Form

The UCM-AP 901 Sabbatical & Leave of Absence Request Form should no longer be utilized effective April 1, 2025.

For questions regarding the new leave request forms, please reach out to our Senior AP Analyst for Academic Leaves and Recruitments, Esmeralda Martinez at emartinez35@ucmerced.edu.

Updated Reports: Faculty Success

The following Faculty Success Reports have been updated to include overall teaching effectiveness-

  • Scheduled Teaching by Faculty
  • Uploaded Files Report: Scheduled Teaching

These reports operate similarly to running a Bio-Bib report, allowing users to sort data by department or individual faculty members. Friendly reminder, overall teaching effectiveness requires manual entry by the department. These reports pull directly from the Faculty Success profile and the overall effectiveness column will appear blank on the reports if it has not been added.

New Template: ACRS

A new template, "Advancement to Full Professor Step VI (Barrier)", is available on ACRS. This template was created because barrier step no longer requires letters, and the other template includes that step.

Updated Letter Templates: Unit 18 Layoff and Reduction in Time

Updated Unit 18 templates are available in Box. The RIT template is new, and the only change to the layoff template is in paragraph 3, where the pay-in-lieu amount (totaling $XX) has been added.

Updated Template: By-Agreement

The BYA template has been updated and is available in Box.

Updated Template: RA Eligibility Review Notice

The RA Merit and Promotion Eligibility Review Notice Template has been updated and available in Box. It has been updated to include the title series Coordinator of Public Programs (CPP).

Updated Letter Templates: RA Appointment/Reappointment

Updated RA Appointment/Reappointment letters templates are available in Box. The templates were updated to include current UAW information/link, link to the RA Toolkit and link to title series CPP.

April 2025 Postdoctoral Scholar Experience Level Increase

Effective April 1, 2025, all Postdoctoral Scholars whose initial appointment occurred from April 2 through September 30, have moved to the next experience level and their salary has been updated.  If you have any questions or concerns, please email Christine Lima at clima4@ucmerced.edu.

New Letters of Recommendation Policy

New California legislation (AB 1905) mandates that all UC supervisors (including instructors of record, principal investigators, etc.) fulfill a conduct-related requirement before providing an official letter of recommendation for a current or former employee. Specifically, you must now reach out to UC Merced’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination (OPHD - ophd@ucmerced.edu) to confirm that you may proceed with this official letter of recommendation. OPHD will assess whether the employee being recommended is a respondent in a sexual harassment complaint in which there is a sustained finding, the employee resigned before a final determination, or the employee settled the complaint with the University. If any of this is true for the employee, then OPHD will notify you that you may not provide an official letter of recommendation for this employee.

Please note that the typical letter of recommendation written by an academic appointee may be considered a personal, not official, letter. If you are writing a personal letter of recommendation, then you may simply proceed with your letter without contacting OPHD. You may still use UC Merced letterhead and your UC Merced email address, but if you comment on the subject’s performance as an employee you will need to include the following statement in your letter: “The following recommendation represents my personal perspective and does not represent the viewpoints of UC Merced or the University of California system.”

For additional details, please see our new Letters of Recommendation Policy webpage and attached FAQs.

Systemwide Policy Updates

Systemwide Review of Proposed Revisions to Academic Personnel Manual (APM) Section 500, Recruitment – General

The University invites comments on updated proposed revisions to the following policy:

APM - 500, Recruitment

Summarized below are the updated proposed key policy revisions that are being distributed for systemwide review.

The policy revisions respond to the need to address two new bills signed into state law that add and amend sections 92612.1 and 92612.2 of the California Education Code, effective January 1, 2025 (reference Senate Bill (SB) 791, Postsecondary education: academic and administrative employees: disclosure of sexual harassment, and California Assembly Bill (AB) 810, Postsecondary education: hiring practices: academic, athletic, and administrative positions). The new revisions are indicated below using bold and underlined text. The proposed technical revisions are intended to bring the University into compliance with sections 92612.1 and 92612.2 of the California Education Code by incorporating the following changes:

Key Policy Revisions

Misconduct Disclosure Form:

  • All applicants who are identified as finalists for academic appointments are required to complete a misconduct disclosure questionnaire and disclose any final administrative or judicial decisions issued within the last seven (7) years from the date of submission of an employment application determining that the applicant committed misconduct, including sexual harassment. Applicants must be permitted to disclose if they have filed an appeal with the previous employer, administrative agency, or court, if applicable.
  • A hiring unit may also elect to require misconduct disclosure questionnaires from all applicants who meet the minimum requirements of a recruitment. The hiring unit may not obtain a misconduct disclosure questionnaire unless the hiring unit determines that an applicant meets the minimum requirements for the position.
  • In the event that an applicant discloses prior misconduct, the hiring unit shall obtain a signed release form from the applicant before contacting the previous employer.

Release Form:

  • Applicants who are identified as finalists for a tenure-track/tenured position or a position in the Professor of Teaching Series are required to sign a release form authorizing the release of information by the applicant’s previous employers to the University concerning any substantiated allegations of misconduct in order to permit the University to evaluate the released information with respect to the criteria for potential employment. The hiring unit is required to obtain the release form for proposed appointees in these series and to engage in a reasonable attempt to obtain information from the previous employer when the applicant reaches the final stages of the application process.
  • A hiring unit may request a release form from all applicants of a recruitment and may use the release form to engage in a reasonable attempt to obtain information from the previous employer when the applicant reaches the final stages of the application process.
  • In the event that a previous employer discloses misconduct, the hiring unit shall follow-up with the applicant to give that individual an opportunity to respond.

Local Implementation Procedures:

  • Vice Provosts/Vice Chancellors who oversee academic personnel are responsible for developing implementing procedures for the confidential management and tracking of misconduct disclosure questionnaires and release forms, as well as confidential decision-making and communication processes involving applicants, previous employers, and University administrators. In order to protect a candidate’s privacy, the misconduct disclosure form and any information pertaining to prior misconduct must be treated as confidential, retained per local procedures, and disposed in accordance with University of California records retention policy.

The proposed APM – 500 is posted on the Systemwide Academic Personnel website.

Please submit your comments, no later than June 9, 2025, to SystemwideAP-PolicyReviewComments@ucop.edu. If you have any questions, please contact Kelly Anders at kelly.anders@ucop.edu.

Attachments:

March 11, 2025, Revised Systemwide Review cover letter

Revised Draft APM - 500, Recruitment - General (clean copy)

Revised Draft APM - 500, Recruitment - General (tracked-changes copy)
 

Systemwide Review of Proposed Revisions to APM - 360, Librarian Series

The University invites comments on proposed revisions to Section 360 of the Academic Personnel Manual:

  • Section 360, Appointment and Promotion / Librarian Series (APM - 360).

Summarized below are the updated proposed key policy revisions that are being distributed for systemwide review.

Key Policy Revisions

  • Update the definition of the Librarian Series

The proposed APM – 360 is posted on the Systemwide Academic Personnel website.

Please submit your comments, no later than June 17, 2025, to SystemwideAP-PolicyReviewComments@ucop.edu. If you have any questions, please contact Kelly Anders at kelly.anders@ucop.edu.

Attachments:

March 19, 2025, Revised Systemwide Review cover letter

Draft APM - 360, Appointment and Promotion / Librarian Series (clean copy)

Draft APM - 360, Appointment and Promotion / Librarian Series (tracked-changes copy)

February 2025

New Misconduct Disclosure Processes for Academic Units (SB 791 and AB 810)

As noted in VP Hansford's "Modifications to Academic Hiring Processes, Under SB 791 and AB 810" notification, recent California legislation (SB 791 and AB 810) requires misconduct disclosures and in some cases outreach to prior employers, when hiring academic appointees.

For hires made via AP Recruit, the Authorization of Information Release will become one of our required application materials. For hires made outside of AP Recruit, Academic Hiring Units should utilize the same process as all other academic appointments. Hiring Units should provide information for candidates being hired via Waiver or Exemption, using the Qualtrics Contacts Template excel sheet and marking "Yes" in the "RecruitWaiver" column. APO will send these candidates a survey that includes both the Authorization Release Form and the Misconduct Disclosure Form.

Finalists (i.e., proposed hires) will need to complete an Employee Misconduct Disclosure Form before appointments may proceed. While this process will be coordinated by APO staff using Qualtrics, Academic Hiring Units will need to complete the AP Background Check Request. This form will include required information on the job search finalist. For all senate faculty hires (and for other academic hires when misconduct information is reported on the Disclosure Form), APO will make a “reasonable attempt” to obtain information from the previous/current employers about misconduct. APO will follow up with previous/current employers 5 business days after initial outreach and in most cases will move on with hiring eligibility decision following no response for 5 business additional days.

Please refer to APO's new "Misconduct Disclosure Requirements" webpage which includes this information, as well as the four Modifications to Hiring Processes based on title type.

Change in APO Work Areas in Support of GLAAS Actions

Effective February 3, 2025, GLAAS job actions for ASE/GSR/Unit 18 Lecturers should be submitted to the following Academic Personnel Analyst-

  • Christine Lima will transition to support SOE job actions
  • Julie Rolfe will transition to support SNS job actions
  • Kim Yanogacio will continue to support job actions for: SSHA, MWP, SNS-ILA, Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE), UROC Grad Fellow, Graduate Division GSR, Teacher Special Program- Center of Educational Partnership (TSP-CEP), Living Learning Center (LLC) House Fellows, EJIE GSRs and any other ASE/GSR/U18 outside of SNS and SOE.

New Resource: Intercampus MLA/OTP Guide

We are pleased to announce the following new resource: Intercampus MLA/OTP Guide. This guide is available on the APO website under the “Forms” tab. As a reminder, all work for which appointments and/or payments are going to be made must be authorized by the Academic Personnel Office in advance of completion of any work.

Additional Compensation for Senate Faculty

As a reminder, additional compensation for Senate Faculty for work performed at UC Merced is not allowed unless it is associated with a separate faculty administrative appointment.

GLAAS: Workflow Change to CCOA Correction

After careful consideration, and thoughtful discussion between the Graduate Student Appointment and Pay Workgroup, APO is pleased to announce a workflow change to the Common Charts of Account (CCOA) corrections in GLAAS.

Effective immediately, school processors are no longer required to move previously generated Academic Student Employees (ASEs), Graduate Student Researchers (GSRs) and Unit 18 Faculty to in-progress in GLASS to update or correct the CCOAs.

The school/unit that manages the CCOA will need to submit the Fund Change for prospective change to funding and/or Direct Retro to request re-alignment of wages that been posted to the ledger for academic appointments.

Once the Fund Change and/or Direct Retro requests have been submitted to Payroll Services for processing, the CCOA change will be posted in UCPath and reflected in the R-268 Distribution of Payroll Expenses (DOPE) report.

Updated Letter Template: ASE, GSR, U18

The GLAAS Appointment/Reappointment Letter Templates for ASE, GSR and U18 have been updated and are now available in Box:

Postdoc Anniversary Date

Friendly reminder to check Postdoc Anniversary dates regularly.

Postdocs on an initial two-year appointment will have an anniversary date 12-months from the start date (or their initial start date as a transfer). As the postdoc approaches their 10th month, the PI will need to determine if the “release” portion of the contract will be used; if not, the unit or school staff will need to submit a Postdoc Anniversary Form to payroll to change the anniversary date to 24-months after the start date. Postdocs get 24-days of PTO for the first 12-months of the appointment. When the anniversary date is reset, this triggers UCPath to remove any remining PTO and a new 24-days of PTO. A new 12-days of sick leave will also be added.

Systemwide Policy Updates

Academic Personnel Policy Issuance: Revised APM - 240, 246, 700, 711, 715, 730, 759, 760

Issued December 19, 2024, by UC System Provost and Executive Vice President Katherine S. Newman, the following revised Academic Personnel Manual (APM) Sections are effective January 1, 2025:

  • APM - 240, Deans
  • APM - 246, Faculty Administrators, (100% Time)
  • APM - 700, Leaves of Absence/General
  • APM - 711, Reasonable Accommodation for Academic Appointees with Disabilities
  • APM - 715, Leaves of Absence/Family and Medical Leave
  • APM - 730, Leaves of Absence/Vacation
  • APM - 759, Leaves of Absence/Other Leaves Without Pay
  • APM - 760, Family Accommodations for Childbearing and Childrearing

For reference, the revised policies can be found on the Systemwide Academic Personnel Policy Issuances webpage.

Key Policy Revisions
  • Technical revisions to APM - 240, Deans, to incorporate revisions previously made to APM-710, update names of APM - 025 and APM - 758, and to clarify that affirmative action plans apply to employment;
  • Technical revisions to APM - 246, Faculty Administrators (100% Time), to incorporate revisions previously made to APM - 710 and to update the name of APM - 025;
  • Technical revisions to APM - 700, Leaves of Absence/General, to update names of Regents Policy 7303, APM - 710, and APM - 758;
  • Technical revisions to APM - 711, Reasonable Accommodation for Academic Appointees with Disabilities; to update the names of APM - 710, APM - 758, and the reference to APM - 760, and clarifying revisions to align with legal requirements and University practice;
  • Technical revisions to APM - 715, Leaves of Absence/Family and Medical Leave, to incorporate revisions previously made to APM - 710;
  • Technical revisions to APM - 730, Leaves of Absence/Vacation, to clarify vacation accrual and use during a curtailment leave and to change “Memorandum of Understanding” to “Collective Bargaining Agreement;”
  • Technical revisions to APM - 759, Leaves of Absence/Other Leaves Without Pay, to update the name of APM - 710;
  • Technical revisions to APM - 760, Family Accommodations for Childbearing and Childrearing, to incorporate revisions previously made to APM - 710, clarify eligibility for parental bonding leave as family and medical leave is up to twelve workweeks in a calendar year, and to comply with legal requirements regarding accommodations related to pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions; and
  • Technical revisions to APM - 730, Leaves of Absence/Vacation, and APM-760, Family Accommodations for Childbearing and Childrearing, to change “Memorandum of Understanding” to “Collective Bargaining Agreement.”

Academic Personnel Policy Issuance: Revised APM - 205, Recall for Academic Appointees

Issued January 10, 2025, by UC System Provost and Executive Vice President Katherine S. Newman, revised Academic Personnel Manual (APM) Section 205, Recall for Academic Appointees, is effective immediately. For reference, the revised policy can be found on the Systemwide Academic Personnel Policy Issuances webpage.

Key Policy Revisions

  • Revision to modify recall appointment eligibility language to include retired academic appointees in the Savings Choice plan who separated via retirement.
  • Revision to update benefits eligibility language.

Academic Personnel Policy Issuance: Revised APM - 235, Acting Appointments

Issued January 17, 2025, by UC System Provost and Executive Vice President Katherine S. Newman, revised Academic Personnel Manual (APM) Section 235, Acting Appointments, is effective immediately. For reference, the revised policy can be found on the Systemwide Academic Personnel Policy Issuances webpage.

Key Policy Revisions

  • Removal of bullet “b” from APM - 235-25 to ensure consistent application of the acting title and to clarify when an appointee in an acting professor or acting professor of teaching title can be transferred to a regular professorial or professor of teaching appointment.
  • Revisions to references to the Professor of Teaching series and titles included in the series.