Faculty Office Assignment Policy

1. The superintendent of facilities shall administer this policy.
2. The person administering the assignment of faculty office space will notify all eligible faculty members of available office space before the end of April (via the most recent faculty email directory). Faculty members are responsible for submitting a request for a change of office space by the stated deadline in this communication.
3. Faculty eligible to receive permanent offices are those designated as eligible by the Ohio State Newark dean and COTC president at the time of assignments. Bidding occurs in rounds and by faculty tiers. In the first round of bidding, full-time tenure-track and full-time clinical/teaching/practice faculty at Ohio State Newark and full-time COTC faculty are eligible to bid on an office. If offices from the first round of bidding are still available, then the campus holds a second round of bidding for those offices. Only full-time associated faculty (i.e., lecturers and senior lecturers) at Ohio State Newark may submit bids in this second round. Individuals holding temporary full-time faculty appointments at either institution may receive a single-person office if such space is available but may also lose their office space if it is needed to house regular, full-time COTC faculty or Ohio State Newark tenure-track, clinical/teaching/practice or associated faculty.
4.  Faculty office space will be assigned based on accrued full-time service (based on hire date) at the Newark campus for Ohio State Newark faculty and at any campus for COTC faculty. If applicants for a specific office are Ohio State faculty who have equal seniority and different ranks, then the office will go to the highest-ranking faculty member. Otherwise, lots will be drawn to determine the assignment. The person designated to assign faculty office space shall notify the faculty as well as any administrative staff members who regularly communicate with that faculty member.
5. Offices assigned to faculty after the yearly, regular, office-assignment process is complete are assigned as temporary offices. These office assignments to vacant office space include office assignments for new faculty and are made as vacancies occur. These temporary office assignments shall be relinquished by the faculty member and made available for general bidding at the time of the next regular office assignment process. Members occupying temporary offices will be notified in advance when they need to bid on a permanent office. Individuals who are assigned to a temporary office are urged to bid on a permanent office the following year but will be permanently assigned to their current location if they do not bid on an office and no one else is assigned to their office through the normal bid process.
6. Faculty who had been assigned to a temporary office and are unsuccessful in obtaining the office(s) of their choice through the bid process and must leave their current office will be temporarily assigned an office per above.  
7. A faculty member assigned to temporary (less than one year) administrative duty on the Newark campus for more than one semester may be required to vacate their faculty office. However, this person will retain the right to return to the original faculty office when the assignment has been completed.
8.  Faculty on authorized leaves of absence up to one calendar year in length retain the office space that they occupy. After one year’s time the space is forfeited. During the leave of absence, the space is subject to temporary assignment, usually to the absent faculty member’s replacement.
9. Faculty offices in the John L. and Christine Warner Center will be assigned by the Ohio State Newark dean. These offices consist of WC 239, WC 241, WC 243, WC 244, WC245, WC246, WC247, and WC249, WC251and WC253. Faculty offices in the John and Mary Alford Center will be assigned as follows: The following offices are dedicated to Ohio State Newark faculty and will be assigned by the Ohio State Newark dean: AF239, AF240, AF241, AF339, AF340, AF341, AF342, AF343, AF345, AF347, and AF349. Offices AF242, AF243, AF245, AF247, and AF249 are dedicated to COTC faculty and will be included in the annual office bid pool.
10. Any office can be designated as a double office to accommodate a need for faculty office space. If a faculty member has occupied an office as a single office that becomes a double office, the office will revert to the original single occupant at the first opportunity.
11.  Faculty may be assigned to cubicles. As with private offices, these assignments may also be permanent or temporary.  
12. Faculty who retire and continue to contribute to the mission of the campus may receive access to workspace (but not necessarily an office) if space is available. Space must be requested in writing to the COTC president or the Ohio State Newark dean.
13. COTC faculty who wish to appeal office assignments may do so through the COTC president in consultation with the COTC Faculty Union president. Ohio State Newark faculty who wish to appeal office assignments may do so through the Ohio State Newark dean directly or in consultation with the Ohio State Newark faculty representative.
14. The steps of the bidding procedure are as follows:
    1. To all eligible faculty, the superintendent of facilities or the superintendent’s designee emails a form that lists all available offices and invites recipients to rank the offices from most preferred to least preferred and to indicate any unacceptable offices. The email is sent before the end of April and faculty have one week to respond.
    2. The superintendent of facilities or the superintendent’s designee orders the lists according to seniority. The faculty member with the most seniority receives their top choice. The faculty member next highest in seniority receives the office they ranked highest out of the remaining offices. The superintendent of facilities or the superintendent’s designee continues assigning offices in that fashion (handling ties in seniority according to the procedure in item four of this document) until all offices have been assigned.
15. In certain situations, special rounds of bidding may be conducted outside the normal bidding process, or the campus may assign offices by using a procedure that does not involve bidding. In the case of a new building that houses faculty offices, the Ohio State Newark dean and COTC president will consult with the faculty of their respective institutions in deciding which faculty will be eligible to bid on the offices and in deciding on a procedure for assigning the offices.
    
    In the case of a renovation, faculty displaced from their offices due to the renovation will return to their original offices if the renovation does not alter the number or location of the offices. If the renovation alters the number or location of the offices, then the displaced faculty will participate in a special round of bidding following the procedure in item 14 of this document. Any offices remaining vacant after the special round of bidding will be included in the regular bidding process.
16. Faculty who are relocating or no longer eligible for an office will receive a deadline for vacating their office from the Ohio State Newark dean, the COTC president or their designees.
17. The Ohio State Newark dean and COTC president may assign faculty offices outside of the provisions of this policy.

Revised and approved by Drs. Berry and MacDonald: 10/31/2023