Professional Development, 2025

The University of Georgia (UGA) is the flagship public research university for the state of Georgia. Located in Athens, UGA enrolls about 40,000 students across 18 colleges. UGA awards baccalaureate, master’s, doctoral, and professional degrees. About 43% of full-time faculty at UGA are in VITAL faculty roles, with a majority of VITAL faculty in some academic units. There are nine different career roles for UGA non-tenure track faculty, which are referred in our case study as VITAL faculty, including instructors, lecturers, academic professionals, administrative, librarians, research scientists, clinical faculty, and public service faculty. In addition to institutional guidelines, there are a number of statewide policies and guidelines related to VITAL faculty that are managed by the Georgia Board of Regents, including related to appointment type categories, parameters for appointment periods, salary, promotion, and advancement.