Faculty Handbook

The University of Kentucky is a community of scholar-teachers whose relationships are based on respect and trust, and who are committed to the highest level of quality and integrity in their academic work.  The Faculty Handbook is intended to be an informative, useful guide with general information about the University.  This Handbook does not form any portion of the contract between the faculty member and the institution.

The language in the Handbook does not supersede, supplement, alter, or serve as an official interpretation of the language of official University documents such as the Rules of the University Senate, the Governing Regulations, and the Administrative Regulations (GR and AR), the Code of Student Conduct, the University of Kentucky Bulletin, or other documents which are described in the Handbook.  Specific questions regarding the rights and duties of University employees - including faculty employees - can only be resolved by reference to the appropriate official documents.  You can consult the current, official version of most documents at the web sites listed in text.

While efforts will be made to update the Handbook, it should be remembered that changes in policies, procedures, and other information are effective as of the date of action or issuance by the appropriate University body even though such changes have not been distributed or referenced in the Handbook.

Kentucky State Agricultural and Mechanical College was founded in 1865 as part of Kentucky University (now Transylvania University).  Under the land grant provision of the Federal Morrill Act of 1862, the College was separated from Kentucky University in 1878 and established on a 50-acre site donated by the city of Lexington.  In 1908 the College was re-named the State University, Lexington, Kentucky, and in 1916 it became the University of Kentucky.  The Medical Center was created in 1956, and the colleges of Medicine, Dentistry, and Nursing established.  In 1964, the development of a statewide system of community colleges was initiated as a part of the University.  The University was re-organized into its three chancellor-led sectors (the Community Colleges, the Medical Center, and the Lexington Campus), together with a Central Administration, in 1982.

The Kentucky Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997 declared that by year 2020, the University of Kentucky should achieve the goal of becoming a major comprehensive research institution ranked nationally in the top twenty (20) of public universities; and that the community colleges, except the Lexington Community College, known as the University of Kentucky Community College System, become one of the branches of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.  As a result of this change, the University organization currently consists of two sectors (the Medical Center and the Lexington Campus, which also includes the Lexington Community College) and the Central Administration.

The University of Kentucky is a public, land grant university dedicated to improving people's lives through excellence in education, research and creative work, service and health care. As Kentucky’s flagship institution, the University plays a critical leadership role by promoting diversity, inclusion, economic development and human well-being.

The University of Kentucky:

• ​​​​​​​Facilitates learning, informed by scholarship and research;

• Expands knowledge through research, scholarship and creative activity; and

• Serves a global community by disseminating, sharing and applying knowledge.

• The University, as the flagship institution, plays a critical leadership role for the Commonwealth by contributing to the economic development and quality of life within Kentucky's borders and beyond. The University nurtures a diverse community characterized by fairness and equal opportunity.