Academic units, in accordance to the College’s Board of Trustees Policy Regarding the Management of College Records are expected to follow records retention and disposition guidelines to ensure records get to the right place at the right time. For example, the record policy requires vital and/ or historical records, both digital and physical, to be organized/preserved and that records follow disposition guidelines.
The Dean of Faculty’s Office encourages academic units via the chair or administrative assistant to review their academic unit’s records retention schedule and meet with the Records Manager who leads the Records Management Program. The Records Manager can answer questions regarding and assist with managing tenure documentation, faculty files, and storage of records no longer in use (but we need to keep).
Meeting with the Records Manager to review records and the records retention schedule is especially vital when chairs transition, in the off-boarding of faculty, when staff enter retirement, and with the onboarding of administrative assistant hires. She is happy to help!
What Academic Unit Chairs and Administrative Assistants need to know:
- Academic Unit Records Retention Schedule: the records retention schedule notes what type of records an academic unit creates and what to do with them. Academic offices, with the Records Manager , may create an individualized schedule.
- Note: tenure records must be kept 7 years from separation with the college. Contact the Dean of Faculty’s office and/ or the Records Manager for secure storage options for both digital and physical records. The Dean of Faculty’s office is the copy or home/office of record for all tenure materials. These should not remain in your departmental offices, Drive, or other storage. Copy or office of record is defined as the unit that maintains an “official record” of a document or record series.
- General College Records Retention Schedule: the general records retention schedule, as part of the College’s records policy, is an overarching document of records retention and disposition at the college. The schedule includes a glossary of records management terms.
- Confidential Disposition: a service provided by the Office of Finance and the Records Management Program, which confidentially pulps sensitive records.
- What to weed: a quick list of records and their life cycles.
- What to keep: a quick list of records to keep on hand and what to pass along to the Records Manager.
- Off-boarding for faculty and administrative assistant retirements: checklist of records management responsibilities for faculty and staff retirements and departures.
- Policy Regarding Management of College Records: the Williams Board of Trustees passed the Policy Regarding Management of College Records at their meeting on Oct 15, 2016. This policy affirms the Records Management Program at the College and the role of the Records Manager. “Records schedules and guidelines apply to material produced or maintained…in all areas and locations of the college, including members of the teaching faculty with non-teaching or administrative duties of either continuous or occasional nature, such as acting chairman of a department, a program or college committee.”