HR, SUCCS Reach Deal on Research Personnel AP Status

UIC HUMAN Resources has been working closely with both the Research Advisory Council and the Executive Director of the State Universities Civil Service System (SUCSS) to come to an agreement about which research jobs should be exempted from their system and classified as Academic Professional and which should be Civil Service positions.

“I AM very happy to report that SUCSS has agreed to a framework we developed in conjunction with members of the Research Advisory Council,” said Maureen Parks, Executive Director and Associate Vice President of Human Resources.

THIS FRAMEWORK detailed the key job characteristics, research activities, and skills for the Research Specialist and Research Technologist positions.  Both the “Research Specialist” and “Senior Research Specialist” will be designated as Academic Professional. “Research Technologist I” and “Research Technologist II” will remain Civil Service. 

“HAVING THESE positions carefully defined will make our job analysis process much more expedient and will allow departments the necessary flexibility needed to hire qualified staff,” Parks said. “While there are still a couple of outstanding issues, this is a great stride in the right direction.”

THE UIC Human Resources office still has several steps to take to implement this new structure, including developing generic standard job descriptions for each title. “We are also in the process of developing a communication plan for sharing this information with the Research Advisory Council, HR Professionals, hiring managers, and the UIC faculty,” Parks said. “The UIC HR team understands the criticality and urgency of this issue and we will work as quickly as possible to put plans into action.”