The University of Cincinnati's faculty union mailed ballots Monday and expects members to vote by Jan. 25 on whether to accept a three-year contract the university offered.

        “My feeling and hope is that it will pass,” John Brackett, chief negotiator for the campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said Monday. Mr. Brackett is an associate professor of history at the school.

        The union represents 1,988 full-time faculty members at the university's five campuses.

        The university, with 34,000 students, is Ohio's second-largest school behind Ohio State University.

        The union and the university agreed on the contract proposal, with a federal mediator's help, in time to avoid a threatened strike. The walkout was to have started on Jan. 3 as winter quarter began.

        A majority vote is required for ratification by faculty members. The university's board of trustees could vote either on Friday or early next week to ratify the contract for the university, spokesman Greg Hand said Monday.

        Under the agreement, pay would increase 10 percent over three years.

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