Faculty Reviews: General Procedures

Associate Dean for the Arts and Humanities; Associate Dean for the Natural, Mathematical, and Social Sciences

Key Contacts

If you have questions, please contact your Department Human Resources Representative.

Applicability

DEOs, Administrators

Policy Purpose and Description

N/A

Definitions

N/A

Procedure

Departmental, Collegiate and University Review Procedures

Departments may formulate departmental procedures for the appointment of faculty, annual review of probationary faculty, and review of tenured faculty. These procedures must be approved by the Dean and the Provost and must conform with the College’s procedures (as described on the College’s website) and with University criteria and procedures (outlined in the University Operations Manual and the University’s Faculty Handbook). Departments are responsible for making documents containing departmental procedures available to all faculty.

The College has also approved some department-specific variations to the Collegiate/University Procedural Guidelines for Promotion and Tenure Decision Making. These Department-specific Additions to CLAS/UI Procedures for P/T Decision Making variations are posted on the College’s website. Both the faculty member and the reviewers consult the departmental, College, and University procedures during each review.

In addition to the various types of reviews outlined in this chapter, all faculty are evaluated annually for merit salary increases. The DEO recommends to the Dean the salary to be paid to each departmental faculty member in the following year. 

Maintaining a Professional Dossier

Each faculty member must submit materials for use in their periodic reviews. For this purpose, the faculty member must maintain an updated curriculum vitae (CLAS Standard CV), keep student evaluations of teaching on file, and preserve copies of scholarly publications, records of creative work, and copies of teaching materials. The dossier to be submitted in reviews for tenure and/or promotion is described in the CLAS/UI Procedures for Promotion and Tenure Decision Making, section I.B (department-level procedures).

Evaluation of Teaching

The College requires that evaluations of teaching be solicited from students in every course. (See Student Evaluation of Teaching on this website). Departments generally use standardized evaluation forms that are appropriate to the types of instruction in their courses. The faculty member is ordinarily responsible for keeping their student evaluations on file for use in faculty reviews. These evaluations are necessary evidence of teaching effectiveness in all reviews of tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty.

Each peer evaluation of teaching must include a classroom observation. At a minimum, one class session must be observed and reported on as part of the review of teaching in each annual review of probationary (not-yet-tenured) faculty, each review for promotion and/or tenure, and each peer review of tenured faculty. The peer evaluation of teaching must also include a review of syllabi and other materials from a variety of levels of instruction, evidence of successful supervision of graduate students, and other evidence of teaching quality. Under Regents’ policy, the assessment of teaching must explicitly consider the oral communication competence of the candidate (Operations Manual, III-13).

DEO’s Role in the Review Process

The DEO oversees faculty review processes and ensures that the department meets the deadline for reporting on the review and making recommendations. The DEO informs the faculty member under review of the timeline of the review and the materials the faculty member must submit. The DEO also sees that review committees are formed where required by University, collegiate, or departmental procedures.

Faculty Member’s Right to Respond to the Review

In all review processes, the DEO or review committee shares the review report with the faculty member under review. The faculty member has the right to respond to the review, and that response becomes a part of the review file forwarded to the Office of the Dean.