Desired Outcomes of the Review

These periodic reviews are conducted on a five-year schedule. They provide assessment that re-enforces or strengthens the work of the tenured faculty member. They also inform departmental decisions about merit pay increases, course staffing, distribution of responsibilities for departmental service, professional development and leaves of absence, nomination for teaching awards, and other decisions under the department's purview.

Standards for Tenured Faculty Review

Schedule of Tenured Faculty Reviews

Each fall the College sends to the DEO a list of faculty members who will undergo tenured faculty review in the spring.

The DEO is not included on the review schedule during his or her term in office. Faculty who have announced in writing that they intend to retire within a year need not be included on the review schedule; faculty on phased retirement are not exempt until their final year of service. A review for promotion during the five-year period postpones the next tenured faculty review by five years.

There are two kinds of tenured faculty review process, the standard and the extended (see below).

Standard Review Process

The standard tenured faculty review is submitted by the DEO to the College using the "Summary Assessment" form for tenured faculty reviews (available on the Collegiate Forms page of the College's website). The review is submitted in the spring semester of every fifth year of the reviewee's service as a tenured faculty member.

The review is performed by a committee of at least two tenured faculty members, selected according to the department's own policy and usual practices in faculty reviews. The DEO may serve as one member of the review committee in a standard tenured faculty review. At least one classroom observation is performed as part of the review, and teaching materials, student evaluations, and other evidence of the quality of teaching are assessed. Under College policy, evaluations of teaching must be solicited from students at the end of every course. All faculty must obtain these evaluations and keep them on file as evidence of teaching effectiveness. At a minimum, an updated curriculum vitae is required for the assessment of scholarly/creative work and service.

The faculty member has the right to respond to the assessment.

Extended Review Process

The faculty member, the DEO, or the Dean may also request an extended review. As part of the annual salary review process, the Dean's Office generates a table for each department showing the percentage salary increase that each faculty member has been awarded in each of the previous five years, as well as the average percentage increase for the department as a whole in each year. For every tenured faculty member who is due for a five-year tenured faculty review in the next academic year and whose annual increase has been significantly below the departmental average for the five-year period, the Dean will consult the DEO on whether the extended review process should be used. In addition, any faculty member may write to the DEO requesting an extended review.

A sample letter is available on the College's website that may be addressed to a faculty member at the outset of a tenured faculty review to be conducted according to the extended review process.

The extended review provides the faculty member an opportunity for self-assessment, in the form of a narrative, not to exceed 1,000 words, of his/her efforts over the previous five years and plans for activities over the subsequent five years. The review also provides an opportunity for a committee of departmental peers to assess the faculty member in light of his/her own self-assessment, materials from his/her most recent completed faculty review, and the salary history prepared by the Office of the Dean and forwarded to the review committee at the onset of the review. The committee's assessment must result in recommendations to the faculty member and the department regarding the plan for activities over the next five years. The review also provides the DEO the opportunity to consider how the allocation of departmental resources could support the faculty member's projected work.

The DEO selects a review committee, consisting of at least two members, and may at his/her discretion appoint a faculty member from another department to serve on the review committee. The DEO may not serve as a member of the review committee in an extended review. The reviewers perform at least one classroom observation and assess teaching materials, student evaluations, and other evidence of the quality of teaching. The reviewers also assess the individual's record for the previous five years in scholarly/creative work and in service to the department, the College, the University, and the profession.

The DEO discusses all the review materials with the reviewee, including the self-assessment and plan of future work and the report and summary assessment of the review committee. The DEO then summarizes the actions that will follow from the review. The reviewee reads this summary and signs it before the review materials are submitted to the Dean's Office. The reviewee has the right to respond to the review committee and/or the DEO, and that response will also be forwarded to the Dean's Office. The Dean responds to extended reviews of tenured faculty.

Among the actions that follow from the review, the DEO may ask the faculty member for a progress report at a specified time following the conclusion of the review, to ensure that recommendations from the review are being acted upon and goals established during the review are being achieved.

Materials to be Submitted to the College

In a standard review, the DEO discusses the review report with the faculty member and then submits the report, with the College's "Summary Assessment" form, to the Executive Associate Dean. The DEO also submits the curriculum vitae on which the review was based and the faculty member's response, if any, to the review.

In an extended review, the DEO submits the following review materials to the Executive Associate Dean:

• the "Cover Sheet for Extended Review of Tenured Faculty"
• the response (if any) of the faculty member to the report of and summary assessment of the review committee and/or to the "DEO's Summary of Actions to Be Taken as a Result of the Tenured Faculty Review,"
• "DEO's Summary of Actions to Be Taken as a Result of the Tenured Faculty Review,"
• "Summary Assessment for Review of Tenured Faculty Member," completed by the Review Committee
• the signed report of the Review Committee (recommended length, one to two pages),
• the faculty member's self-assessment of research, teaching, and service efforts over the previous five years and plan of work over the next five years (not to exceed 1,000 words), and
• the faculty member's curriculum vitae that was used in the review.

Reviews of Jointly Appointed Faculty

For faculty members holding joint appointments, the primary and secondary units should collaborate to produce a single review. If the Dean or the faculty member requests that an extended review of a jointly appointed faculty member be scheduled, both DEOs meet with the Executive Associate Dean to discuss the review process.

For reviews of faculty jointly appointed in another college, the two units should collaborate in a joint review that assesses the faculty member's entire contribution to the University's mission. The review report(s) should be forwarded to the deans of both colleges.