Persons holding non-tenure track appointments to the faculty have responsibilities that vary by department/program. These areas of responsibility are specified in their term appointment contract of employment. Individuals appointed on term appointments who serve as Instructor or Assistant Professor will be evaluated in the second year of their first three years and then in the third year of their subsequent three years. Individuals on term appointments who serve as Associate Professor without tenure will be evaluated every six years after that promotion.
Review of Instructor or Assistant Professor. This term appointment review is conducted in the fall semester by the faculty member’s department/program Chair. The candidate will prepare an updated portfolio for this review. The department/program Chair will review materials on teaching and service. The department/program Chair (or, with the approval of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, a designated senior colleague in the department/program) will also observe three of the candidate’s classes in the fall semester of the review year. Additionally, the department/program Chair will review the candidate’s college-wide student evaluations and grade distributions for all classes taught during the review period.
The department Chair will receive input from at least two senior members of the department. The program Chair will receive input from at least two senior faculty members in the program or faculty designated by the Vice President for Academic Affairs. Faculty housed in departments but engaged in significant interdisciplinary scholarship or significant and regular teaching in interdisciplinary programs will be evaluated by the department Chair and two other senior faculty, normally the program Chair and a senior faculty member designated by the Vice President for Academic Affairs in consultation with the Chairs. Input from these senior department/program members will be informed by observations from class visits during the fall semester. These senior members of the department/program will meet as a group with the department/program Chair to discuss their observations and findings.
The department/program Chair will then make a determination regarding the candidate’s progress in teaching and service using the description of performance described in the previous section (Section VIII). The department/program Chair will meet with the candidate to discuss this assessment.
The department/program Chair’s written assessment of the candidate’s progress is sent to the Vice President for Academic Affairs, usually late in November. The Vice President for Academic Affairs or a designated representative will have an initial meeting with the department/program Chair to discuss the assessment of the candidate’s progress. The Vice President for Academic Affairs or a designated representative will provide a written summary of the outcome of the review, focusing on the candidate’s progress in each category of evaluation, with recommendations for improvement when necessary.
Review of Associate Professor without tenure. Faculty members who have been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor without tenure have a review every six years. The objective of this review is to provide opportunities for reflection and feedback on the faculty member’s continued growth in teaching and service.
In January of the term appointment review year, the faculty member creates a portfolio containing:
- The professional development document: a two-part document consisting of a reflection on teaching and service over the previous six-year period and a prospectus for the next six years.
- A current curriculum vitae that includes
- Courses taught
- Service to the College or profession
- Representative samples of course syllabi, exams, and assignments for courses taught during the previous six-year period, a list of any additional teaching (Directed Inquiries, undergraduate research/creative activity, honors research/creative activity, etc.), and a list of any new courses taught.
- Student evaluations from classes taught during the previous six-year period. Faculty who have been promoted to the rank of Associate Professor without tenure are required to have student evaluations conducted in one course each semester, selected in consultation with the department/program Chair to make sure that all types of teaching performed by the faculty member are represented in the review.
In addition to the portfolio, the department/program Chair reviews final grades given for all courses taught by the faculty member during the previous six-year period. This information is provided by the Data Services Office.
The department/program Chair meets with the faculty member to discuss the professional development document and the faculty member’s progress toward achieving career goals. The department/program Chair then writes an assessment of the faculty member’s professional growth, sent to the Vice President for Academic Affairs in late January. The Vice President or a designated representative and the department/program Chair meet in mid-February to discuss the assessment. The Vice President for Academic Affairs or designated representative conveys in writing the results of these discussions to the faculty member being evaluated, with a copy to the department/program Chair. The faculty member is welcome to meet with the Vice President for Academic Affairs or designated representative, if desired, to discuss the outcome of the review; the department/program Chair may be invited to this meeting at the discretion of the Vice President for Academic Affairs or designated representative.
In rare and extreme cases, an Associate Professor without tenure may receive an assessment indicating that the faculty member has failed to meet the College’s standards of excellence in one or both areas of evaluation. In such cases, the faculty member will develop, in consultation with the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the department/program Chair, a plan for improvement that addresses the area(s) of deficiency. Two years after that review, the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the department/program Chair will evaluate the faculty member’s work in removing the deficiency. After that evaluation, if the Vice President for Academic Affairs determines that the faculty member has not shown evidence of improvement in the designated area(s), the faculty member will not have their term appointment contract renewed after one additional year. The additional year constitutes the twelve months’ notice of non-reappointment.