Appendix I – Some Characteristics of Departments with Effective Tenured Faculty Review and Development Procedures

General Principles

An effective, supportive tenured faculty review and development program: 

  1. acknowledges that a faculty career can evolve over time, can have different emphases at different periods, and is best evaluated over periods longer than one year. 
  2. formulates and communicates clear expectations of faculty work within the context of the department mission, 
  3. recognizes the need to improve regularly the procedures and documentation used to evaluate faculty work. 
  4. includes procedures that encourage individuals to work and review each other collaboratively. 
  5. provides incentives for faculty members to do better what they already do well and to pursue professional development and curricular innovation. 
  6. has a prospective as well as a retrospective component, that is, encourages the individuals to outline future activities in the context of department, unit, and campus needs. 
  7. includes qualitative and quantitative measures of performance.

Teaching

An effective, supportive tenured faculty review and development program: 

  1. recognizes that reviewing teaching involves not only the evaluation of classroom technique and the use of standardized student evaluation forms but also regular, direct peer review of teaching through classroom observation, syllabus and test review, etc. 
  2. uses student evaluation instruments that are reliable and valid, and that members have confidence in. 
  3. makes regular and consistent attempts to harmonize individual teaching interests and the needs of the program/department. 
  4. encourages individuals wishing to develop new expertise, new courses, and new ways to organize curriculum. 
  5. clearly distinguishes between adequate and inadequate performance. 
  6. includes actual student results as one measure of individual effectiveness. 
  7. recognizes and rewards other forms of teaching such as advising, directing theses, coordinating multi-section courses, directing faculty development and curriculum workshops, etc. 

Scholarship

An effective, supportive tenured faculty review and development program: 

  1. understands that scholarship can be expressed in a variety of appropriate ways (e.g., advancing knowledge; synthesizing and integrating knowledge; applying knowledge; crafting knowledge by engaging with community and the public; generating knowledge through creative and imaginative work; and representing knowledge through teaching. cf. Scholarship Reconsidered, Boyer Report) 
  2. encourages each of these scholarly activities appropriately within the context of the department’s mission and that of the institution. 
  3. clearly distinguishes between adequate and inadequate work. 
  4. encourages innovative directions. 
  5. encourages the application of scholarly expertise as well as its publication. 

Service

An effective, supportive tenured faculty review and development program: 

  1. encourages faculty members to use their expertise on campus and in the larger community. 
  2. lays out clear expectations for all members of the department. 
  3. clearly distinguishes between adequate and inadequate work. 
  4. encourages and rewards faculty members for appropriate service to the profession. 
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