003.A.2.8 Sitting Tenure Subcommittee participation

 From: Christine GonzalesSent: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 1:40 PMTo: Paul Allen; Suzanne JacobsSubject: RE: Summer sub-committee

Sounds great, including working via email.   If we ever meet, I can meet this summer Mondays and Wednesdays after 1:30 pm.

cg

From: Paul AllenSent: Tuesday, May 15, 2012 1:33 PMTo: Christine Gonzales; Suzanne JacobsSubject: Summer sub-committee

Hi Christine and Suzanne,

As you know, in fall of 2010 our department had a series of three department meetings where we discussed improving the tenure/post-tenure review process through the development of a rubric that would provide guidance to Sitting Tenure Committees evaluating whether to give a 3, 4, or 5 to our collegues. As part of that process I had the department complete a "Faculty Standards" document outlining each faculty member's ideas regarding adequate and  excellent performance in the three areas of teaching, professional development, and department/college service [All but two department members submitted the document]. I also provided everyone with a number of articles and books that addressed the issues of professionalism for professors.

Last fall, using that work as a basis, the Standing Tenure Committee, consisting of you two and me, agreed to use the suggestions from the "Faculty Standards" documents as a preliminary rubric for our evaluations this past academic year. We all did so with the understanding that the document was always intended as a "work in progress" that would need to be improved upon over time. Using that rubric we reviewed 3 tenure-track and 4 post-tenure faculty members. All but one faculty member scored well under the rubrics, suggesting that it reflects very well the high levels of activity we do in our department already. [In addition, as you know, one of the four tenured faculty members did not complete the review process and has therefore been rescheduled for next year].

Now it's time to engage in improvements based on what we've learned. 

As a faculty member teaching this summer, I'd like to ask you to participate in a subcommittee to take a look at the rubric, tweak it, and improve it so that we can bring it up for a full department vote during fall semester. I don't anticipate that this work will be onerous, nor result in too many meetings. I expect much of the work can be done online. I have asked Jane to lead the effort of the subcommittee and would like to see much of the work completed by the middle of next month and finalized before the start of fall semester. Your participation will be invaluable.

Thanks,

Paul