Saturday, November 21, 2009

Faculty and Staff Information

Eligibility for Merit Pay

In order to be considered for merit pay, a faculty member should clearly demonstrate outstanding performance in one of the areas of teaching, service, or research, and should be performing at least satisfactorily in the other two areas. Outstanding and satisfactory performance are judgments made by the department chairperson and are based on information presented and reviewed during the faculty member’s annual conference with the chairperson (RCOE: Policies and Procedures Handbook, page 48).

See the Merit Eligibility document.

Promotion and Tenure Policies

Promotion/Tenure Policies
Department of Human Development & Psychological Counseling

Related Documents:
In developing and interpreting promotion and tenure policies, other college and university documents relating to expectations and evaluation of faculty must be considered and referenced including:

  • Appalachian State University Faculty Handbook (July 1, 1989);
  • Reich College of Education Policies and Procedures Handbook (August, 1990), especially Section 3.6 on Faculty Evaluation;
  • ASU, RCOE, and HPC Mission Statements; ASU Graduate Faculty Guidelines; and
  • Accreditation Standards/Guidelines (i.e., SACS, CACREP, and NCATE).

General Documentation:
Consistent with the RCOE Policies and Procedure Handbook, the faculty member is responsible for documenting skills and accomplishments. Upon applying for promotion and/or tenure, the faculty member will provide copies of the documentation arranged to support each portion of the criteria. If the faculty member keeps a notebook each year, this may assist in keeping the materials up-to-date and organized.

Processes for seeking documentation may include peer review; external review; student input (by announcing that the faculty member is being considered for promotion/tenure); submission of publications; and other evaluation systems require and/or recommended in the RCOE merit system.

The HPC Departmental Personnel Committee, department chair, college dean, and Provost and Vice-chancellor for Academic Affairs will follow the printed policies and processes in determining if the documentation submitted by the faculty member and/or others is sufficient for consideration of and recommendation for promotion and/or tenure.

Criteria in Faculty Handbook
Section 3.6.3 of the Faculty Handbook states:

The decision to reappoint, promote or tenure a faculty member may be based on any factor(s) considered relevant to the total institutional interests, but those responsible for making the decision must consider the faculty member’s demonstrated professional competence, potential for further contributions, and institutional needs and resources. These considerations may form, in whole or part, the basis of the ultimate decision…

Suggested general criteria in selecting and evaluating faculty members, as listed in section 3.6.1 of the Faculty Handbook, are to:

  • (A) Possess personal attributes reflecting maturity and high standards of integrity.
  • (B) Show evidence of a liberal education; of competence in a subject area as indicated through successful achievement in graduate study, teaching, research, and/or publication; and of a continuing interest and effort in professional growth through study, research, writing, and participation in the activities of learned societies and professional organizations.
  • (C) Be skilled in teaching and utilizing materials and methods of instruction
  • (D) Show a friendly concern for the problems and needs of student by counseling and dealing fairly and considerately with them.
  • (E) Understand the purposes and factions of the university; demonstrate a cooperative willingness to support its purposes and to share the responsibility for evaluating its policies and programs; participate constructively in the deliberations of departmental and general faculty meetings and assume a reasonable share of the responsibility of the facult y committees on which the faculty member serves.
  • (F) Keep herself/himself reasonable well informed on problems of public concern and demonstrate qualities of responsible citizenship by recognizing the need for active interest in the affaires of government, civic, education, and other agencies working for the common welfare.
  • (G) Maintain high standards of professional ethics.
  • (H) Criteria for reappointment. Continues reappointment is contingent on professional improvement of the faculty member. There is continual evaluation of faculty member to determine the extent of their professional improvement. The procedures used in evaluation are developed by the department or college.

Excerpts of relevant criteria listed in the Faculty Handbook, section 3.4.2, Academic Ranks, are:

The university shall require the doctorate or other appropriate terminal degree for all full-time faculty appointments above the rank of instructor, unless there are exceptional circumstances. (p. 10)

  1. The earned terminal degree from an accredited institution, unless there are exceptional circumstances, and at least five years of appropriate experience;
  2. Demonstrated skill in teaching and recognizing accomplishments in at least on of the following: teaching; research or other germane creative activity; or professional service to the university and/or to the public; and
  3. Willingness to participate in institutional affairs. (p.11)

Minimal criteria for consideration of appointment/promotion to the rank of Professor are:

  1. The earned terminal degree from an accredited institution, unless there are exceptional circumstances, and at least ten years of appropriate experience;
  2. Demonstrated skill in teaching and outstanding reputation in at least one of the following: teaching; research or other germane creative activity; or professional service to the university and/or to the public; and
  3. Demonstrated ability in and willingness to participate in institutional affairs. (pp. 11-12)

Promotion:

The interpretation by the Department of Human Development and Psychological Counseling of some of descriptors of the minimal criteria for the academic ranks is listed below. If the Faculty Handbook allow for “exceptional circumstances” in lieu of any criteria, the department will allow such exceptions only when there is clear and convincing evidence that no-one with the stated qualifications is available or if someone with outstanding and extended experience in the specific emphasis in which she/he will be teaching is needed.

“Earned terminal degree” = doctorate from an accredited institution in an appropriate field related to the program/emphasis of the HPC department.

“Appropriate experience” = The Faculty Handbook requires five (5) years of appropriate experience for the rand of associate professor and ten (10) years for professor. Normally, this will mean full- time specific teaching experience in the Department of Human Development and Psychological Counseling or specific teaching experience at the graduate level at another university in one of the emphases of the HPC department. The number of years stated is the minimum and, normally, a person will not be considered for promotion based on the minimum number of years of appropriate experience unless there is clear evidence of the requisite skill and accomplishments in the areas of teaching, research, and service as listed in the Faculty Handbook.

The Departmental Personnel Committee may consider “appropriate experience” as the full- time direct practice of the profession related to the courses to be taught (emphasis within which one will be teaching) which generally may be counted at a rate of one year for each two years of full- time specific related experience.

Of the ten (10) years of appropriate experience required for the professor rank, there generally must be a minimum of 3 years of college/university teaching experience in addition to the other appropriate experience (i.e., normally, a person seeking the rank of professor cannot count only related experience if he/she does not have at least 3 years of college/university teaching experience).

“Demonstrated skill in teaching” = Consistent with RCOE merit guidelines, the faculty member must show on an extended and consistent basis that he/she has the requisite teaching skills to teach graduate level courses. This normally means that the RCOE student evaluation system will document that the faculty member is at or above the mean or median score for 80% of the evaluation categories (based on department of college means/medians).

The Faculty member is encouraged to develop and/or use other assessment instruments or systems which may demonstrate teaching skill. Primarily, these assessment techniques will be discussed and approved by the department chair during schedule goal setting and evaluation sessions.

“Recognized accomplishments” (at the associate professor level) = These accomplishments in teaching, research and/or service must be beyond the general expectations for all faculty. (All faculty are expected to meet the criteria listed in section 3.6 of the Faculty Handbook). Recognized accomplishments, within and outside the university, are considerably beyond these minimal expectations and can be documented as illustrated below by:

  • Teaching evaluations consistently above the mean/median; or successful development of teach and curriculum materials (as listed in the RCOE Merit Guidelines); or
  • Research beyond that normally necessary to stay abreast of one’s field and which results on a regular basis in professional presentations and/or publication; or
  • Professional service which includes not only membership in and attendance at relevant professional association meetings but a consistent commitment to and involvement in such associations as a committee member, officer, and/or presenter; or
  • Professional service to the university by active participation and leadership in college and university committees/activities and/or
  • Professional service to the public related to the departmental mission by significant involvement through consultation presentation and other leadership roles.

“Outstanding reputation” (at the professor level) = In addition to the “recognized accomplishments” listed above, the “outstanding reputation” should be documented by clear and convincing evidence that the individual is acknowledged by one’s peers as outstanding in one or more of the areas of reaching, research, or service. Such documentation may include evidence that the faculty has been acknowledged on a consistent basis by his/her peers or by other leaders in the profession that he/she excels in one of these areas. Evidence of teaching skills may include evaluations by current and former students as well as through the regular ASU evaluation systems. Evidence of research may include acknowledgment by professional associations and/or publishers. Evidence of professional service may include consistent leadership in several leadership roles and subsequent evaluation by recognized professionals.

Tenure:

To be considered for tenure, the faculty member will follow the guidelines stated in the Faculty Handbook. Several statements from sections 3.4.1 of the Faculty Handbook are:

Academic tenure refers to the conditions and guarantees that apply to a faculty member’s employment. More specifically, it refers to the protection of a faculty member against involuntary suspension or discharge from employment or reduction in rank except upon specified grounds and in accordance with the procedures provided in 4.5 or against termination of employment except as provided for in 3.7.

While academic tenure may be withheld on any grounds other than those specifically stated to be impermissible in 3.6.4.A., its conferral requires an assessment of the faculty member’s demonstrated professional competence; potential for future contributions; commitment to effective teaching, research, or public service; and the needs and resources of the institution.

Academic tenure, as herein described, pertains exclusively to the employment of faculty embers by appointment to specified ranks…

The Department of Human Development and Psychological Counseling believes that permanent tenure should not be granted only for the time one has spent at ASU and generally will consider a person for tenure in conjunction with the academic ranks listed in section 3.4.2 of the Faculty Handbook (see above). The graduate program nature of the department and its need for demonstrated skill and recognized accomplishments requires that, normally, a faculty member will be considered for tenure only if he/she has been listed in a tenure track and has achieved or be recommended for rank of associate professor or higher.

The faculty member must clearly document how she/he meets the Faculty Handbook criteria (i.e., demonstrated professional competence; potential for future contribution; commitment to effective teaching, research, or public service; and the needs and resources of the institution). The department also will seek input from other appropriate persons/offices in determining “the needs and resources of the institution”.

If a part-time faculty member (i.e., not listed as being assigned full-time to department and generally not being paid primarily through departmental funds) wished to be considered for permanent tenure, he/she must document, as a minimum, the equivalent time in service and commitment to the department required of full-time faculty. Parttime faculty will b considered for permanent tenure if the needs and resources of the department are such that the academic strengths and skills of the part-time faculty member can be verified as being essential to the department.