Recommending Faculty for Renewal of Contract, Promotion, and Tenure

(Faculty members are encouraged to review relevant sections of the Park University Collective Bargaining Agreement.)

Consideration for Recommendations

The Faculty of Park University is composed of professional teachers with community concerns in recommending individual faculty members for renewal of contract, tenure and/or promotion. This statement will serve as a general guideline. Individual departments will also establish discipline specific standards, especially in the area of scholarship. To understand its implication the following explanations will be kept in mind.

Teaching is understood as the process of effectively communicating the essentials of a body of knowledge, content and methods in a manner which stimulates the learner to think.

The effectiveness of teaching is evidenced among others in:

• the ability to communicate a field of knowledge;
• the development of learning experiences;
• the acquisition of practical skills;
• students' acceptance and enthusiasm; and
• student advising.

Excellent teaching may involve:

• enthusiastic students' response to the communicated knowledge;
• constant revision of existing and development of new courses;
• involvement in courses of other disciplines;
• successful conduct of independent studies, practical, and internships; and
• student advising promoting personal growth.

A distinguished teacher will provide a model in teaching and conduct in all the areas mentioned above and in a mastery of current literature in the field taught which will influence the constant re-evaluation of the courses taught and the entire curriculum.

Professionalism refers to our status as educators. A professional educator is one who possesses advanced knowledge in one or more disciplines based on formal study, critical observation, and mature insights. Service to society distinguishes the professional's motivation. Maturity and integrity characterize his/her relations with others.

The professional educator is continuously involved in a growth process; that is, in the process of increasing one's mastery of the field and increasing one's ability to transmit that knowledge to the learner. Professional growth includes evidence of contribution to the maintenance of the scholarly community of the University.

Research is an integral part of professional growth. It is understood as the process of inquiry which demonstrates proficiency in scholarship and results in the uncovering of new knowledge or the verification of existing knowledge.

Professional achievement finds reflection in teaching, research, and service within professional associations and application of professional knowledge in service to society.

Community. The professional educator is a member of three separate but interrelated communities. He/she is a member of a college community of scholars, students, and administrators; a professional community related to his/her academic area of specialization; and a civic community all of which comprise the context of his/her life as professional, as citizen and as human being. A true professional will be actively involved in all these communities.

Criteria for Academic Ranks

Although the possibility of exception is acknowledged, the following definition of each rank will serve to guide persons submitting nominations as the deliberations of the committee. It is understood that persons need not meet all criteria equally but that effectiveness of teaching is a primary consideration.

Instructor:

• holds masters degree in an appropriate discipline;
• shows evidence of potential for effective teaching;
• has limited teaching experience at the college level; and
• has limited practical experience in the field.

Assistant Professor:

• holds masters degree in an appropriate discipline;
• progresses toward effective teaching;
• is active professionally;
• is visible in university and community affairs; and
• recognizes the quality, integrity and totality of the intellectual experience.

Associate Professor:

• holds terminal degree in an appropriate discipline;
• shows evidence of effective teaching;
• demonstrates extensive professional involvement;
• participates significantly in university and community affairs; and
• shows concern for the quality, integrity and totality of the intellectual experience.

Professor:

• holds the terminal degree in an appropriate discipline;
• is widely recognized as a master teacher;
• is a leader in university and community affairs; and
• demonstrates the quality, integrity and totality of the intellectual experience.

The following considerations apply to faculty promotion:

• Any instructor who does not merit promotion to assistant professor after a reasonable time of employment should be dismissed from the employ of the University;
• Merit and not time in grade should be the principal basis for promotion; and
• Tenure and promotion are considered independently.

Procedure for Promotion Decisions

The Faculty Personnel Panel is composed of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, three Division Chairs and four members elected at large by the Faculty. The Vice President for Academic Affairs will serve as Chair.

From the Panel the Chair appoints four persons to a Review Committee to consider an individual nomination for promotion. Other members of the Panel who are interested may join the Review Committee at their initiative.

By December 15th of each year the Vice President for Academic Affairs will remind the faculty of the February 1st deadline for submission of nominations for promotion. Nominations for promotion may be made to the Vice President for Academic Affairs by any member of the faculty. A faculty member may place his/her own name in nomination. The letter of nomination must be delivered to the Vice President of Academic Affairs by the deadline.

By February 15th the Vice President for Academic Affairs will inform the entire Personnel panel of all nominations and name the Review Committees. The Vice President for Academic Affairs will submit to each committee evidence which relates to the nominations.

Between February 15th and March 15th the Review Committee will validate evidence and deliberate on the nominations. Interviews may be held as part of the information gathering process. The Committee will feel free to gather information from any appropriate source.

By March 15th the Review Committee will have formulated a recommendation to be submitted to the Personnel Panel. The Panel will evaluate the Review Committee's report and vote whether or not to make a recommendation for promotion to the President. The action of the Personnel panel will be secret ballot. If a recommendation is not sent to the President, the Vice President for Academic Affairs will share with the candidate the reasons why the Panel withheld recommendation. If a recommendation for promotion is voted, it will be forwarded to the President by April 1st. The initiative of the Review Committee and the Personnel Panel cease at the time of the vote. The Committee's recommendation or non-recommendation is advisory in nature and is not binding upon the University or the President.

Procedure for Contract Renewal

Each academic year, the Vice President for Academic Affairs will provide the Faculty Personnel Panel with the names of faculty members who are subject to renewal of contract and state that any panel member or the Vice President for Academic may request a discussion on one of the faculty members listed.

The Personnel Panel will submit any recommendations as early as possible, and in no event later than March 10, to ensure that each reappointment letter is issued on or before March 15.

Procedure for Tenure Recommendations

It is the Vice President for Academic Affairs responsibility to present to the Tenure Committee and the individual(s) no later than September 1st the names of faculty members whose potential tenure will be evaluated during that academic year. The Vice President for Academic Affairs will submit to the Tenure Committee evidence which relates to each tenure case. Notice is to be given to the college community about the individuals under consideration. The faculty members involved will be invited to submit any relevant data.

The Tenure Committee is composed of five tenured faculty members, with at least one committee member from each division, elected at-large by the Faculty. The Vice President for Academic Affairs serves as Chair. The Tenure Committee functions separately from the personnel panel committee.

The Tenure Committee will review each tenured case submitted by the Chair under the general tenure criteria set out below in paragraph 6. As part of the review process the committee will meet with the President and with the candidate to discuss the tenure case.

The general procedure will parallel the one described in Section #3 above. The Tenure Committee's recommendations are advisory in nature.

Criteria for Tenure

Exceptions can occur where an individual is clearly so valuable that the University elects to waive terminal degree requirements, or if replacement faculty with terminal degrees are not generally available.

Faculty members applying for tenure must:

• hold the terminal degree in the appropriate discipline;
• show documented scholarship in the appropriate discipline (demonstrated commitment to scholarship work and activities);
• have recognized and clearly demonstrated teaching capabilities (a master teacher).

The University may consider other extenuating circumstances at its discretion, including both those circumstances weighing for and those weighing against tenure for the candidate under consideration.

Concerns for Standards and Professionalism

The Faculty Personnel Panel in addition to being involved in the recommendation process, will attempt to instill among the University faculty a concern for standards and professionalism in the line with the considerations of Section #1 above.

In order to accomplish this objective the Panel may initiate, undertake or sponsor the following activities:

• information sessions and workshops for new faculty members;
• sessions for the entire faculty on improvement of instruction;
• meetings on the meaning of professionalism and academic standards; and
• counseling with individual faculty members whenever this seems appropriate; Panel members involved in such counseling may exclude themselves from serving on any Review Committee dealing with the affected faculty member.

The activities suggested above are not designed to replace legitimate concerns of the University administration, but rather grow out of the understanding of the nature of an academic community as a mutual concern of all involved.

Special Considerations for Committee Composition

• Any member of a committee whose relationship with a faculty member under review is perceived as a conflict of interest by the Vice President of Academic Affairs and/or a majority of committee members will be excused from the committee.
• It is preferable for candidates for Promotion and/or Sabbatical leave not to serve on any committee dealing with their cases. However, they at least must exclude themselves from the deliberations and voting process.
• Faculty Development Endowed Fund Committee - Any member whose award is being considered will be replaced by one of the division chairs at the selection meeting.

Teaching Personnel with Administrative Assignments

Teaching personnel with administrative assignments are subject to contract renewal procedure as specified in this policy.

Faculty members with administrative assignments are covered by this policy if their administrative duties do not exceed 25% of their loads as defined by the Vice President for Academic Affairs. If their administrative duties exceed 25%, they are considered for contract renewal as other administrative personnel with teaching assignments. They may advance in rank, gain years toward tenure and be granted tenure during the period of the administrative assignment, provided, they teach at least six (6) credit hours each academic year.

Adjunct Faculty Members

The University's concern for standards and professionalism involves also adjunct faculty members.

Their performance will be reviewed at the end of the academic year by a subcommittee of the Personnel Panel composed of the three division chairpersons. The basis of their reviews will be (a) student evaluation, (b) written reports of the department chairperson concerned, and (c) self-evaluation statements by the adjuncts.

The purpose of the review is to recommend to the Vice President for Academic Affairs the continuation or discontinuation of the adjunct contract. The Panel's recommendation is advisory in nature.

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