II-1.20(A) UMCP Policy on Periodic Evaluation of Faculty Performance
(Approved by President William E. Kirwan,
September 13, 1995, revised June 16,1998)
I. POLICY
With the intent of facilitating continued professional
development of the faculty, faculty members shall undergo formal
periodic review of their professional activities. For the
purposes of this Policy, the term "faculty" shall be defined as
tenured faculty, and instructors and lecturers with job security.
The primary purpose of this periodic faculty review is to:
- recognize long-term meritorious performance;
- improve quality of faculty efforts in teaching,
scholarship, and service;
- increase opportunities for professional development;
and
- uncover impediments to faculty productivity.
Each academic unit shall develop a plan for periodic review
of faculty as part of its Plan of Organization. This review
process should be consistent with traditional principles of peer
review, and should provide for the comprehensive review of each
faculty member no less frequently than every 5 years. Two
consecutive periodic reviews that indicate that a faculty member
is materially deficient in meeting expectations shall occasion an
immediate comprehensive review. Separate reviews mandated for
consideration for promotion in rank or for review of faculty
administrators may substitute for this faculty review. In those
cases, those review policies shall take precedence. Review
processes mandated for the distribution of merit pay and/or for
contract renewal may be used as part of the comprehensive review
of the faculty member. The breadth and depth of the review
process should be appropriate to the frequency of the review.
The principal instrument of the periodic review of faculty
shall be a written report generated by the faculty member under
review that addresses for the period of review:
- teaching, advising, and other educational activities;
- research, scholarly or creative activities; and
- documented service activities to the University, state,
nation, professional community, or other organization.
The report may include an annotated synopsis of peer or
public reveiw processes which the faculty member has undergone
since the previous periodic review.
This written report shall be appraised by a review
committee, as specified in the unit Plan of Organization, and a
written appraisal prepared. Faculty under review shall have the
opportunity to review the peer appraisal of their activities
generated by this process and shall have the right to attach a
response prior to submission to the unit administrator. Faculty
choosing to exercise this option shall either submit the response
to the review committee within 14 calendar days of receipt of the
appraisal, or establish an agreeable alternate deadline with the
review committee for submitting the response.
The review portfolio - consisting, at the minimum, of the
faculty member's written report, the review committee's
appraisal, and the faculty member's response, if that option has
been exercised - shall be submitted to the unit administrator in
a timely manner, as specified in the unit Plan of Organization or
unit Bylaws.
The results of a periodic review should have major influence
on a faculty member's future, and on the rewards to the faculty
member. The results of a review should generate a discussion
between a faculty member and the unit administrator. This
discussion should concentrate on the future professional
development of the faculty member. The faculty member and the
unit administrator shall prepare a firm written development plan,
with timetable, for enhancing meritorious work and improving less
satisfactory performance.
ENDNOTES:
- Academic Units include departments within a college,
non-departmentalized colleges where the dean is looked upon
as the unit head.