AA/PPS 04.02.11 - Performance Evaluation of Non-Continuing Non-Tenure Line Faculty

POLICY STATEMENTS

1. All non-continuing non-tenure line faculty will be evaluated at least once annually by their academic programs, departments, or schools. The evaluation, which covers the period of appointment, must be completed by June 1 or before a re-appointment decision is made, whichever is earlier. Non-continuing faculty are typically lecturers, visiting faculty, and program faculty hired for one semester or academic year (i.e., not eligible for a term appointment).

2. The purposes of faculty evaluation are to provide guidance for meaningful faculty development; to identify, reinforce, and share the strengths of faculty; and to identify opportunities for strengthening the role and contributions of faculty members. The evaluation also provides information to be used in decisions regarding the retention or re-appointment of faculty.

3. The annual evaluation of faculty is the responsibility of shared governance; a duty of department chairs, school directors, departmental personnel committees, and college deans.

4. Texas State University will not discriminate against any person in employment or exclude any person from participating in or receiving the benefits of any of its activities or programs on any basis prohibited by law, including race, color, age, national origin, religion, sex, disability, veterans’ status, or on the basis of sexual orientation or sexual identity. Equal employment opportunities shall include: personnel transactions of recruitment, employment, training, upgrading, promotion, demotion, termination, and salary.

DEFINITIONS

1. For the purposes of this document, the following definitions apply:

   1. Voting personnel committee members are tenured faculty members who:

      1. hold academic rank in a department at a rate of 50 percent or more and who do not hold an administrative appointment outside of their college;

      2. have at least one year of service at Texas State since the official start date of the faculty appointment; and

      3. have taught eight sections of courses at the college or university level. Tenured faculty who meet only the first provision will serve as non-voting members of the personnel committee until they have met all three requirements.

   2. Schools have all the rights and obligations noted for departments, and school directors have all the rights and obligations noted for department chairs.

   3. Non-continuing faculty are non-tenure line faculty appointed on a per-course or FTE basis for only one semester or one academic year, are not tenured, and are not in a tenure-track or term appointment.

DEPARTMENTAL POLICY

1. Each department or school will have a policy in place regarding the performance expectations and evaluation of faculty, including non-continuing faculty. The policy will include a definition of criteria and appropriate instruments, and it will specify the relative importance assigned to the various criteria for each major decision affecting faculty. If the academic program requires faculty to have a current job-related state, federal, or university license, certification, or other credentials (LCC), this requirement must be stated in the performance policy.

2. This policy will specify the sources upon which the chair or director and departmental personnel committee will base their judgments. Those sources may include a combination of evaluations suitable to the department or school, such as a self-evaluation by the faculty member; evaluations by administrators, peers, and students; or evaluations from those outside the department or school and from other sources. Each policy will provide for an anonymous student evaluation of the teaching of all non-continuing faculty at least once each semester. Each policy will provide an explicit description of the level of performance necessary to meet departmental expectations, including annual verification of current LCCs, if applicable to the program. In addition, each policy will provide the opportunity for faculty members to review and add written comments to their own evaluations before they are placed officially in departmental personnel files or sent forward for other actions. The only exception is for faculty members in their first year who are not reappointed.

3. A departmental committee that includes representatives from the non-tenured and tenured faculty will develop the annual evaluation policy, which then must be approved by the departmental personnel committee, the chair or director, the college dean, and the provost and vice president for Academic Affairs (VPAA). The department chair is responsible for providing all faculty with a copy of the policy and ensuring that it is fully implemented.

4. The policy must be reviewed, revised if necessary, and reapproved every five years. A Compliance Certification form must be completed and routed to the Office of the Provost and VPAA.

PROCEDURES FOR RETENTION AND RE-APPOINTMENT

1. The departmental evaluation of non-continuing faculty is the direct source of decisions regarding their retention and re-appointment. In evaluating performance, the departmental personnel committee, chair, and college dean will consider the faculty member’s contributions in the context of departmental, college, and institutional needs and goals and the faculty member’s assigned workload duties, past performance, and career path.

2. Faculty who meet or exceed departmental performance expectations, as determined by the evaluation process, will be eligible for retention or reappointment.

FAILURE OF NON-CONTINUING FACULTY TO MEET EXPECTATIONS

1. Failure to meet departmental performance expectations will cause the department or school to consider whether reappointment is warranted. If the department determines that a non-continuing faculty member is not to be retained or reappointed, it will give appropriate notice to the faculty member. If the faculty member is to be retained, the chair will provide the faculty member with specific written suggestions for improvement.

REVIEWER OF THIS PPS

1. Reviewer of this PPS includes the following:

   Position	Date
   Associate Provost	September 1 E5Y

CERTIFICATION STATEMENT

This PPS has been approved by the following individuals in their official capacities and represents Texas State Academic Affairs policy and procedure from the date of this document until superseded. Associate Provost; senior reviewer of this PPS Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs