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Department of Communication and Philosophy

Department Peer Evaluation Committee

Amended November 5, 2014

These procedures are intended to standardize across department committees the process outlined in Article VIII, “Evaluation Procedures,” and Article IX, “Rank Qualifications and Criteria,” of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

  1. The DPEC committees that are necessary in a given academic year will be constituted by the department chair or his/her designee in August. Each committee will have three members, with at least two being full-time, tenure-track faculty from the academic discipline of the evaluee. The evaluee has the option to remove one individual from service on the committee if he/she so chooses. A chair of the DPEC will be identified by the department chair or his/her designee. The DPEC chair will convene meetings and complete a draft of the written evaluation letter.
  2. For the faculty member in his/her first year of employment, a DPEC will be constituted by the department chair or his/her designee in August. The department chair or designee will provide a letter that reviews the faculty member’s performance during the first semester.The chair or designee will meet with the faculty member to discuss the letter.A complete DPEC evaluation will be completed in the second semester of employment.
  3. For untenured faculty, the DPEC will submit a written performance evaluation to the Dean in his/her first and third years of appointment.
  4. Tenured Assistant and Associate Professors who may to apply for promotion to the next highest rank shall be evaluated every two (2) years. All other tenured faculty shall be evaluated once every five (5) years.A rotating schedule for this process will be established by each department in consultation with its Dean. However, tenured faculty applying for promotion must have requested to be evaluated within the last two (2) years prior to application. A faculty member who is reviewed for promotion to Associate Professor will not be reviewed for performance at the end of the spring semester of that year.
  5. Deadlines for Faculty Members Being Evaluated: In cases of promotion/tenure and post-tenure 5-year review, all materials necessary for evaluation must be submitted by the evaluee to the DPEC committee in accordance with timelines established by the Provost. Biennial and post-tenure 5-year review materials must be submitted by the evaluee to the DPEC committee by the last Friday in October. Annual materials must be submitted by the evaluee to the DPEC committee by the end of the week following commencement.
  6. Deadlines for DPEC Committees: In cases of promotion/tenure and post-tenure 5-year review, all materials necessary for evaluation must be submitted by the DPEC committee in accordance with timelines established by the Provost. Biennial and post-tenure 5-year review materials must be submitted by the DPEC committee by the last day of classes in the fall semester. Annual materials must be submitted by the DPEC committee by June 1. The department chair will check in periodically with DPEC chairs to make sure the process is moving along in a timely manner.
  7. Faculty seeking promotion to the rank of Associate Professor or Professor should reference Article IX, “Rank Qualifications and Criteria,” within the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the USNH Board of Trustees and KSCEA. Article IX discusses the progress faculty are expected to make in order to attain promotion and tenure. Faculty can also find more information related to promotion and tenure under “All Public Folders → Academic Affairs → Promotion and Tenure Documents” which can be accessed via Microsoft Outlook at KSC.
  8. For the move from Associate Professor to Professor our department interprets “a consistent record of development in teaching service, and scholarship” as well as “a record of continuing development in his/her professional identity since the last promotion” to include but not be limited to the following: leadership positions on campus such as chairing departments, directing programs, creating or leading new initiatives; holding leadership positions within national or regional organizations within the discipline or engaging in scholarship as defined by those activities listed on pages 4 and 5 of this document; utilizing high impact pedagogical practices, or mentoring students.
  9. In regard to teaching, student evaluations are but one measure of faculty performance. Along with student evaluations, peer evaluations of teaching effectiveness will include class visits of the faculty member being evaluated. Two of three members of the DPEC will conduct class visits and complete written evaluations.
  10. In visits to classrooms, DPEC members will provide reasonable advance notice of their intent to visit a particular class.
  11. DPEC members should visit a variety of courses at different levels.
  12. Once notified by the DPEC member of the intent to visit a specific class, the instructor should provide the DPEC member with a copy of the current syllabus for the course.
  13. In preparing written classroom observations, the observer should consider the following guidelines as well as the Teaching Observation Report document.
  14. Include some discussion of the syllabus and overall course structure.
  15. Substance of the class may be discussed in a broad way, relating it to the overall aims or topic of the course. The observer should avoid unnecessarily specific details.
  16. The observer should avoid offering overly prescriptive solutions but should address the apparent effectiveness of the teaching method being used.
  17. An opportunity for discussing class observations should be provided the instructor by each DPEC member within ten (10) business days of the observation and prior to submission of any written evaluation to the DPEC. In such a discussion, the DPEC member should offer a thorough assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the instructor’s teaching with the objective of improving his or her teaching.
  18. In all evaluations of faculty, student evaluations should be carefully considered. In the instance of annual evaluations, the instructor shall gather the student evaluations for the spring semester from the Dean’s office, review them, and give them to the DPEC within 2 days of submitting final grades.
  19. With regard to the scholarship of Communication and Philosophy faculty, the Committee should be guided by the document titled “Definitions of Professional Development/Scholarship for Communication and Philosophy Faculty” on pages 4 & 5 of this document.
  20. The DPEC shall draft the written assessment, including discussions of previous DPEC and Dean evaluations (beginning with First-Year Review) listing Strengths, Concerns and/or Areas for Improvement as well as

Teaching, Scholarship and Service. The letter should fully and clearly spell out the judgment of the Committee (this applies to tenure and/or promotion cases, annual or biennial evaluations, and five-year post-tenure review). The subject of the evaluation may request to meet with the DPEC before the final version of the letter is produced. Once written, the letter must be signed by all members, or, in the case of disagreement, the letter may be modified until all members can sign in good conscience. However, if any member cannot sign in good conscience, then she/he may submit a minority report. The DPEC letter should contain a record of the DPEC vote for tenure or promotion.

  1. Once the official DPEC letter is signed, the faculty member being evaluated shall immediately be provided with a copy (as well as a copy of any additional letter from a dissenting DPEC member). The faculty member will sign the final evaluation document indicating that he/she is aware of the content. The chair of the DPEC will then forward the DPEC letter and supporting materials provided by the evaluee to the office of the Provost for FEAC and Dean’s review (in the instance of cases of promotion and/or tenure) or to the office of the Dean of Arts and Humanities (in cases of annual, biennial, or post-tenure 5-year evaluation). The evaluee has the right to respond in writing to the evaluation by his/her peers.
  2. In the first year of a tenure-track appointment, the Department of Communication and Philosophy does not expect faculty who have no prior service credit to undertake significant service to the college in a non-disciplinary committee, or significant service to the community in a professional capacity beyond the usual departmental obligations and first-year faculty orientation. In the second year, the faculty member is encouraged to focus college service on one non-disciplinary committee.

Definitions of Professional Development/Scholarship

for Communication and Philosophy Faculty

*This list is not intended to be an exclusive definition of scholarship but is meant to provide faculty with some guidelines as to which activities could be included in a DPEC file for evaluation.

Scholarly Publication

  • Article in a peer-reviewed journal
  • Chapter in an edited volume
  • Editor of a full-length work
  • Editor of a journal
  • Editor of a special issue of a journal
  • Full-length monograph
  • Textbook
  • Supplemental publication to a textbook, including workbooks and instructors’ manuals
  • Forthcoming publication

Professional Publication

  • Book
  • Critical essay
  • Encyclopedia or reference book entry in a scholarly reference

Scholarly Contribution

  • Service as a member of an editorial board for a refereed journal
  • Reviewer of scholarly books
  • Reviewer of paper and panel proposals for regional and national conferences
  • Reviewer of scholarly articles for a referred journal

Honors/Awards

  • Recipient of fellowship award
  • Recipient of grant award
  • Recipient of teaching award
  • Recipient of research award
  • Recipient of service award
  • Acceptance to institute with competitive application

Leadership in Professional Associations

  • Organizer of conference program
  • Service as member of the executive board
  • Service on committees that report to the executive board

Paper Presentation

  • Conference paper delivered at regional or national professional association annual meeting

Conference Participation

  • Organizer and/or participant in short course
  • Organizer and/or participant in seminar series
  • Participant in roundtable
  • Respondent for a panel
  • Chair of a panel

Professional Development

  • Continued participation in discipline-related activities, such as conference attendance, enrollment in a workshop, or non-competitive institute
  • Submission of a grant application

Talks

  • Speaker at a college-sponsored lecture series
  • Guest lecturer for course taught by a colleague
  • Guest lecturer for class or organization at another post-secondary institution
  • Guest speaker for local, regional, statewide, or national organization

Public Intellectual Activities

  • Professional consultation with a company or group/organization in the faculty member’s area of expertise
  • Interview or citation in a mass medium where the faculty member is presented as an expert about communication, philosophy, or pedagogy
  • Writing an op-ed or article published in mass media where a faculty member shares their academic expertise