Faculty Affairs Policy Committee (FAPC) Report

given at the Monday, September 24, 2007 University Senate Meeting

by Todd Shiver

Faculty Evaluation Discussion

Review FAPC Discussion on changing the current procedure which is:

Individual Faculty Report (IFR) is due to chair by May 1

Department chair completes the evaluation of faculty performance and “will discuss with faculty member the contents of his/her IFR and DCEFP in an annually scheduled conference to be completed no later than October 1 of the calendar year in which the academic year under review ends.”

Problem: The faculty evaluation is reviewed long after merit increases have been determined and contracts have been circulated (usually during late May or early June).  Not giving the faculty member a chance to respond to this evaluation until after the fact.

Handout: The current FAPC recommendation.  The charge of the Committee is to take this recommendation to our colleagues for feedback.  This report to the University Senate (US) is part of this process.

Solution: The FAPC has developed a recommendation for a procedural change with IFR’s due by March 15.  The process of sharing evaluations with faculty should be completed by April 15 in order to allow for resolution of disputed areas. Department Chairs evaluation process is to be completed no later than May 1.This new procedure allows the faculty evaluation process to be completed before the merit pay raise decision process.

IFR’s will detail activities from March 16 to March 15 of the next year, individual faculty and her/his department chair could decide whether to put anything after March 15 on the present IFR.  The rule of thumb is that one only can count each item once, either counted for this year or for next year.  This is what my department has been doing, and nobody has any problem with it.

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Diane Kirkwood asked for a volunteer to be involved with selection of an EAP vendor. Diane explained this is an additional, no cost employee benefit to help with employee work life issues. Mike Rose volunteered to assist. Mike Whitfield also offered to assist as a backup if needed.

Retirement Credit for Faculty on Leave

Andrei Barkovskii asked for clarification related to retirement credit for faculty on unpaid leave.  Diane Kirkwood is currently reviewing system practices and has requested additional information from two university system schools.  Possible options were discussed. This information will be shared with committee members at the next meeting.  Andrei mentioned the possibility of doubling up deductions and employee contributions in the semester following the leave as a possible option.  Diane will look into this as well and provided feedback.

An offshoot of this discussion focused on the possibility of having Optional Retirement Plan (ORP) participants receive sick leave service credit time similar to Teachers Retirement System (TRS) participants. The committee agreed to discuss this at a later meeting date/time.

Scope

The committee discussed the scope of committee responsibilities.  Discussion focused on the possibility of reviewing the current pre and post tenure review process (separately) and possibly making this evaluation more formative rather than summative.

We also discussed that our minutes would be posted, including proposals, to the FAPC section of the University Senate tab in myCATS so all faculty can review and provide feedback.  Senators are encouraged to use the link to myCATS when communicating with the faculty in their area.