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(II.) B. RESPONSIBILITY AND PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATION

Preamble:

Decisions on reappointment, promotion, and tenure should be based on appropriate evidence carefully gathered in a manner consistent with maintaining high morale and high standards. The following regulations concerning responsibility and procedures for evaluation involve on-going record keeping and appropriate consultations. Attention is called to the shared responsibility for assessments, to the various options by which first-hand knowledge of teaching may be gained, and to the development of some uniformity among departments. All specific procedures for evaluation should be governed by the over-all purpose of these regulations which is to provide a system for making informed, fair decisions that will also assist new colleagues to develop their abilities and will protect them from excessive scrutiny, abusive or arbitrary treatment, or disruption of their teaching.

1. General:
   1. The President, the Deans, and representatives of the appropriate faculty planning committees shall meet with each department and program which has had a decennial review, approximately five years after the decennial review, to review its structure, problems, and future directions, especially with respect to the overall institutional considerations of the College.

   2. A record shall be kept in both the President's Office, the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, and the departmental files of all professional activities of each member of the Faculty. That record, to be brought up-to-date each year by the individual on a form provided by the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, shall include (a) courses taught, other teaching activities, committee memberships or administrative and other duties in the department and the College; (b) publications, scholarly lectures and papers, work in progress, professional activities such as editorial work, participation in professional organizations, consulting, and any other activities that are part of the individual's scholarly and academic performance.

2. Teaching:
   1. Responsibility for reviewing the teaching of every non-tenured member of the department shall be shared jointly by such member and the Chair of the department or a senior Faculty member designated by the Chair. A mutually agreeable plan for this purpose should be set up [subject to the approval of a majority of the department]. If this plan includes class visits, an acceptable time-table for whatever class visits may be agreed upon and the individual conferences that follow them should be established. Limits should be placed on the number of class visits, the number of visitors per class, and the extent of participation by visitors. For large departments, the appointment of a class visitation committee is recommended. Whatever the method adopted, at least one such review shall take place during a candidate's third or fourth semester at the College.

   2. A non-tenured member of the Faculty may request the department's written assessment of his or her teaching at the time of reappointment.

   3. Those members of a department who are eligible to vote on the reappointment, promotion, or tenure of a member of the department are responsible for their role in the evaluation of the teaching of that member. Roles are defined in the procedures outlined here.

   4. During the three-semester period consisting of the semester of any recommendation for tenure and the two semesters preceding it, each member of a department eligible to vote is required to acquire first-hand knowledge of the teaching of each Faculty member under consideration. A variety of methods may provide such knowledge; the most common among these are class visits, attendance at lectures appropriate for a student audience, and team-teaching. (See also Policy, Section IV.B.2.b.).

   5. Each department shall establish the procedures that it considers effective in evaluating the teaching of its members consistent with the previous paragraphs. New members of the Faculty shall be informed of these procedures upon appointment. A statement of these procedures shall be filed with the Dean, who shall encourage a reasonable degree of uniformity among departments.

   6. In every case of promotion or tenure, the department and the Committee on Tenure and Promotion shall include in their considerations student opinions of a candidate's teaching as reflected in a College-wide formal course critique to be prepared each semester by a joint committee made up of students and Faculty. Uniformity of questions and types of replies and similarity of format from year to year are desirable goals for any critique that is to be useful to both the department and the Committee on Tenure and Promotion.

      Other methods of reaching evaluation may be used by departments, such as assessments by majors at the end of senior year, and these may be made available to the Committee on Tenure and Promotion.

      Should a majority of the members of the Committee on Tenure and Promotion conclude that the Committee is not in possession of adequate information about a candidate's teaching, the Committee shall consult the candidate and the candidate's department about the appropriate steps to be taken to collect the necessary information.

3. Scholarship:
   1. Responsibility for an annual review of the scholarship of every non-tenured member of the department shall be shared jointly by such member and the Chair of the department or a senior Faculty member designated by the Chair. When a non-tenured member of the Faculty is reappointed, he or she may request the department's written assessment of his or her scholarship, artistic achievement, or other professional activity.

   2. Those members of a department who are eligible to vote on the reappointment, promotion, or tenure of a member of the department are responsible for their role in the periodic evaluation of the scholarship of that member.

   3. All members of the department are responsible for keeping their records of scholarly or other professional activities up-to-date in accordance with the provisions of B.1.b. above.

4. Service to the College:
   1. Responsibility for an annual review of the service to the College of every non-tenured member of the department shall be shared jointly by such member and the Chair of the department or a senior Faculty member designated by the Chair. When a non-tenured member of the Faculty is reappointed, he or she may request the department's written assessment of her or his service to the College.

   2. Those members of a department who are eligible to vote on the reappointment, promotion, or tenure of a member of the department are responsible for their role in the periodic evaluation of the service to the College of that member.

   3. All members of the department are responsible for keeping their records of service to the College up-to-date in accordance with provisions of B.1.b. above.

5. Institutional Considerations:
   1. The Chair of the department, after consultation with the President, shall apprise each individual in writing at the time of appointment or reappointment of circumstances in the College or the department that could affect decisions with respect to reappointment, promotion, and tenure, including institutional considerations identified at the meetings specified in II.B.1.a. The Chair's letter to the individual shall have the express consent of the majority of those members of the department eligible to vote on the appointment or reappointment in question.

   2. From time to time each department shall make a careful and rigorous assessment of its structure and future needs, and this will be filed in the Office of the President. Those members eligible to vote on any appointment, reappointment, promotion or tenure recommendation shall take account of the most recent such assessment in recommendations to the President or the Committee on Tenure and Promotion, as may be applicable in each case.