MINUTES OF THE FACULTY HANDBOOK REVISION COMMITTEE
THURSDAY, JANUARY
24, 2008
Mason Hall, room
D1; 1:00 - 2:30 p.m.
Present: Kevin Avruch, Associate Director and Professor of Conflict Resolution, Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution; Rick Coffinberger, Associate Professor of Business and Legal Studies, School of Management, Chair, Dave Harr, Senior Associate Dean, School of Management; Suzanne Slayden, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Science.
Absent: Lorraine Brown, Professor of English, College of Humanities and Social Sciences; Martin Ford, Senior Associate Dean, College of Education and Human Development.
The minutes of our
December 10, 2007 meeting were approved as amended below (in red text):
The
university and each college, school and institute is required to have a standing
committee charged to investigate hear grievances in a timely manner concerning
(i) alleged violations of academic freedom; (ii) other conditions of
employment, such as work assignments, salaries, facilities, and support
services (exceptions are those types of cases treated in Sections
2.10.2.2 and 2.10.2.3);
and (iii) charges of unprofessional or unethical conduct brought by one faculty
member against another. Each college, school and institute will establish,
publish, and disseminate these
their grievance procedures. In all types of cases, procedures will
reflect the fundamental principle of due process that prohibits people from
sitting in judgment of their own actions, if those actions are challenged,
i.e., grieved or appealed. These committees are particularly charged to be
alert to instances of inequitable treatment and retaliation against
colleagues who have filed grievances.
In cases alleging discrimination in violation of federal or state law or
University regulations, the committee must consult the University Equity Office
early in the process. The University Grievance Committee hears all
grievances against administrators at or above the level
of Deans and Directors. See Section 2.12.2.2 (4-6).
In
addition to hearing specific cases, the committees may initiate, as they deem
necessary, discussions with appropriate administrators about any matters that
fall within the committees' purview. In the course of such discussions,
however, they may not commit the faculties of their units to changes in
grievance policy unless specifically authorized to do so.
At
their discretion, academic departments may also establish grievance committees.
Their procedures should be similar to those of the collegiate committees.
The
section on ‘Policies Concerning Grievances’ does not apply to the resolution of
research and scholarship misconduct allegations, which is governed by
University Policy 4007 –Misconduct in Research and Scholarship. See Interpretation of December 3, 2007.
Discussion: Multi-year Term Faculty draft
document under consideration by SOM:
·
Term Faculty already
brought into FH Committee discussions.
·
Range of options for
term faculty members; to try to capture best practices whether term faculty
member had to go up for promotion; e.g. instructors may be renewed for one-year
contracts only.
·
To have three year or
five year contracts? Enabling vs.
prescriptive, who gets three years? five years?
·
If promotion denied to
term faculty member (example from another school), can you continue to be on
multi-year contract if not promoted?
·
2003 Addendum to the
Faculty Handbook (July 1, 2003) Procedures
for Appointment and Reappointment of Term Faculty “green fields” approach – (may) renew from year to
year for five years – now five year period ending – need procedures in
place. AY 2007-08 to be a transitional
year, to continue for one more time to provide everybody seeking renewal for
one more year if department wants them to continue. Practices may vary from
college to college; driving decisions back to units because there are
differences among units; as supported in FHC revisions.
Discussion:
Enforcement of Provisions of New Policies Passed by the Faculty Senate
to be included in revised Faculty Handbook:
Awarding
of Tenure at the time of Hiring in Competitive Searches – just passed by
the Faculty Senate yesterday (January 23, 2008) in italics below:
Last
year the Senate passed a motion requiring a “second level review” of direct
hire candidates. Here we propose a second level review be required in all
cases, including national competitive searches, where tenure is proposed to be
granted at the time of hire.
Motion
In
keeping with Section 1.3 of the Faculty Handbook that states, “In accordance
with the best traditions of American universities, the faculty plays a primary
role in…faculty personnel actions,” this policy applies to searches, (including
competitive national searches), in which there is a proposal to award tenure at
the time of hire.
Procedures.
Faculty in the Local Academic Unit (LAU) will review the credentials of any
individual who is a candidate for hire. These include, at a minimum, the opportunity
to examine a curriculum vitae, meet with the candidate, attend a job seminar or
formal presentation by the candidate, and review letters of reference. The LAU
faculty then vote to accept or reject the candidate and, in a separate vote,
determine whether to hire the candidate with tenure. The hiring process moves
forward only when a majority of the LAU faculty who are eligible to vote accept
the candidate.
If
the candidate is nominated for tenure upon hiring, s/he must also be reviewed
by the college- or school-level promotion and tenure committee. As stated
above, the LAU review requires a majority positive vote by eligible faculty for
tenure consideration. If the LAU faculty vote is positive and the chair
recommends tenure of the candidate, the dossier is then sent to the college or
school promotion and tenure committee. As with all tenure reviews, independent
external letters from recognized experts in the candidate’s field must be
obtained in a manner consistent with other tenure reviews, and candidates are
held to the same standards as other candidates in that LAU. Since such hires
may be made outside the normal annual promotion and tenure cycle, college and
school promotion and tenure committees must develop procedures for reviewing
candidates out of cycle.
Test case for hiring of
administrative faculty member with tenure: verbal request made from Vice
Provost to department chair, requesting a decision in two days; no one has
mentioned college yet. Department has
not seen candidate yet; has returned to another state. Looks strong, but with no mention of being
tenured by the college; is an associate professor right now in a department
different from the one in which tenure has been requested. No indication that
Promotion and Tenure Committee has been alerted. What is the rush? Issue
that instructional line not competitive re direct hire of administrative
faculty.
New policies need to be posted on Provost Office website so readily available to (prospective hires). Not to create more forms, but to highlight new procedures on Provost website in a clean, reasonable way. New material in the Handbook (should) be referenced on Provost website as due diligence.
Discussion: 2.2.7 Emeritus Status – 2006 Revised Text
Upon retirement from
George Mason University, full-time
Associate Professors and Professors with ten or more years of continuous
academic service may be recommended
to the Board of Visitors for
election to the honorary rank of Emeritus/Emerita in recognition of
outstanding dedication to the university. A letter reviewing the candidate's
history of teaching, scholarship and service at GMU is normally initiated by the individual's LAU.
The letter is forwarded to the
LAU Dean, the Provost and the President
for accompanying recommendations.
As compared to 1994 Handbook Text:
Upon retirement from George Mason University, tenured associate
professors and professors with ten or more years of service may be recommended
for the rank of Emeritus. Recommendations
for this honor are normally initiated by the individual's peer faculty and forwarded
to the Board of
Visitors like other faculty personnel matters, i.e., with accompanying
recommendations from the local unit administrator, the dean, the
Provost and the President.
Discussion: Request made by Provost regarding granting of
exception granting emeritus status to research faculty member recently retired.
Request for emeritus status should be initiated at the department level, then
to the dean. Recent exception granted to departing Professor Vernon Smith,
Nobel Laureate, request for emeritus status originated in his
department/college and motion requesting exception made to Faculty Senate
because he is over 80 years old, but did not have ten years’ service at
GMU. The Faculty Senate approved the exception.
In above revisions,
“tenured” was removed, perhaps to address issue implicitly. Dave Harr will write to the Provost about
revisions proposed for new Handbook.
REPORT
AND DISCUSSION OF JANUARY 3, 2008 MEETING between the Provost, Martin Ford, and
Dave Harr:
Effective teaching is demonstrated by the clarity,
appropriateness, and efficacy of course materials, methods, and presentations, and
successful learning outcomes. Contributions to teaching include the
development and implementation of new courses and programs; the development of
instructional materials, including applications of new technologies; the
training and supervision of teaching assistants; mentoring graduate students;
clinical and field supervision of students; and student advising
·
It was not the Provost’s intention to require
documentation of learning outcomes in every case, but that it was important
enough to include in various sources of evidence needed.
·
For similar revision to Section 2.5.1 below, to add
“learning outcomes,” that success is too high a burden, as outcomes may not be
successful.
Discussion: 2.5.1
Teaching (Section 2.5. Procedures for Evaluation of Faculty)
Local academic units evaluate regularly the teaching
effectiveness of their faculties. In doing so, they are expected to incorporate
data from both peers and students. Whatever additional methods may be used to
gather information from students, the process should provide for their anonymous
participation in course evaluations and should allow for comparisons among
faculty teaching similar courses. Peer evaluation is expected to include, at a
minimum, data on the development and implementation of new courses and
programs, the appropriateness of course materials currently used, and the level and
quality of student advising, and learning outcomes. Additional forms of peer evaluation are
expected. These may include, but are not limited to, peer observation of
classroom teaching, evaluations by mentors, assessments of teaching performance
by colleagues, and teaching portfolios.
The evaluation process requires both quantitative and
qualitative data. The methods by which such data are gathered and incorporated
into the final evaluation should be well-defined and made available to those
who are being evaluated, as well as to those who are using the evaluations in
personnel decisions. Specific guidelines for the procedures to be used in the
evaluation of teaching effectiveness will be those determined by the office of
the Provost in consultation with the University Faculty Standing Committee on
Effective Teaching.
Discussion: 2.8.4 Procedures for Promotion and Tenure – 3 of 3 Section F:
F. All relevant materials are reviewed by the Provost. Before making a recommendation to the President on controversial or otherwise problematic cases, the Provost will consult with other academic administrators who have direct knowledge of one or more aspects of the candidate's professional performance. Notification of the Provost's recommendation is sent to the faculty who participated in deliberations at the local level and a copy of the accompanying justification is sent to the candidate and the local unit administrator (the latter copy to be retained in the candidate's permanent file).
·
Revisions reflect
actual process in which the Provost only looks at ALL materials if the case is
controversial or otherwise problematic, i.e., he looks at all relevant
materials in the sense of relevance to making his decision. The Provost also does not tend to consult
with other academic administrators for clear-cut cases, i.e. when the internal
and external faculty evaluations and Department Chair and Dean all agree, there
is no need for consultation in most cases.
Such consultation does occur in controversial or otherwise problematic
cases, but not in all cases.
Discussion: 2.8.4.1 Eligibility
for Reconsideration:
The reconsideration process for candidates not
recommended for tenure in their sixth year of probationary appointment at
George Mason University allows for consideration of new evidence not available
to those who made the original negative recommendation. Candidates who have no
new evidence to present, but who disagree with the evaluation of their record
made during the tenure and promotion review process, may not seek
reconsideration but are entitled to a re-examination of their case through the
appeal procedure (see Section
2.9). Reconsideration, if requested, must precede appeal and must be
completed before a candidate can file an appeal.
New evidence for a reconsideration
must fall into one or more of the following categories:
The Provost wants to add language in 2.8.4.1 noting reconsideration due to new evidence should be rare. Reconsideration was intended to be something that occurred only when something very special happened in the months during the P&T process. The deadlines involved in the process run from mid-January through final BOV approval in May. Unknown how many requests for reconsideration are made. Is reconsideration now not rare? Are conditions specified in the FH not strict enough? As there are such clearly explicit conditions, does that not render reconsideration rare? To discuss further with the Provost.
Respectfully submitted,
Meg Caniano
Clerk, Faculty Senate