Post-tenure Review Criteria and Procedures, Department of American Studies

General Principles

In accordance with Board of Regents requirements (II.C.8) , Article 7 Section 4 of the Faculty Senate Rules and Regulations, and the University Policy on Post-tenure Review, the Department of American Studies, hereafter referred to as the Department, has adopted these expectations and procedures for conducting post-tenure review. Post-tenure review is a process for periodic peer evaluation of faculty performance that provides an opportunity for a long-term assessment of a faculty member’s accomplishments and future directions in the areas of teaching/advising, scholarship, and service.

Post-tenure review must be conducted in a manner that respects the rights of faculty members involved, including academic freedom, tenure, and due process. In addition, all those involved in the evaluation process must recognize that it is a confidential personnel matter and take appropriate steps to protect confidentiality.

Period for Review

Faculty members will be reviewed once every seven years following the receipt of tenure with the review occurring in the unit(s) that conducts their annual evaluation. Post-tenure review covers the seven-year period leading up to the review, including the six prior annual evaluation letters and activities since the last annual evaluation. The cycle is restarted if a faculty member is evaluated for promotion or is awarded a distinguished professorship.  The time period when a faculty member is on medical or familial leave or that would otherwise be excluded when computing time in rank does not count toward this period. In addition, time serving as department chair, program director, dean or associate dean, or other administrative position subject to administrative review is excluded. The review may be postponed if it falls in a year when the faculty member is on leave. Faculty members on phased retirement or whose retirement date has been approved by the university will be exempt from review under this policy. The dean of the College will notify faculty members scheduled for post-tenure review no later than March 15^th in the spring semester preceding the academic year of review. 

Unit Expectations

All tenured faculty members must meet academic responsibilities in the areas of teaching/advising, scholarship, and service. Unless otherwise specified by the job description or differential allocation of effort, the ordinary allocation of effort is 40% teaching/advising, 40% scholarship, and 20% service.

The Department has defined its standards and expectations for teaching/advising, scholarship, and service in its annual evaluation procedures. The expectations for post-tenure review are consistent with these standards, with overall productivity commensurate to the seven-year period under review. The following specific criteria shall apply for purposes of post-tenure review.

Criteria for Meeting Expectations

Teaching/Advising

• Evidence that an AMS faculty member is carrying his/her load-appropriate share of the Department’s curriculum, advising, and mentoring of students. This includes offering a balanced slate of courses including core requirements and unique contributions, at various levels of the Department and with large and small enrollments as appropriate to Department needs.
• The faculty member supports his/her assigned advisees, supervises independent undergraduate projects and serves on graduate committees as requested.
• Evidence of active and on-going development of teaching techniques and materials. This includes peer reviews of teaching, measures taken to respond to feedback from reviews, and development and revision of course materials.
• Numerical scores for student evaluation of teaching are consistently at or above 3.0 on a 5 point scale (or the comparable point on such rating schema as may be determined in the future).

Research and Creative Activity

Faculty members are expected to engage in scholarly research and/or creative activity and contribute to the intellectual discourse in American Studies and affiliated disciplines. As an interdisciplinary Department that draws faculty members from multiple disciplines, as well as those with interdisciplinary background, both the qualitative and quantitative expectations of research are highly contingent on the faculty member’s interdisciplinary, cross-disciplinary, and disciplinary standards. Whereas one field may encourage the publication of books, another may emphasize publication in journal article form, while still another may utilize evaluation of such creative pursuits as theater production and direction. As a multi-disciplinary and interdisciplinary Department the need for an inclusive evaluation system for scholarship as well as the need for the evaluator to be sensitive to the variability of research production across fields is recognized.

Subject to the foregoing, Meeting Expectations for Research and Creative Activity requires, on average, one or more of the following activities per calendar year:

• Publication of a peer-reviewed book, article, or book chapter.
• Evidence of scholarly impact (e.g. citations of one’s work).
• Reprints of one’s work.
• Receipt of competitive awards and/or fellowships.
• Invited presentations (e.g. national or international events, lectures at other universities).
• Acceptance of journal articles or book chapters or creative work.
• Presentation of papers at conferences.
• Edition of scholarly journals, special issues of journals or books.
• Application for internal and external funding.
• Submission of a book prospectus and sample chapters to presses.
• Publication of book reviews or encyclopedia entries.
• Demonstrable progress on a long-term project.
• Publication of a trade book or substantive article in a magazine, newspaper, or website with national recognition.
• Production of creative works such as films, live performances, and museum exhibitions.
• Other significant contributions to one’s academic discipline.

Service

• Consistent Attendance at Voting Department Meetings
• Regular participation in one or more of the Department’s standing committees.
• Taking leadership roles in departmental service obligations as dictated by department needs.
• Regular participation in service to the College, the University, and/or the profession.
• Periodic service to the community (examples include campus talks open to the public, serving as faculty adviser to KU student organizations, and participation in talks, workshops, etc. at community venues such as the public library).

Relation to the Annual Evaluation

The post-tenure review will be conducted separately from the annual evaluation, but the post-tenure review file is incorporated into the documentation for the annual evaluation.

The committee report will be considered as part of the annual evaluation process and the Chair will discuss the review with the faculty member in conjunction with that process. This discussion should concentrate on the future professional development of the faculty member with an aim toward enhancing meritorious work and improving less satisfactory performance, including adoption of a performance improvement plan, if necessary. Any action on the review that is within the scope of the Faculty Evaluation Policy must be taken under that policy.

Joint Appointments

The faculty member will provide both units with copies of the Faculty Member’s Statement section of the Post-Tenure Review File (reflecting the representative effort in each unit) and a current curriculum vitae. The review goes forward with each unit preparing a separate committee evaluation summary and considerations by each chair and/or director to the dean. Each unit will submit their review materials directly to the College Dean’s Office. In the case of a jointly appointed faculty and unclassified academic staff member outside of the College, the primary unit is responsible for the administrative protocols of engaging the secondary unit in the solicitation and collection of feedback relative to the evaluation of performance expectations in the secondary unit.

Review Committee

Post-tenure review is conducted by the Personnel Committee, which (as per Department bylaws) shall consist of all tenured faculty in the Department holding rank equal to or greater than the faculty member under review.

No person may serve on the committee if his or her spouse or partner is scheduled for review. If the chair/director is the spouse or partner of the faculty member under review, the “Chair or Director Evaluation Summary” shall be conducted by the Divisional Associate Dean. A committee member who believes that there may be a conflict of interest should withdraw from the committee. If a faculty member who is undergoing review believes that there is a conflict of interest, he or she may object to the inclusion of a member. If the member declines to withdraw, the remaining committee members shall consider the basis for the alleged conflict and decide the matter. If a committee member withdraws or is removed based on a conflict of interest, the Chair will name a replacement.

Preparation of the File

Review will be conducted on the basis of a file that summarizes a faculty member’s teaching/advising, scholarship, and service. In contrast to evaluation for promotion and tenure, copies of publications and original student evaluations are not required. Also, outside reviews of scholarship should not be submitted.

Using the Faculty Member Statement, the faculty member under review shall provide a brief narrative statement of his or her accomplishments in teaching/advising, scholarship, and service during the review period as they relate to his or her long-term career path and goals. In addition, the faculty member shall submit a current curriculum vitae and a list of additional activities not covered on the curriculum vitae. The Chair will furnish copies of the faculty member’s annual evaluation letters for the six years during the review period.

Evaluation and Report

The committee will review the file and evaluate the faculty member’s overall performance and his or her contributions in the areas of teaching, scholarship, and service. Applying the expectations defined above, the committee will determine whether the faculty member’s performance in each area, as well as whether his or her overall performance meets expectations, exceeds expectations, or fails to meet expectations. In making its evaluations, the committee must bear in mind that (1) faculty members have differing responsibilities and make different kinds of contributions to the mission of the Department, the College, and the University; (2) a faculty member’s activities vary over time according to his or her strengths, interests, and career path; and (3) innovative work may take time to reach fruition and may sometimes fail.

Using the Unit Committee Report, the committee will prepare a written report summarizing its evaluation. The report should provide a narrative description of the faculty member’s activities, an explanation of the committee’s ratings, and recommendations or suggestions for acknowledgement of contributions and future development of the faculty member. The committee will provide a copy of the report to the faculty member, who may submit a written response for inclusion in the post-tenure review file before it is forwarded to the Chair.

Consideration by the Chair

The committee’s report (along with any faculty response) will be provided to the Chair. Using the Chair/Director Evaluation Summary, If the Chair agrees with the report, he or she will indicate that agreement in writing to the faculty member and place a copy in the post-tenure review file. If the chair or director disagrees with the committee’s evaluation, he or she shall explain the reasons for any disagreement in writing, with a copy to the faculty member and the committee. The Chair may ask the committee to provide additional information or reconsider the review. If the Chair disagrees with a positive evaluation by the committee, the faculty member may submit a written response. The Chair will forward the file to the dean of the College. Post-tenure review files are due in the College Dean’s Office by no later than noon, on the second Friday of March.

Consideration by the Dean

The faculty member’s post-tenure review file, including the unit committee’s report (along with any faculty response) and the Chair’s agreement or disagreement, is forwarded to the dean. Post-tenure review files are due in the College Dean’s Office by no later than noon, on the second Friday in March. The dean will consider the report and using the Dean’s Evaluation Summary, express his or her agreement or disagreement in the same manner as the Chair. Following the completion of review by the dean, if the dean agrees with the report, he or she will indicate that agreement in writing to the faculty member and place a copy in the file. If dean disagrees with the committee’s evaluation, he or she shall explain the reasons for any disagreement in writing, with a copy to the faculty member and the unit committee. The dean may ask the committee to provide additional information or reconsider the review. If the dean disagrees with a positive evaluation by the unit committee, the faculty member may submit a written response.  The dean will forward a summary of post-tenure review outcomes and copies of the post-tenure review files to the Provost, to ultimately be placed in the faculty member’s personnel file.

Appeals

Following the completion of the review by the dean, if a disagreement between the committee and the Chair or dean cannot be resolved or if the faculty member wishes to appeal an evaluation of “fails to meet expectations” in the overall evaluation or any category of responsibility, the matter will be handled as an appeal under the Department of American Studies annual Faculty Evaluation Policy.

Report to the Provost

The dean will provide a summary of the results in the College and copies of the post-tenure review file to the Provost. The post-tenure review file will be placed in the faculty member’s personnel file.