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Periodic Evaluation of Temporary Faculty

Recommended By: Academic Senate
Approved: Ruben Armiñana, President
Date of Issue: June 15, 1999 (Revises 12/5/88 policy)
Effective Date: May 15, 2002
Current Issue Date: May 15, 2002
Contact Office: Academic Affairs

Policy #2002-4

The Memorandum of Understanding for the California Faculty Association, Unit 3-Faculty contains requirements for the evaluation of temporary faculty. This policy implements those requirements.

  1. Definitions and Requirements for Evaluators
    1. "Temporary faculty" includes faculty in Bargaining Unit 3 who are not in probationary appointments or tenured.
    2. "Annual appointments" shall be understood to mean the following: 1) for temporary instructional faculty or other faculty in academic year pay titles, an appointment for the academic year; 2) for other temporary faculty, an appointment which begins between June 1 and the beginning of Fall semester and ends after the end of the following Spring semester; or an equivalent period of time with different beginning and ending dates.
    3. The term "dean" in this policy shall be understood to include appropriate administrators responsible for the supervision of temporary faculty, whether or not they hold the title of dean, such as the Director of Intercollegiate Athletics.
    4. The term "Temporary Faculty Evaluation Committee" shall be understood to include a review committee of full-time tenured faculty (that may include faculty participating in the Faculty Early Retirement Program who will be present during the semester in which the evaluation is conducted), elected by the department for the evaluation of temporary faculty. If the department elects a committee to provide oversight of temporary faculty within the department, the department may determine that such committee will serve in this role if at least three of its members are full-time tenured faculty.
    5. Faculty conducting or deliberating on evaluation of temporary faculty must be full-time tenured faculty. It will be necessary, when a department chair or program coordinator is not tenured and the policy calls for evaluation to be conducted by the chair, for the department to designate a tenured faculty member to serve in the capacity of department chair for the purpose of evaluating temporary faculty. This requirement does not prohibit untenured faculty or tenured faculty who are part-time from conducting peer observations or providing peer input.
  2. Categories of Evaluations
    1. Temporary faculty with a full-time annual appointment in one department.Evaluations shall be conducted annually. Levels of review will include:
      1. Department Temporary Faculty Evaluation Committee
      2. Dean
    2. Temporary faculty with annual appointments that are less than full-time in one department.
      1. Evaluations shall be conducted annually in each appointing department.
        Levels of review will include:
        1. Department chair or program coordinator
        2. Dean, at the dean's discretion
          The department may, at its discretion, provide input to the chair or program coordinator for the evaluation. If a dean elects to evaluate any individual in this category in a given department, then the dean shall evaluate all persons in this category in that department.
    3. All temporary faculty on semester appointment or, for faculty not appointed by the semester, appointments of at least four months' duration.
      Evaluation of temporary faculty employed for a semester is at the discretion of the department chair, the department, or the school dean. A temporary faculty employee may request that an evaluation be performed. If a department chair, department, or dean determine that such faculty will be evaluated, an evaluation will be conducted for all faculty in appointments of the same duration. If evaluation is requested by the temporary faculty employee or deemed appropriate by the department, levels of review will include:
      1. Department chair or program coordinator
      2. Dean, at the dean's discretion.
        The department may, at its discretion, provide input to the chair or program coordinator for the evaluation.
    4. Coaching faculty (full and part-time)
      Frequency of and requirement for evaluations for coaching faculty shall parallel the provisions in A through C above. Evaluation will be conducted by the appropriate administrator , with opportunity provided for peer input. Section II(E) will not apply to coaching faculty.
    5. Departments lacking chairs and/or Temporary Faculty Evaluation Committees
      In departments lacking chairs and/or Temporary Faculty Evaluation Committees, the evaluation of part-time temporary faculty will be conducted by the dean or appropriate administrator, with opportunity provided for peer input. Evaluation of temporary faculty with full-time appointments in such departments will require the designation of a review committee of full-time tenured faculty, as described in Section I(E), familiar with the nature of the faculty member's work.
  3. Evaluation Materials To Be Included In The Personnel Action File (PAF) *1.
    1. The file will include summaries of student evaluations. For temporary faculty with annual appointments, evaluations from the previous one or two semesters shall be included. For faculty on one-semester or less-than-annual appointments who have taught at this university before, student evaluations from the last semester worked shall be included, if available. The faculty member and the department chair and dean may mutually agree to include student evaluations from semesters prior to the last semester worked, up to five years before the semester in which the evaluation is being conducted, if they have not been included in previous evaluations. If it is not departmental practice to require student evaluations for all courses taught by temporary faculty, the classes to be evaluated shall be jointly determined in consultation between the faculty member and the department chair or the program coordinator. The courses shall be representative of the faculty member's teaching responsibilities. Summaries of student evaluations will be made by the person or persons responsible for conducting the evaluations. These will be given to the faculty member for comment before being included in the evaluation portion of the PAF.
    2. The faculty member may request or the department chair or Temporary Faculty Evaluation Committee may decide that peer observations of work shall be conducted. If such observations are received by the evaluatee at least one week prior to the deadline for assembly of materials to be used for evaluation, they shall be included in the evaluation.
    3. Other materials may be included which, in the judgment of the faculty member, department chair, or Temporary Faculty Evaluation Committee, have bearing on the evaluation of the faculty member's performance in his/her assignment at the university. Examples of such materials are evidence of the faculty member's service to the university, if any; evidence of curricular innovations in the faculty member's courses or the faculty member's professional development; instructional materials such as course syllabi or study guides; or communications from students, other faculty, or campus staff or administrators. These are examples only, and not intended to limit the possible materials to be included.
    4. All communications shall be identified by name.
    5. The faculty member may submit materials to be included by the deadline for the assembly of materials, to the chair, dean, or responsible individual.
    6. The department chair or designee shall be responsible for assembling materials on which the evaluation shall be based. In units without a chair, the dean shall be responsible, or the dean may designate an individual to be responsible. In the latter case, the dean shall notify the faculty member(s) to be evaluated of the name of the responsible individual not later than two weeks before the deadline for assembly of materials.
    7. The party responsible for assembling the materials on which the evaluation shall be based will forward to the faculty member a copy of any materials not provided by the faculty member.
  4. Criteria for Evaluation
    1. A faculty member shall be evaluated on the activities that comprise and support his/her university assignment. Where the assignment includes teaching, primary emphasis will be placed on teaching effectiveness.
    2. In evaluating teaching effectiveness, the evaluator or evaluating body shall review and evaluate all pertinent evidence available in the materials assembled for evaluation, to show that the candidate:
      1. Displays enthusiasm for teaching his/her subject.
      2. Presents material with clarity.
      3. Uses teaching strategies appropriate to the students and course content.
      4. Clearly specifies course goals, and employs course materials to achieve course goals.
      5. Enables students to participate actively in their own education.
      6. Fosters appreciation for different points of view.
      7. Demonstrates competence and currency in course material.
      8. Consults and advises effectively outside of class.
      9. Engages in professional development to enhance his/her teaching effectiveness.
  5. Schedule for Evaluation
    1. The schedule for temporary faculty on an academic-year or annual appointment is included in this policy.
    2. If a department, department chair, or dean or other appropriate administrator determines that faculty in the department in appointments of one semester or an equivalent period will be evaluated, the department, department chair, dean or other appropriate administrator is responsible for the development and announcement of the department's schedule. The temporary faculty in the department must be notified of this schedule at least ten working days before the first deadline in the schedule.
      With the exception of the deadline for submission of the completed evaluation to the Faculty Affairs Office for inclusion in the Personnel Action File, all deadlines for evaluation of faculty on appointments of one semester or an equivalent period shall fall within the period of appointment of the faculty member. Completed evaluations for such faculty must be submitted to the Faculty Affairs Office within 15 days of the completion of the faculty member's appointment or of the semester in which the evaluation occurred.
      At each level of review, at least seven days must be provided to faculty being evaluated for review and rebuttal of evaluations before the evaluation is forwarded to the next level of review or to the Personnel Action File.
  6. Evaluation Procedures
    1. At each level of evaluation, a copy of the evaluator's or evaluating body's report must be provided to the faculty member by the deadline.
    2. A faculty member may provide a rebuttal to an evaluation. This rebuttal shall become part of the file of materials to be evaluated at subsequent levels of review. If the rebuttal is submitted for any level of review other than the first, the faculty member shall provide a copy of his/her rebuttal to all previous levels of review.
    3. When the evaluation is completed, the following materials shall be forwarded to the Faculty Affairs Office for filing in the Personnel Action File: summaries of student evaluations of teaching effectiveness, peer observations, evaluations by all levels of review, rebuttal statement(s) by the faculty member, and a list of any other materials used in the evaluation of the faculty member. Evaluations for temporary faculty without instructional assignments may include not more than four pages of other material used in the evaluation process which demonstrate the faculty member's performance in his/her assignment.
      The individual providing the last level of review shall forward the evaluation as defined above to the Faculty Affairs Office and shall notify the faculty member of his/her action, providing the faculty member a copy of the materials to be included in the Personnel Action File.
      This section shall not preclude the forwarding of materials not listed above for inclusion in the Personnel Action File by the faculty member, the chair, the dean or appropriate administrator, or other university administrators, as long as these materials were introduced during the evaluation process and are known to the faculty member.
  7. Departmental Procedures and Criteria
    Departments may develop procedures and criteria to implement this policy.
    Such procedures shall be in writing and shall be provided to the temporary faculty member at the time of hire and whenever any change is made to the department procedures and criteria. A complete copy of this policy will accompany the department procedures.

*1. Reference: Article 15.8 of the bargaining agreement dated July 2, 2001 through June 30, 2004, or analogous article in successor agreements.

Deadlines for the Evaluation of Temporary Faculty on Annual Appointments

Departments which appoint faculty on annual appointments, as defined in Section I of this policy, which begin after October 15 or end before May 10 shall establish deadlines for evaluation which meet the requirements of the bargaining agreement.

If any deadline listed below falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or academic holiday, the deadline shall be moved to the first working day following the date shown below. Where Spring break or other academic breaks of more than one day occur, deadlines following the break may be appropriately adjusted to provide adequate time for review or rebuttal.

September 15 Where a department has chosen to evaluate faculty on one-semester or less than one-year appointments, chair or dean notifies faculty of evaluation schedule
October 15 Faculty in annual appointments who wish to request peer observation of work make such request to the chair or, in units without chairs, the dean
February 15 Chair or designee or, in units without chairs, dean or an individual designated by the dean assembles materials to be used as the basis for evaluation.
Faculty member submits any materials s/he wishes included.
If department RTP or equivalent committee wishes to provide input on the evaluation of part-time temporary faculty on annual appointments, it so informs the faculty member and the chair or dean.
Two working days following the deadline for assembly of materials Chair, dean, or responsible individual provides copy of the materials to be used as the basis for evaluation to the individual to be evaluated.
Seven working days following the deadline for assembly of materials The faculty member may submit a rebuttal statement to any statement included in the materials to be used as the basis for evaluation.
March 10 Where the department RTP or equivalent committee is evaluating a faculty member, it provides a copy of its evaluation to the faculty member, with copy to the chair, if the unit has a chair, and the dean.
When evaluating full-time faculty on annual appointments, the committee will always provide a copy to the dean.
Seven days following the issuance of the Temporary Faculty Evaluation Committee's evaluation The faculty member may submit a rebuttal statement to the committee's evaluation, with copies to the chair, if the unit has a chair, and the dean.
April 5 For part-time faculty on annual appointments, the chair provides a copy of his/her evaluation to the faculty member, with copy to the dean. For units without chairs, the dean provides a copy of his/her evaluation to the faculty member.
For full-time faculty on annual appointments, the dean provides a copy of his/her evaluation to the faculty member.
Seven days following the issuance of the chair's or dean's evaluation The faculty member may submit a rebuttal statement to the chair's or dean's evaluation.
May 1 For part-time faculty on annual appointments, in units with chairs, if the dean chooses to provide an evaluation, s/he provides a copy of his/her evaluation to the faculty member.
Seven days following the issuance of the dean's evaluation The faculty member may submit a rebuttal statement to the dean's evaluation.
May 15 Completed evaluations for faculty on annual appointments are due to the Faculty Affairs Office for inclusion in the Personnel Action File. The individual who has completed the last level of review shall inform the faculty member that s/he has forwarded the evaluation for filing.

Updated November 13, 2002 by UAO.WebContact@sonoma.edu