Sr Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost

Overview

During the first semester of the beginning probationary year, the initial faculty success plan is developed collaboratively between the chair/director and the new faculty member and submitted to the dean with the first-year annual review. The success plan and annual reviews should evolve as the new faculty member makes progress toward the reappointment review and advances to tenure and promotion. Ongoing discussions and planning over the course of the probationary period should be formative and diagnostic. Articulating mutual expectations of faculty performance and professional development helps ensure faculty success. The initial success plan should be updated, as appropriate, and included in the reappointment portfolio at the time of that review.

Development Process

Because the success plan is a dynamic document, it will be helpful for each new faculty member and his or her chair/director to identify a development process. The remainder of the information in this document is designed to help facilitate that process. The success plan or action plan should provide guidance in the new faculty member's overall scholarship as it relates to teaching, research and service.

Suggested Questions for Framing
Your Success Plan Discussion

The following list of questions are examples from which to select that can help facilitate discussion and mutual understanding between the chair/director and new faculty members as they develop or update the success plan. It is not expected that all examples apply to all candidates. Chairs/directors should consistently refer all new faculty members to the college and academic unit's promotion, tenure, and merit documents for specific guidelines and expectations of the required standards.

Teaching/Instruction, Student Learning and Advising

• What discipline-specific areas will be taught?
• What plan do you have, or that you might need assistance in creating, to engage in professional development regarding teaching and learning?
• What support or resources will you need to address teaching and learning issues? For example, where would you go to learn about classroom management skills?
• What curricular revision of curriculum development, if any, is expected? Will curriculum development with others be valued and in what ways?
• What student evaluations will be solicited and how frequently?
• What expectations are there for measuring student learning outcomes as part of the unit/college/university assessment plans?
• What involvement is expected in graduate education?
• In what ways might engagement be integrated into teaching and curriculum development?
• What advising responsibilities will be assigned? (Expected minimum and maximum loads)

Peer Review

• What forms does peer review take (e.g., classroom visits, review of teaching materials, review of student papers, creative works or performances)?
• What process will be used for selecting appropriate peer reviewers?
• Are there nonprejudicial provisions for changing peer reviewers if it becomes necessary for any reason?
• What mechanisms for feedback are available? Regular meetings, formal reports, informal discussions?
• How and when are peer and chair evaluations integrated into merit during administrative review?
• To what extent are peer-reviews considered during the reappointment and promotion and tenure process?

Research and Scholarship

• What is expected and will qualify as scholarship or the scholarship of engagement for reappointment or promotion and tenure review?
• What are some potential complications meeting research or creative goals?
• Will there be an action plan for research or creative work (e.g., what should be published)? Where should it be published? When should necessary collaborations be established or data gathering completed, etc.?
• Have you developed a plan which describes what your scholarship area is or might be, ways of getting such scholarship started, ways of disseminating such scholarship, and how you might sustain such scholarship and new scholarship over time?
• Do you need a mentor to support your scholarship?
• How is quality judged?
• How do peer reviewed, juried, referred journals/chapters in edited collections, conference proceedings and other such descriptors or scholarship or creative works compare?
• What is the expectation for establishing a continuous stream of research productivity?
• How can an article that has been rejected be turned around?
• Will publications prior to employment at BGSU be considered at the time of reappointment or promotion and tenure review?
• Is it essential to secure external funds for research/scholarship/creative works?
• Will there be an action plan to secure external funding as appropriate? (What, when, where, how to start)
• How does the academic unit distinguish national and international from regional and local?
• How important is it to establish a national or international reputation in the discipline?
• What types of letters are important from inside and outside the institution?
• How will contributions to student learning through student participation in faculty research and/or service be assessed and recognized in the promotion, tenure and merit process?

Service

• What progression of involvement in service to the unit/college/university is envisioned?
• What importance is placed on service to the discipline/profession?
• If service is integrated into teaching or research/creative activity, how will it be evaluated at the unit/college/university levels for promotion and tenure?
• What importance is placed on outreach/engagement to the communities external to the university?

Dual/Joint Appointments

• How will the success plan be developed and updated between the two units? What process will be used to assure collaboration between both units?
• What are the teaching responsibilities for each unit?
• When and how will these teaching responsibilities be decided?
• What are the professional activity expectations for each unit?
• What are some of the complications faced by such an appointment?
• What process will be used to resolve problems that may arise because of this type of appointment?
• Are there additional clarifications that will assist a new faculty member in deciding where to place his or her energies?

Professional Development

• What plans are in place for continual professional development in the areas of teaching and learning?
• What support will be provided by the department for professional development, travel, or advanced scholarship?
• What conferences should the new faculty member attend?

Other Considerations and Issues

• What other considerations will be evaluated by the chair and personnel committee for reappointment, promotion and/or tenure?
• Are there any unusual conditions with regard to teaching, research/creative activity, or service that do not fit the standard guidelines?
• In what ways will the new faculty member's research or creative work overlap with and inform her/his teaching and/or service?
• How will interdisciplinary programs be valued and encouraged?
• What process will be used to ensure that the new faculty member is not overtaxed with service commitments?
• Who will monitor and help address the complexities the new faculty member will face in balancing commitment to teaching, research/creative works, and service?
• When problems arise, what are the options for seeking advice or help?

Mentoring

• How will the department mentor the new faculty member?
• What process will be used for selecting an appropriate mentor?
• Are there nonprejudicial provisions for changing mentors if it becomes necessary for any reason?
• What mechanisms for feedback are available? Regular meetings, formal reports, informal discussions?
• What role does the mentor play in helping the new faculty member prepare for the reappointment and promotion and tenure review processes?
• How will oversight of the mentoring process be handled?
• Can the mentor and chair/director provide networking opportunities for new faculty members?
• When is it appropriate to ask for help?

Resource Note

The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology is available to new faculty members, chairs and directors during the success plan development process. The Center collaborates with faculty thr

ough its workshops, learning communities, and individual consultations for course design, teaching strategies, and the innovative, educational use of technology.

Guidelines for Probationary Faculty Success, recommended for the professional development of new faculty members, originated from best practices developed in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Revised and approved by the Council of Deans Fall 2006.

<<  Back to Contents