SUBJECT: POLICY STATEMENT ON DEPARTMENTAL PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION

APPLICABILITY: FACULTY

The following statement seeks to clarify the respective roles of the faculty and department chairs in the administration of teacher-related personnel affairs in instructional departments. The academic departments require strong and effective leadership from department chairs. It is therefore expected that, although recommendations relating to faculty will be formulated only after appropriate consultation with peers, the ultimate responsibility for departmental personnel recommendations must be delegated to the chair. The department chair has a dual responsibility, both to the university administration and to the faculty of his or her department, for the well being of the department. The chair is accountable to the university administration through annual evaluation by the dean and to the department through periodic reviews of the entire departmental operation.

It is also believed that the individual faculty member has a right to know the basis on which and the manner in which decisions affecting his or her professional life are made.

To clarify the role of the department chair, therefore, the following explicit expectations are outlined.

1. The department chair, in carrying out personnel administration responsibilities, must secure the advice and counsel (and hopefully, though not necessarily, the concurrence) of the departmental faculty through elected committee(s) (or committee of the whole).

2.  If, in formulating recommendations to the dean, the department chair finds that his or her conclusions differ materially from those of a committee, it is expected that the chair will discuss the matter with the committee and seek a resolution of the differences. If such differences cannot be resolved, the chair is expected explicitly to call attention to these differences, and to the reasons therefor, in his or her recommendations to the dean.

Furthermore, in preparing recommendations to the provost and vice president for academic affairs, the dean, if he or she proposes to modify any recommendation of a department chair, is expected first to discuss the matter with the chair and attempt to reach an agreement. If such agreement is not reached, the dean is expected to note this fact, and the reasons therefore, in his or her recommendation to the provost and vice president for academic affairs.

Likewise, in preparing recommendations to the president of the university, the provost and vice president for academic affairs, if he or she proposes to modify recommendations prepared by a dean, will first discuss the matter with the dean and attempt to reach an agreement. If such an agreement is not reached, the provost and vice president for academic affairs will note this fact and the reasons therefore in his or her recommendation to the president.

3.  Prior to transmittal of any recommendations (including salary recommendations) to the dean, the department chair is expected to inform each faculty member of those recommendations relating to him or her.

4.  Department chairs are expected to include with their recommendations to the dean (and deans to the provost and vice president for academic affairs) all relevant written recommendations received from committees and the documentation therefor.

5.  The departmental chair, using at least the Personnel Affairs Committee evaluations, his or her own evaluations and the faculty file, is to initiate a proposed schedule of salaries and forward the recommendation to the dean.

Since decisions on appointments, tenure, promotion and salary increments must all be based on the actual or potential contributions of individuals to the goals of the university through teaching, research and other creative activity, and service, it is logical to charge a single committee within each department with the responsibility for peer evaluation and for counseling with the department chair concerning those decisions based on peer evaluations.

Therefore, each department should have a Personnel Affairs Committee responsible for annual peer evaluation and for counseling and advising the chair concerning appointments (and terminations) and salary matters, and a committee drawn from the Personnel Affairs Committee charged with the responsibility for counseling and advising the chair regarding matters of promotion and tenure. The personnel committee (PAC) should consist of five to nine members elected from the tenured and, where permitted by departmental charter, tenure track faculty; at least one-half of the membership must come from the ranks of professor and associate professor. The Promotion and Tenure Committee should consist of tenured faculty separately elected or drawn from the PAC. In small or medium-sized departments the total tenured faculty may function as a personnel committee of the whole, subject, however, to the proviso that the membership of the committee thus constituted consists of at least half of professors and associate professors. In cases where departments may have fewer than five tenured professors and associate professors, the provost and vice president for academic affairs shall work with the departmental faculty in establishing the Promotion and Tenure Committee. It is recommended, in addition, that the department chair be ex officio of the Personnel Affairs Committee without, however, participating in the peer evaluative process unless specifically authorized to do so by a faculty approved departmental policy. The Promotion and Tenure Committee should elect a chair from its membership, unless a faculty approved departmental policy authorizes the department chair to serve as chair of the Promotion and Tenure Committee.

Departments are at liberty to vary somewhat from the foregoing guidelines for establishing a Personnel Affairs Committee and a Promotion and Tenure Committee, so long as the essential spirit is maintained: that there be a single entity within the department responsible for peer evaluations and that the evaluations prepared by this committee be used by the department chair and the advisory committees as basic input in arriving at decisions regarding appointments, tenure, promotions and salaries. However, tenure recommendations should be made only by tenured faculty.

Shown below is a brief statement of responsibilities and relationships. Details are to be found in the separate policy documents.

Appointments

1. Both the department chair and members of the Personnel Affairs Committee may (as well as the faculty generally) nominate candidates.
   
2. The committee is to screen candidates and approve a list of acceptable candidates with an indication of preference.
   
3. The chair is to list candidates in priority order and consult with the committee.
   
4. The chair is to secure concurrence of the dean and proceed to contact candidates.

Tenure

1. The Promotion and Tenure Committee is to prepare for the departmental chair a recommendation concerning each non-tenured faculty member who is completing a probationary period.
   
2. The departmental chair is to prepare the departmental tenure recommendation (which may or may not agree in all details with the committee report), consult with the committee and forward the final recommendation to the dean.

Promotion

1. Both the departmental chair and the Promotion and Tenure Committee may nominate candidates for promotion.
   
2. The Promotion and Tenure Committee is to send to the departmental chair a documented listing of those it considers unequivocally qualified for promotion.
   
3. The departmental chair is to prepare the departmental recommendation for promotions (which may or may not include all those recommended by the committee), counsel with the committee and forward the final recommendation to the dean.

Salaries

1. The departmental chair, using the Personnel Affairs Committee evaluations, his or her own evaluations and the faculty file, is to initiate a proposed schedule of salaries and forward the recommendation to the dean.