Confidentiality of Personnel Deliberations
Composition of Departmental Personnel Committees (Probationary and Temporary Appointment, Retention, Tenure, and Promotion, and Evaluation of Temporary, Probationary and Tenured Faculty)
Composition of Departmental Personnel Committees
The department annually elects 5 personnel committees.
The probationary and tenured faculty members of the department or equivalent unit shall elect a peer review committee(s) of tenured faculty members. When there are insufficient eligible members to serve on the peer committee, the department shall elect members from a related academic discipline(s).
(The Committees, as a whole, must take responsibility for the following tasks: Probationary Appointment; Temporary Appointment; Retention, Tenure and Promotion; Range Elevation; Evaluation of Temporary Faculty; Evaluation of Probationary Faculty; Evaluation of Tenured Faculty (Post-Tenure review); Evaluation for Request to Emeritus status; and Collaboration on the Development of Individual Professional Plans. It is required that each unit indicate below which Committee is responsible for each of these tasks.)
| Committee Titles and Responsibilities |
Number of Members (at least 3; all tenured full time) (Indicate if must be (full) professor rank) |
Number of Alternates (1 or more; all tenured full-time) (Indicate if must be (full) professor rank) |
|---|---|---|
|
Committee A Evaluation of Tenured faculty, promotion |
5 (Full Professors), including Department Chair as ex officio voting member | 1 (Full Professor) |
|
Committee B Evaluation of Probationary Faculty, Retention and Tenure |
5, including Department Chair as ex officio voting member | 1 |
|
Faculty Affairs Collaboration on the Development of Individual Professional Plans, Temporary Appointment |
4, including the Department Chair as ex officio voting member | 1 |
|
New Faculty Search Committee Probationary Appointments |
5 (1 Probationary faculty may be elected), including the Department Chair as ex officio non-voting member | 1 |
|
Part-Time Faculty Review Evaluation of Temporary Faculty, Range Elevation |
5, including the Department Chair as ex officio voting member | 1 |
Additional:
Votes will be tallied using golf score method.
Eligibility for Committee Service and Balloting
Additional:
As noted in the composition of departmental personnel committees, the Chemistry & Biochemistry Department Chair is a voting member of Personnel Committees A and B, The Faculty Affairs Committee, and the Part-Time Faculty Review Committee. The Chair will also serve on the New Faculty Search Committees as a non-voting member.
Recruitment of Probationary Faculty
Additional:
The New Faculty Search Committee will develop a short list of qualified candidates from the full list of applicants. From this short list, the Search Committee will select those candidates to be interviewed.
Appointment of Probationary Faculty
Additional:
When an opening for a probationary appointment occurs, the Department will advertise nationally and will follow all Equity and Diversity Guidelines in seeking the nest qualified candidate. The New Faculty Search Committee will screen all applications and recommend a slate of qualified candidates to interview. After the on-campus interviews are completed, tenured faculty members of the department will rank the candidates in a secret ballot. The Search Committee will evaluate all material on the candidates, including the ballot results, and will make their hiring recommendation to the Department Chair, who will forward those recommendations, as a ranked list, to the College Dean.
Personnel Action Files
Individualized Professional Plans
Eligibility for Tenure and Promotion
| Area of Specialization | Terminal Degree |
|---|---|
|
Chemistry |
Ph.D. |
|
Biochemistry |
Ph.D. |
|
Molecular Biology |
Ph.D. |
|
Chemistry or Biochemistry Education |
Ph.D. |
Evaluation of Permanent Instructional Faculty
Additional:
Category B: Activities considered appropriate as "scholarly and creative activities" for the discipline are:
Publication of research results is required. Successful candidates for RTP are expected to establish independent research careers and to publish their results from Cal State LA within chemistry, biochemistry, chemistry education or biochemistry education in high quality primary research journals. We especially value co-authorship with Cal State LA students.
Other publications, such as monographs or review articles published in the secondary literature or chemistry/biochemistry education articles not based on the candidate's research are important scholarship, but such publications are not alone the basis for a positive recommendation.
In addition, the department aims for its faculty to develop a profile of excellence in professional achievement in chemistry and biochemistry. The profile established through publication can be enhanced through other contributions such as, but not limited to, the following achievements:
-
Obtaining grants for chemistry or biochemistry research, for equipment, and for preparation of students for careers in the chemical sciences, including science education
-
Publication of textbooks and manuals
-
Membership on journal editorial boards
-
Presentation of research results in chemistry, biochemistry, or chemistry/biochemistry education at professional meetings
-
Holding elected or appointed office to scientific societies
-
Peer reviewing manuscripts for scholarly journals
-
Organization of symposia at professional meetings
-
Service on funding agency grant review committees, either ad hoc or standing
-
Service on scientific advisory committees or boards
In Category A, the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department uses a variety of methods in evaluating the teaching performance of faculty members. The Department concerns itself with total instructional performance including performance in research and honors courses such as CHEM 396, 499 and 497 4990 AND 3810 and not with classroom performance only. The Department personnel committees will consider whether or not the candidates' practices conform to accepted departmental standards.
Innovation in course content (for example, the introduction of new experiments, revision of existing courses or the proposal of new courses) or the introduction of new pedagogical methods is regarded as evidence of achievement in improvement of instruction. Appointment to regional or national science education groups is also regarded as recognition by our off-campus peers.
Faculty being considered for retention or promotion to Associate Professor will be evaluated annually through classroom visitation, in accordance with the university policy, by a faculty member in the same teaching area whenever possible. Faculty being considered for promotion to Full Professor will be evaluated through classroom visitation at least once following their last promotion, in accordance with the university policy, by a faculty member in the same teaching area whenever possible.
For Category C, appropriate contributions to the university are defined as contributions to the mission and governance of the university, including but not limited to: committee service at the department, college and university levels; service as a marshal at honors convocation or commencement; outreach efforts; and off campus activities and service in which the candidate represents the university.
Committee Procedures
Review of Faculty Holding Joint Appointments and of Faculty Active in Interdisciplinary Programs
Student Consultation in Academic Personnel Processes
Oral Testimony
Additional:
- No one, including the candidate, will automatically be interviewed by the personnel committees; however, the committee may invite the candidate to meet with the committee by a majority vote.
- Any request by the candidate to meet with the committee will be honored.
- The candidate may submit a rebuttal to the testimony within ten (10) days.
Role of Department/Division/School Chair or Director
Appointment of Temporary Faculty
Evaluation of Temporary Faculty
Additional:
Temporary full-time and part-time faculty members are primarily hired as teachers. They are evaluated for retention primarily for their contributions in Educational Performance (see I 0-1 for criteria). The department encourages the engagement of these colleagues in scholarship and in making other contributions to the university. In cases where temporary faculty members provide evidence of contributions in Professional Achievement ( criteria in I 0-2,3) and/or Contributions to the University (criteria in 10-2,3), these will be considered.
Currency in the field will be determined from the materials in the file (such as professional publications and/or documented presentations at meetings or at other educational institutions, documented attendance at conferences, department seminars, or other scientific or educational seminars on campus or in the local area, documented attendance at campus technology workshops and effective teaching workshops, examples of currency in the discipline from classroom observations, updated course materials, examinations and syllabi reflecting current developments in their discipline, development of original laboratory materials, if based on recent advances in the field, documented participation in community based educational or scientific organizations, review of scientific based textbooks, manuscripts, or grant proposals, enrollment in or auditing of discipline appropriate university level courses, service to professional societies, documented participation in grant funded projects of an educational or scientific nature).