ARTP Department of History

 

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 4 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)
Personnel Committee A reviews Full Professor for post-tenure review, conducts RTP Evaluation of temporary full-time and tenured associate professors for promotion to full professors, recommends temporary faculty for range elevation from C to D, and reviews individual development plans for full professors.	3 + Chair (Full Professors)	1 (Full Professors)
Personnel Committee B Reviews tenured associate professors for post-tenure evaluations, conducts RTP evaluations of full-time tenured & tenured-track assistant professors, recommends temporary faculty for range elevation from B to C, review individual development plans of assistant and associate professors.	3 + Chair (Associate and Full Professors)	1 (Associate and Full Professors)
Part-time Personnel Committee Conducts all yearly evaluations associated with part-time faculty. It recommends department policies and procedures for evaluation of part-time faculty and faculty for inclusion in the part-time faculty pool.	5 + Chair (Associate and Full Professors)	1 (Associate and Full Professors)
Appointments Committee Handles all issues associated with appointment of permanent faculty, It organizes and administers faculty searches and recommends candidates for announced faculty positions.	3 + Chair (1 Probationary faculty may be elected)	1 (Associate and Full Professors)

Eligibility for Committee Service and Balloting

Additional:

The Chair is always a member of History Department Personnel Committees.

Recruitment of Probationary Faculty

Additional:

Ph.D. or ABD in History or closely related fields completed at time of appointment. Successful teaching experience and publications desirable. Department interview required.

Appointment of Probationary Faculty

Personnel Action Files

Individualized Professional Plans

Additional:

Committees A (for Full Professors) and B (for Associate and Assistant Professors) will help a faculty member develop in collaboration with his/her chair an individualized professional plan.

Eligibility for Tenure and Promotion

Area of Specialization	Terminal Degree
History or closely related field as determined appropriately by the department	Ph.D.

Evaluation of Permanent Instructional Faculty

Additional:

The Department Personnel Committee will consider, but not limit itself to, the following, evaluating quality and substance in each area and paying special attention to publication:

1. Publication, in either print or electronic format, of peer-reviewed scholarly books (as author, editor or translator), monographs, and articles, including relevant pedagogical research
2. Scholarly awards, grants, fellowships, visiting lectureships
3. Presentation of research, pedagogical innovation, or professional engagement at professional meetings
4. Evidence  of research in the form of typed, finished drafts of books/articles/essays/papers
5. Scholarly, professional lectured by invitation in an academic environment
6. Scholarly contributions in media other than writing (such as films, television programs, public history-related exhibitions, websites, etc.)
7. Service as an editor (or member of board of editors); manuscripts referee, or as editorial consultant
8. Book reviews of a professional nature
9. Active, constructive participation in professional societies (e.g., holding office, serving on committees, etc.)
10. Organization of professional conferences and workshops

I. Additional department description of Categories A and C

1. Education Performance

The Personnel Committees shall consider, but not limit themselves to, the following:

1. Results of student evaluations of instruction, using the university-wide evaluation form.
2. An appropriate Department Promotion committee member shall visit his/her classes to observe performance. Reports shall be included in the faculty member's personnel file. If an individual instructor wishes an additional observation to the mandated single classroom visitation, he/she may request the appropriate Department Promotion committee to designate a visitor to observe performance.
3. Grading practices that conform to accepted departmental standards.
4. Evidence of creative use of special teaching materials and positive innovations in teaching methods.
5. Evidence of neglect of instructional responsibilities, or failure to perform adequately.
6. Advisement of students, either program advisement or informal mentoring.
7. Supervision of Graduate Assistants
8. Supervision of theses, comprehensive exam preparation, and research projects.

     C. Other contributions to the University

The Personnel Committees will consider, but not limit themselves to, the following:

1. Active, constructive committee service, Departmental, College, University.
2. Active, constructive administration of Department, College and University programs and affairs.
3. Initiative in developing new programs of academic or research nature that tend to improve the University's academic stature (e.g., Institutes, Visiting Lecturers, faculty seminars, etc.).
4. Active, constructive, willing, cooperative efforts to facilitate Department, College, and University operations.
5. Participation in CSU system-wide activities.
6. Community service.

Committee Procedures

Review of Faculty Holding Joint Appointments and of Faculty Active in Interdisciplinary Programs

Student Consultation in Academic Personnel Processes

Oral Testimony

Role of Department/Division/School Chair or Director

Additional:

The department chair, if otherwise eligible under the conditions outlined above, will be a voting member of department personnel committee.

Appointment of Temporary Faculty

Evaluation of Temporary Faculty

Additional:

CRITERIA FOR THE EVALUTION OF TEMPORARY FACULTY

In accordance with University policy, the History department provides temporary instructors with the criteria by which their teaching and currency in the field will be evaluated. Temporary faculty must demonstrate satisfactory teaching performance and satisfactory demonstration of currency in the field.

I. TEACHING:

The teaching of temporary faculty will be evaluated using five separate instruments:

• Course syllabus
• Peer observation
• Exams, written and reading assignments and papers
• Student opinion surveys
• Statement of teaching philosophy

Below is an outline of those five instruments, their requirements and goals. A key to all teaching, though, is communication. Towards that end it may be useful to have some insight into the students at Cal State LA

1.0 SYLLABUS

• course description and outline of objectives
• for general education (GE) courses, the area within which the course fits
• topical outline of the course
• requirements for students: assignments, deadlines, policies and procedures
• instructor's location: office, office hours, telephone number, email, website, etc.
• a statement regarding which grading format you will use: plain letter grades or+/-
• a statement reminding students of University policies regarding plagiarism

• the degree to which assignments are clear and explicit
• the degree to which the syllabus demonstrates how the different parts of the course (lecture, assignments, exams, e.g.) relate to one another
• the quality of the reading and writing assignments

2.0 PEER OBSERVATION

The second mechanism used to evaluate part-time faculty is a peer observation At that peer observation, the evaluator will pay particular attention to three features of the classroom experience: the lecture, the overall atmosphere in the classroom and the nature and quality of student activity.

2.1 Lecture:

• lectures must have a clear, articulated purpose within the context of the course
• the data within the lecture must be historically accurate
• key concepts, terms of art, idiom and unfamiliar cultural references should be explained
• audio and visual aids should be used to good effect

• what was the nature of student-faculty interaction?
• what was the quality of student-faculty interaction; of student-student interaction?
• to what extent was there a sense of community in the classroom?

• were students taking notes during lecture and/or during discussion?
• was there student discussion of the course content: in small groups, in a large class discussion, interspersed within the lecture?
• what proportion of the class participated?

3.0 EXAMS, WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS AND PAPERS:

• what proportion of assignments require writing?
• to what extent is the assignment, paper or exam intellectually challenging?
• do the major exams and papers require higher-order thinking skills?
• what guidance or instruction was provided?
• are the departments requirements for the teaching of all History and Religious Studies GE courses met and evident?

4.0 STUDENT EVALUATIONS

• were scores within Department means?
• how well did temporary faculty score on questions 10 and 11 (recommending this instructor to others and evaluating overall teaching ability?

5.0 STATEMENT OF TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

A coherent statement of teaching philosophy should discuss the methods an instructor utilizes in the classroom.

Evaluators will pay attention to the following:

• does the instructor utilize varied delivery methods in the classroom?
• does the instructor demonstrate awareness of recent pedagogical techniques for the delivery of material
• relevant to the subjects that they teach?
• does the instructor provide a coherent rationale and analysis of the teaching techniques that they use?

CURRENCY IN THE FIELD

Currency in the field will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• Review of teaching materials
• Statement of Teaching Philosophy

The following criteria are optional for establishing currency in the field:
Conference, workshop, seminar and/or symposia attendance and/or presentations related to pedagogy/teaching and/or primary teaching fields
Publications

To this end, a temporary faculty member's currency in the field will be evaluated through the review of teaching materials (syllabi, reading assignments, and modes of assessing learning outcomes) and the statement of teaching philosophy. Since faculty members are encouraged to be active in the profession and expected to maintain currency with the pedagogical and research trends related to their teaching field, faculty have the option of also using attendance and/or participation at pedagogical and/or researchoriented workshops, symposia, and/or conferences to demonstrate their currency in the field. Publication of research, including the scholarship of teaching as well as their primary teaching or research field, is encouraged but not required for demonstration of currency in the field.

A review of syllabi should reveal that the assigned readings have currency in the field and demonstrate the faculty member's grasp of both the subject matter and the more recent disciplinary and pedagogical developments in the field.

2.0 STATEMENT OF TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
A coherent statement of teaching philosophy should discuss the methods an instructor utilizes in the classroom that demonstrates currency in the field of the scholarship of teaching (see above section I., 5.0.)

Attendance and/or participation in conferences, workshops, seminars, and/or symposia that relate to pedagogy and the scholarship of teaching is encouraged but not required to demonstrate currency in the pedagogical trends related to a faculty member's teaching field. Similarly, attendance and/or participation in the meetings of local, regional, and/or national historical or religious studies organizations, public lectures, and academic talks, and professional reading groups for the purpose of keeping current with the latest scholarly research in their teaching fields is encouraged but not required.

Consideration for Three-Year Appointments

Consideration for Range Elevation

Additional:

The criteria for review in Educational Performance and Currency in the field for range elevation are the same as outlined for the History Department's review of temporary faculty.

Review of Department Personnel Procedures