ARTP Department of English

 

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 3 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)
Appointments Committee evaluates candidates for full-time appointment	3 (Tenured Associate or Full Professor) (1 probationary faculty member may be appointed)	3 (Tenured Associate or Full Professor)
RTP Committee evaluates members for retention, tenure, and promotion or for post-tenure review or for Emeritus Status. Reviews range elevation.	3 (Tenured Associate or Full Professor) Tenured Full Professor only for post-tenure review and promotion from Associate Professor to Full Professor. Chair does not serve.	4 (Tenured Associate or Full Professor) Tenured Full Professor only for post-tenure review and promotion from Associate Professor to Full Professor
Lecturer Review Committee (LRC) evaluates Lecturer faculty for appointment, retention and promotion.	3 Tenured Associate or Full Professor. Chair does not serve.	2 (Tenured Associate or Full Professor)

Additional:

Personnel committees are elected by all full-time faculty using a modified golf-score ballot. Faculty have the opportunity to rank order all names on the ballot. All unranked names are assigned a value of the highest rank number used plus half (rounded up when odd) of the number of unranked names.

**The department will rank all members on the RTP ballot using a modified golf-score ballot. In the case where there is a candidate undergoing evaluation who is at a rank higher than one or more of the members of the RTP committee, an elected alternate at the rank of full professor will be called to serve.

A Committee A or Committee B member shall be replaced by the alternate for review of all files if a member's spouse or domestic partner is under consideration.

Department Personnel and Appointment Committees are elected using the ballot system. The ballots are counted with the golf score total method, in which the three persons with lower numbers are elected as members and the fourth lowest becomes the alternate.

The Department Chair will serve as an ex-officio non-voting member on the Part-Time Instructors' Review Committee and the Appointments Committee.

The Department Chair will not serve on the RTP or Post-Tenure Review Committees.

Eligibility for Committee Service and Balloting

Recruitment of Probationary Faculty

Appointment of Probationary Faculty

Personnel Action Files

Additional:

Probationary faculty who wish to meet individually with the RTP Committee to discuss the content of their personnel action files will be given the opportunity at the earliest convenience but at least one (1) week before the candidate's file is closed.

Individualized Professional Plans

Eligibility for Tenure and Promotion

Area of Specialization	Terminal Degree
Literature, Linguistics	Ph.D.
Composition and Rhetoric	Ph.D.
Creative Writing	M.F.A. or Ph.D.

 

Additional:

The evaluation is based on instructional performance (taking into account student opinion surveys, syllabi, class materials, classroom visits, and evidence of other instructionally related activities), professional achievement (based on publications, conference presentations, awards and honors, or other evidence of achievement in the profession), and service to the department, school, university and/or community.

Evaluation of Permanent Instructional Faculty

Additional:

Category B: Activities considered appropriate as "scholarly and creative activities" for the discipline are:

Academic, scholarly, and creative contributions to the faculty member's profession and field that are externally evaluated and published or formally accepted for publication such as research, critical essays and analyses, books, reviews, translations, articles, journals, creative writing, engaged and community-based scholarship, and theoretical speculations;

Publicly engaged scholarship as generally accepted in the field;

Textbooks and original teaching or testing materials or innovative use of computers or computer methods which are adopted for professional and/or instructional use outside the faculty member's department/division;

Presentations before meetings of scholarly and professional societies, and presentations as an invited authority in the faculty member's field before significant scholarly and professional audiences;

Participation in activities of scholarly or professional societies beyond mere membership, such as elective office, fellowship status, committee membership, receipt of special awards, organization of symposia, and chairing of conference sessions;

Receipt of fellowships or other subsidies for the pursuit of research or study in the faculty member's field;

Holding significant special appointments such as visiting professorships, lectureships, or consultant assignments in other academic, scholarly, professional, or governmental institutions, and editing of scholarly or professional publications.

Committee Procedures

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

Student Consultation in Academic Personnel Processes

Additional:

opinion surveys are administered in a minimum of two (2) courses per academic year for tenured faculty members on a rotating basis (this is usually accomplished by administration in one (1) semester but may extend to two (2) semesters depending on the teaching load of the faculty member). Student opinion surveys are administered in all classes every semester for probationary tenure-track faculty. Lecturer faculty shall conduct the student opinion surveys in all of their classes every semester.

Oral Testimony

Role of Department/Division/School Chair or Director

Appointment of Temporary Faculty

Evaluation of Temporary Faculty

Additional:

Evaluation of lecturer faculty is based on instructional performance (taking into account student opinion surveys, syllabi, class materials, classroom visits, and/or other evidence of currency in the field). It also includes those contributions in Categories Band C that are relevant to their instructional assignment or that provide student services.

Lecturer faculty shall conduct student opinion surveys in all of their classes.

The chair will arrange for classroom visitation for lecturer faculty as appropriate. Class observations will normally be performed by tenured/tenure track faculty not serving on the review committee.

Although currency in the field will primarily be determined by the course material in the supplemental file, it may also be determined by the report of the class visit and documented evidence of relevant professional achievement. If the course materials seem to require specific comment because they are unsatisfactory, problematic, need improvement, or are distinguished in some way, the Lecturer Review Committee should note that fact in its final report and, when appropriate, provide commendations or specific suggestions for improvement. The Lecturer Review Committee will also consider and evaluate evidence of professional achievement or special service to the department and/or students when such evidence is relevant to specific teaching assignments, appropriately documented in the supplemental file, and deserving of comment or commendation.

Consideration for Three-Year Appointments

Consideration for Range Elevation

Additional:

1. Class observations. To be considered for range elevation, faculty must be observed once during the 12 months preceding the date of their application.
2. Course materials, including syllabi, sample assignments and instructional handouts, and sample marked and graded student papers with instructor comments.
3. Student opinion surveys.

1. earning an advanced academic degree other than that held at the point of the faculty member's initial appointment or previous range elevation and in a field relevant to the faculty member's teaching assignments;
2. academic and scholarly contributions to the faculty member's profession and field, that are externally evaluated and published or formally accepted for publication such as research, critical essays and analyses, and theoretical speculations;
3. textbooks and original teaching or testing materials or innovative use of computers and computer methods which are adopted for professional and/or instructional use outside the faculty member's department/division;
4. presentations or publications in literature, fiction, poetry, dramatic arts, or film;
5. presentations before meetings of scholarly and professional societies, and presentations as an invited authority in the faculty member's field before significant scholarly and professional audiences;
6. participation in activities of scholarly or professional societies beyond mere membership, such as elective office, fellowship status, committee membership, receipt of special awards, organization of symposia, and chairing of conference sessions;
7. receipt of fellowships or other subsidies for the pursuit of research or study in the faculty member's field;
8. holding significant special appointments such as editing of scholarly or professional publications.

Review of Department Personnel Procedures

REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF A TERMINAL DEGREE OTHER THAN A DOCTORATE

Department: English

Area of Specialization: Creative Writing

Terminal Degree: M.F.A. (Master of Fine Arts)

1. Why is this degree more relevant for this position than a doctorate?

While some writers do obtain the doctorate, it is far more common for poets, fiction writers and other creative authors to forego research in order to devote time to their craft. Since the writers we hire, when they teach as writers, generally conduct workshop classes, their function is analogous to art teachers in studio classes rather than lecturers in a course based on content research.

2. What is the availability of a doctorate in this field?

The doctorate in creative writing is not widespread. The University of Iowa is best known for its combination of training in creative writing and research but there are a few graduates of this program and most them are hired because of their reputation as writers not because of their degree.

3. Does this degree provide a faculty member with the necessary background to do research, scholarly, or creative work in the University?

It provides the background necessary to teach introductory classes in composition and literature, and the background to teach and create in their writing genre.

4.  Is there a requirement of the specialized accrediting agency related to terminal degrees of faculty in the department? If so, what is that requirement?

No

5.  What are the educational requirements for similar positions at comparable campuses? Please identify the campus and provide a copy of their relevant policies.

Many campuses have no degree requirements for creative writers. The majority of campuses in the CSU require an M.A. or M.F.A. Some require M.F.A., Ph.D., or equivalent in publications and teaching experience.