5.4
Guidelines of the Academic Council for the Evaluation of Candidates for Reappointment

[As amended through May 23, 2018]

See the “By-Laws of the Academic Council,” Sec. 502 for criteria, and Sec. 504b–504d for length of appointments.

I. The Department's Relation to the Candidate Sec. 101.

Scheduling the Evaluation

Following consultation with the candidate, the chair will set:

(a) The deadline for the candidate’s submission of his/her current curriculum vitae and the body of scholarly and/or other creative work to be evaluated; and

(b) The anticipated time for the completion of the department’s evaluation of his/her candidacy.

Sec. 102. The Evaluation

(a) Teaching

1. Student Evaluations. The student evaluations, collected by the Office of the Registrar and deposited in the Office of Academic Affairs, should be examined by the department chair. Other tenured members of the department may examine them as well.
   
   
2. Other Student Evaluations. In addition to the evaluations collected by the Office of the Registrar, the department may wish to solicit other evaluations from former or current students of the candidate.
   
   
3. Faculty Peer Evaluation. The chair may solicit information from faculty members within or without the department, e.g., those who have taught courses jointly with the candidate.
   
   
4. The Candidate’s Own Evaluation. Candidates should be invited to submit to department chairs for inclusion in their dossiers any teaching materials that they consider pertinent to their cases, such as course syllabi, examinations, lecture notes, and so on. They may, if they wish, make any further statement concerning their teaching that they consider relevant. Furthermore, candidates should feel free to request chairs to consult specified students—alumni, undergraduate, or graduate—concerning their teaching.

(b) Scholarship

In making this review, the department should normally include published and unpublished scholarly materials (and other created works where appropriate) provided by the candidate. When the dissertation is the candidate’s primary piece of scholarship, the department should utilize it. Such review should be carried out by senior members of the department. In certain instances, a department may wish to draw upon competent outside referees.

(c) Colleagueship

See the “By-Laws of the Academic Council,” Sec. 502c. Testimony regarding colleagueship shall be solicited by the department chair.

Sec. 103. The Relation of Reappointment to Promotion Conferring Tenure

Departments making reappointments should consider the promise of the candidate for eventual promotion to tenure. Reappointment should not be taken to imply a subsequent favorable decision on tenure.

Sec. 104. Candidates and the Evaluation

In addition to being informed ahead of time of the schedule of the evaluation, to nominating referees of their teaching, to commenting on the regular student evaluations of their teaching and to supplementing them with course materials (for all of which see above), candidates have the following rights in relation to their department:

(a) Candidate’s Statement. Candidates should have the opportunity to state their own cases before the tenured members of the department, in person or in writing, without prejudicing their cases.

(b) Counselor. Candidates may, if they wish, request a tenured member of the faculty, usually of their own department (who may well be the chair), to assist them in presenting their cases to the department, to review their dossiers, and to ensure that their rights and interests are duly observed in the department and in the presentation of their cases to the Advisory Committee. The acceptance of a role as counselor in no way compromises the tenured person’s right to come to an independent judgment and to vote as he/she sees fit.

(c) Information and Confidentiality. It is the responsibility of the chair and the counselor to keep the candidate promptly informed of the status of the case, including a summary of the department’s discussion and of the Advisory Committee’s general reactions to the evidence on teaching and scholarship. But, in aiding the candidate, the chair and counselor are cautioned not to impair the confidentiality of the Advisory Committee’s procedures and discussions.

Sec. 105. Departmental Consultation in the Evaluation

Chairs should consult all non-tenured members of the department except those in their first and last years at Wesleyan. The counsel of the non-tenured faculty members may be oral or written. After appropriate consultation with the department and with the concurrence of a majority of the tenured faculty, the chair recommends to the president reappointment of the candidate or not.

II. The Department’s Relations to the Office of Academic Affairs and the Advisory Committee

The statement in Sec. 401 of the Academic Council By-Laws, which states that when a department has fewer than three Academic Council members, the VPAA, in consultation with the chair of the department, must supplement that number to a minimum of three, applies to these Guidelines.

Sec. 201. Deadlines for Preparing the Evaluation

The chair will inform the Office of Academic Affairs of:

(a) The deadline for the candidate’s submission of his/her current curriculum vitae and the body of scholarly and/or other creative work to be evaluated.

(b) The anticipated time for the completion of the department's evaluation.

Sec. 202. Department’s Presentation of the Recommendation

(a) The reappointment of tenure-track faculty is usually considered by the Advisory Committee in the spring term. As soon as possible in the spring term, and not later than March 1, the department chair should deposit at the Office of Academic Affairs electronic copies of the following:

1. The department’s recommendation and the rationale for it.
2. The candidate’s current curriculum vitae.

(b) The materials for cases eligible for fall semester review should be deposited at the Office of Academic Affairs as soon as possible in the fall semester, and not later than November 1.

(c) The department chair should stand ready to supply the Office of Academic Affairs and the Advisory Committee with additional information as desired, and, with senior colleagues and the counselor, if any, to meet with the Advisory Committee if required.

See the “By-Laws of the Academic Council,” Sec. 502 for criteria, and Sec. 504b–504d for length of appointments.

III. The Relations of the Office of Academic Affairs and the Advisory Committee to Candidates

Sec. 301. Response to Student Evaluations. Untenured faculty members shall be invited each term to send comments on their student evaluations in writing to the Office of Academic Affairs as well as to their department chairs. They shall be invited again by the office, when their case is considered, to make a general summary comment on the evidence provided by the student evaluations. These comments shall be made available to the Advisory Committee.

Sec. 302. Candidates May Meet with Advisory Committee. Candidates have the opportunity to state their own cases before the Advisory Committee, in person or in writing, without prejudicing their cases.

Sec. 303. Informing the Participants. It is the responsibility of the Office of Academic Affairs to keep the department chair (and the candidate’s counselor if these are not the same) informed of the status of the case.