VIII. Standards for Reappointment, Tenure, and Promotion

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• Endorsed by vote of the Faculty, 8 May 2002.
• Altered in view of changes in Section IX by the Faculty.
• And in view of changes recommended by the Faculty and Educational Program Committee of the Board of Trustees, October 2002.
• Altered by action of the FEC, November 2002 to remove direct reference to salary administration, except for the introduction.
• Approved by the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees, April 15, 2003.
• Altered by action of the FEC, May 2004, to include a grandfather clause governing change of criteria for tenure; approved by the Dean of the College and the President, June 2004.

Section VII describes the three areas in which members of the Faculty are expected to make significant contributions through their work at the College. The primary role of a Faculty member is that of an active, engaged, energetic, and effective teacher and scholar/artist. Faculty members are also required to engage in service to the College. The standards outlined below establish an order of priority assigned to these areas that fits this normative profile of the Faculty member’s role. The College’s current system for assigning merit pay increases serves to reinforce this priority by assigning percentages to each (teaching 40%, scholarship 35%, service 25%).

Section VIII establishes the standards of evaluation assigned to each of these areas. Assessments using these standards provide the basis for decisions on retention, tenure and promotion, and annual compensation. Candidates for tenure and/or promotion must meet the standard in each area; achievement in one area cannot compensate for weakness in another.

If evaluation criteria are changed within the three-year period prior to tenure evaluation, a tenure candidate may, at his or her request, be evaluated by the criteria in effect at the beginning of that three-year period. Such a request must be made in writing as a part of the tenure application.

There are a number of processes that govern the collection of information that provides the basis for assessments of a member of the Faculty. These processes are discussed in Section IX. These processes and procedures serve to reinforce the standards outlined below.

Teaching: Effective teaching is central to Rhodes’ educational mission and it is the most important area of the work of the Faculty. Teaching takes place through traditional classroom and laboratory instruction (disciplinary or interdisciplinary), directed inquiries, supervising honors projects and/or other forms of student research. In evaluating Faculty performance in this area, the following standards apply:

• A Faculty member sustains in his or her classes a consistent engagement with matters of substance and importance in the subject area.
• A Faculty member demonstrates command of the subject material and the critical issues surrounding it.
• A Faculty member constructs syllabi that make grading policies and course goals clear. The design of student assignments and projects demonstrably advances course goals.
• A Faculty member uses pedagogical techniques that produce student learning. A Faculty member mentors students to facilitate learning.
• A Faculty member develops in students the ability to think critically on the subjects studied and to communicate effectively about these subjects.
• A Faculty member doing exceptional work in teaching exceeds the standards outlined above. He or she organizes courses in ways that define especially effective pedagogy, as evidenced by particularly successful educational outcomes. He or she may be recognized at Rhodes and/or within his or her field as a leader in pedagogical development. Acknowledgment of distinction in teaching from external organizations (through teaching awards or receipt of grants in support of successful pedagogy, for example) may also qualify a Faculty member for this recognition.

Research and Creative Activities: Research and creative activities are essential in fostering and maintaining a vital academic environment. Faculty members who involve themselves in such activities are most likely to be confident exponents and interpreters of their disciplines. Appointment to the Rhodes Faculty is made with the expectation that a Faculty member brings with him or her a commitment to advancing scholarly knowledge or producing creative works in his or her field. This area ranks a close second to teaching in the work of the Faculty. In evaluating a Faculty member’s performance in this area, the following general standard applies:

• A Faculty member demonstrates his or her ongoing engagement in research or creative activity by the regular appearance of professional work in refereed publications or in juried exhibits/performances. The Faculty member is also expected to demonstrate effective professional citizenship, which normally accompanies research and creative activities.
• The appropriate level of accomplishment necessary to demonstrate an ongoing engagement varies from field to field. Each academic department of the College has established detailed standards for performance in research or creative activities and professional citizenship that are subject to review and approval by the Dean of the Faculty.

A Faculty member doing exceptional work in research and creative activities will demonstrate a level of production that exceeds the standard specified above. This work will have received recognition within the discipline represented. Each department has established specific criteria that define this level of achievement.

Service: Neither teaching nor research and creative activities – the central pillars of Rhodes’s educational mission – can stand without due attention to the service needs of the College. The operation and welfare of the College involve a number of important responsibilities corporately invested in the Faculty. These responsibilities rest equally on each member of the Faculty. Service ranks third in importance to the work of the Faculty.

In evaluating a Faculty member’s performance in this area, the following standards apply:

• A Faculty member is an effective advisor to students. Advising includes formal responsibilities as an academic advisor to first-year students and sophomores and/or departmental majors. Aiding students who seek post-graduate scholarships and/or admission to professional and graduate schools by providing counsel and, where appropriate, preparing letters of reference is also expected.
• A Faculty member carries a fair share of the administrative work of his or her department. This work includes participating in Faculty development and evaluation activities, curriculum reviews and implementation of curriculum changes, overseeing library and other academic resources, aiding in the recruitment of students and new Faculty, and supporting departmental co-curricular activities.
• A Faculty member participates in the governance of the Faculty and the College. Faculty members are expected to provide reliable service to the College through such channels as membership on standing committees of the Faculty, administrative committees of the College or Board of Trustees, ad hoc committees or task forces, engaging in and/or providing leadership for appropriate co-curricular activities, and/or activities that develop and sustain the College’s connections to the Memphis community. Faculty members are also expected to work with other departments from time to time to help with Faculty recruitment, development, and evaluation.

The governance structure of the College serves to distribute these collegial duties in a fair and effective manner. Normally, major leadership responsibilities (such as chairing standing committees or departments) should be assigned to senior Faculty members.

A Faculty member who is doing exceptional work in the area of service plays an effective leadership role at the College in ways that are recognized by various constituencies in the campus community. A major role in reviewing and reshaping institutional practices, in envisioning, leading, and realizing long and short-term goals at the departmental and institutional levels, or in service to students all qualify a person for this recognition.

Levels of assessment: In making annual and triennial evaluations, the following levels of assessment are used:

• Exceptional. Performance at this level exceeds the College’s high standards as outlined above.
• Excellent. Performance at this level meets the College’s high standards as outlined above.
• Good. Performance at this level is close to and progressing toward the College’s standards but needs some improvement. This level of assessment is appropriate for probationary Faculty. It may be used in triennial reviews of tenured Faculty in which an area needing improvement has been identified.
• Marginal. Performance at this level is deficient in meeting the College’s standards and requires significant improvement.
• Inadequate. Performance at this level is substantially deficient in meeting the College’s standards.

Special considerations involving the evaluation of the work of the Faculty: There are special considerations in regard to certain stages in a Faculty member’s professional career that warrant further explanation.

Reappointment in the probationary years of appointment is based on annual reviews in each of the three areas. A special review is conducted in the third year of appointment of a probationary Faculty member. This review is designed to make an assessment of progress to date and to identify areas where improvement may be needed. The department chairperson and the Dean of the Faculty must be able to affirm that the probationary Faculty member’s work exhibits a trajectory that is likely to culminate in a positive tenure review, or that reasonable work can be done in the remaining three years before the tenure review to establish a record that meets the College’s standards in the three areas. If it is determined that progress to date is not sufficient, the appointment for a fourth year will be a terminal appointment.

A candidate for tenure will go through a tenure review normally held in the sixth year of appointment. The procedures followed for this review are described in “Process and Procedures to be followed in the Evaluation of a Member of the Faculty.” For tenure to be granted, the tenure review must establish that the candidate has met the College’s standards in teaching, research and creative activities, and service. In addition, the review must establish that the candidate has demonstrated a pattern of consistent, coherent, and vibrant development as a teacher, that his or her research and/or creative activity is recognized by peers as of high quality, that the candidate works effectively with students, colleagues and the administration to ensure a quality educational program at the College. The review must affirm that this pattern of excellence in all three areas can be expected to be a distinguishing mark of the candidate’s continued professional life at the College. Tenure is granted to a member of the Faculty by the Board of Trustees on the recommendation of the President.

Promotion to the rank of Professor recognizes long established patterns of excellence in teaching, research and creative activities, and service. The procedures followed for this review are described in “Process and Procedures to be followed in the Evaluation of a Member of the Faculty.” For promotion to Professor to occur, the review for promotion must establish that the candidate has demonstrated, and is expected to continue to demonstrate, in his or her work a pattern of excellence that merits recognition at Rhodes as outstanding within the profession of undergraduate education. The record of post-tenure evaluations for the candidate for promotion must show that he or she has consistently met the College’s standards over the period since the granting of tenure. In addition, the review for promotion must establish that the candidate is an accomplished teacher. It must establish that the candidate is a scholar, researcher and/or artist whose contribution to the discipline is recognized by peers as significant and substantial. It must establish that the candidate exercises leadership roles in the effective conduct of the business of the Faculty within its committee structure, in support of its academic program, or in the enhancement of the College’s academic mission. In short, for promotion to be granted, the review process must affirm that the candidate has achieved a degree of professional maturity that surpasses that recognized at the point of tenure. The President forwards to the Board of Trustees a recommendation for promotion to the rank of Professor.

The importance and valuing of the three areas of the work of the Faculty: Each Faculty member is required to be involved in teaching, research/creative activity, and service throughout his or her career at the College, though different emphases may be temporarily appropriate at different stages of a career. Care should be taken by the Faculty member and those in academic administrative positions to insure that no one component, over extended periods of time, threatens to compromise a Faculty member’s overall performance.

The College therefore affirms the following:

During the probationary years (normally, the first year through the sixth year of service to the College): The focus at this stage should be on a Faculty member’s work as a teacher and scholar/artist – on becoming skilled in the classroom and established in one’s discipline. Since service to the College is not a substitute for meeting the standard in teaching and in research or creative activity, care should be taken to insure that a junior Faculty member’s service involvements do not interfere with his or her development as a teacher and scholar/artist. Faculty service in the first three years should focus on developing skills and competency as an advisor to students and as a departmental colleague. By the beginning of the third year, service should expand to include work on college-wide committees and/or on campus-wide initiatives.

Following the probationary years (normally, the seventh year of service until retirement): Like junior Faculty, senior Faculty are bound by the College’s standards. The College expects that senior Faculty members will sustain a level of quality of work in all three areas that meets the College’s standards, although the quantity of a Faculty member’s workload devoted to each area may shift temporarily from time to time.

For example, becoming a senior member of the Faculty entails assuming a more prominent role in Faculty governance (as department chair, college-wide Faculty committee chair, initiator of curricular reform, program development on behalf of the goals of the College, and the like).

Concentrated efforts in pedagogical and/or curricular development may take away time from research/creative activity and service. The awarding of a major grant may involve a reduction in teaching load and in service commitments for the grant period. While such shifts are appropriate, they should be carefully monitored. The post-tenure evaluation cycle provides room for such shifts while also monitoring them to prevent more extensive involvement in one area from damaging a Faculty member’s performance in other areas.

Normally, heavy service commitments should not last longer than three consecutive years in order to ensure that every Faculty member remains an active and energized teacher and scholar. Care should be taken by each Faculty member and those in academic administrative positions to ensure a profile for each Faculty member that is in keeping with the College’s standards. The equitable distribution of workload across the Faculty is done with the intention of making possible this profile.