Academic Affairs Process and Procedures

Effective date: September 2016; updated June 2019

The purpose of this document is to identify key policy statements related to annual written performance summaries, and to clarify related procedures.

1.  Written Performance Summaries & Annual Salary Adjustments

Written performance summaries for all faculty have long been a part of the annual salary adjustment process. Policy language in the Regular Faculty Handbook has been revised in the past few years and can be found in SG 3.08. Here are the key points:

• For each faculty member, a written performance summary is created annually. This summary will include a performance rating (“less than satisfactory performance”, “satisfactory performance”, “exemplary performance”) which will inform the faculty member’s annual salary adjustment
• The written performance summary will also be used in personnel actions (see below)
• Along with the performance rating, faculty can also be considered for a “special salary adjustment” due to equity concerns or other pertinent issues.
• Deans will report all performance ratings to the Provost. In certain cases, a justification for the rating is required. The written performance summary can serve as the justification, or a separate document can be created, if appropriate. Cases that need justification are:
  • All non-tenured regular faculty. (This has been in effect since Winter 2013.)
  • Tenured faculty whose rating is “less than satisfactory” or “exemplary”.
  • Faculty for which the Dean is recommending a “special salary adjustment”.

Additional guidelines from the Provost's office:

• Unless problems have been identified, no special annual review process should apply to untenured regular faculty.
• However, for untenured regular faculty, or tenured faculty anticipating applying for promotion, the peer reviewers (or the unit head) should pay particular attention to any potential concerns regarding contract renewal, tenure, and promotion. It is appropriate to identify these potential concerns in the written performance summary.
• For untenured regular faculty, the unit head should present the faculty member with an original and a copy of the written performance summary. The faculty member will sign the original and return it to the unit head and retain the copy for later inclusion with personnel review materials. This signature does not necessarily indicate agreement with the summary, but rather simply that it has been received. 
• Although the Faculty Handbook is silent on this aspect, the faculty member may write a response of not more than one page, which will become part of their written performance summary. In addition, Faculty who disagree with the salary adjustment may appeal using pertinent supporting material according to the procedure specified in the Board of Trustees Policies BOT 4.2.18.
• The unit head shall retain the signed copies of the written performance summaries (and any responses) and of justifications for salary recommendations of all untenured regular faculty, and shall place these in the unit files for future reference.

2.  Written Performance Summaries & Personnel Actions

In February 2016, the list of required candidate materials was revised in the Board of Trustees Policies. Along with a vita, personal statement, and examples of relevant work, BOT 4.2.10.5.D states:

"Faculty Workload Reports (FWRs), Faculty Workload Plans (FWPs), and written performance summaries from the Faculty Annual Salary Adjustment Program for the period relevant to the action under consideration. For probationary faculty, the relevant period shall be the time served as a tenure track faculty member. For tenured faculty, the relevant period shall be the previous six (6) years at the University or the length of service as a tenured and tenure track faculty member normally not to exceed a total of six (6) years."

Connected to this revision, the Provost in late 2015 communicated guidelines to academic Deans regarding which performance summaries must be included in candidate materials for any personnel action:

• Performance summaries composed in 2016 and thereafter are to be included.
• Other summaries from previous years are not required to be included, but can be if the candidate chooses, or if this is an expectation of the unit or college.

It is the responsibility of the candidate to retain their performance summaries and include these in their dossier. The unit head is encouraged to have a file copy maintained in the department files.

*It is the responsibility of the candidate to retain their performance summaries to include in their dossier/portfolio. The unit head is encouraged to have a file copy maintained in the department.