Faculty Promotion

I. Description of Ranks
The rank of professor carries substantial responsibility. Faculty members with the rank of professor have demonstrated excellence in teaching, contributed to the college in significant ways, demonstrated commitment to community service, and gained professional recognition among their peers in professional organizations and/or professional publications.

Associate professors have demonstrated excellence in teaching, contributed to college service, participated in community service, and hold active membership in professional organizations related to their discipline.

Assistant professors have demonstrated a superior level of teaching, contributed to college service, participated in community service, and hold membership in professional organizations.

II. Professional Responsibilities
Four major professional responsibilities have been identified in evaluating the faculty for promotion: effective teaching and student learning, college service, community service, and educational leadership. The Promotion Committee [the Committee] will consider each responsibility carefully when reviewing an applicant. Effective teaching and student learning are necessary conditions for promotion to any rank. An applicant must provide sufficient evidence of effective teaching and student learning to be recommended for promotion. The emphasis given to college service, community service, and educational leadership is increased with each advancement in rank.

III. Eligibility for Promotion
To be eligible for promotion, the applicant must adhere to the procedures outlined in this document. Faculty members may apply for promotion to assistant professor no earlier than the end of their third full year in rank as instructor. Faculty members may apply for promotion to associate professor no earlier than the end of their third full year in rank as assistant professor. Faculty members may apply for promotion to professor no earlier than the end of their third full year in rank as associate professor and the attainment of continuous appointment status. Denial of promotion does not preclude a new application in the following year.

IV. Promotion Time Line
Applicants are encouraged to indicate by March 15 to their division dean their intent to apply for promotion to provide opportunities for observation by deans and peers.

June 1: Applicant submits written notification to the respective division dean and to the director of human resources of the intent to apply for rank promotion. The applicant will discuss the feasibility of promotion with the division dean at this time. Human Resources will review candidate eligibility and provide confirmation of eligibility to the applicant.

October 1: The applicant submits completed documentation supporting promotion to the director of human resources.

December 1: The committee submits recommendation and supporting documentation to the vice-president for academic affairs.

February 1: The vice-president for academic affairs forwards own recommendation and that of the committee to the president.

March 1: The president informs applicants, the vice-president, and committee members of the recommendations to be submitted to the Board of Trustees.

V. Application Review Procedures
Step 1: The director of human resources will verify eligibility to apply for promotion, advise applicants of their status, and forward their materials to the committee.

Step 2: The committee will review each applicant’s qualifications and the documentation that supports effective teaching and student learning, college service, community service, and educational leadership. The committee shall discuss its findings about each applicant before any vote occurs. The committee may request additional supportive evidence, as it deems necessary. The committee may choose to meet either with all or none of the applicants. The committee shall make its decision by secret ballot about each applicant. The committee shall vote “yes,” “no,” or “abstain” for each candidate. An abstention shall count as neither “yes” nor “no.” If the resulting vote is a tie, the motion fails. A simple majority of the entire committee [four votes] is the minimum required to recommend an applicant for promotion.

During the term of this agreement, up to 10% of all full-time faculty members (rounded up to the next highest whole number) may be recommended for promotion. If there are more applicants than positions available, those applicants with the most “yes” votes out of seven shall be recommended first. If there are candidates with at least four of seven “yes” votes, but fewer positions available than the number of such candidates, the committee shall continue to discuss those candidates, their qualifications and documentation, and vote again.

The committee chair shall submit a written recommendation to the vice-president for academic affairs that includes a narrative summarizing the recommendation about each applicant.

Step 3: The vice-president for academic affairs, after review of the committee recommendation and the applicant documentation, shall submit a written recommendation about each candidate to the president that includes an explanatory narrative, and which will accompany the applicant documentation and committee recommendation.

Step 4: The president shall review the recommendations and documentation from all parties and forward a recommendation for promotion to the Board for its review and action. Applicants shall be notified about their status by March 1. Discrepancies between the recommendations by the committee and the vice-president and/or the president will be shared with the committee before the Board acts. From the time that applicant files are in review [that is, from October 1 through March 1], no appeal of the process shall be entertained by any party thereto.

Step 5: The Board will act on the promotion applications.

Note: Applicants will be notified of their status in the process as follows: Step 1 – director of human resources, and Steps 4 and 5 – president.

VI. Appeal Process
If a request for promotion is denied, the applicant may submit a written request to the president within seven days of such notification outlining the rationale for an additional review. The appeal must be based on violation of the outlined procedure.

VII. Committee Structure

Composition & Selection: The committee will consist of seven full-time faculty members. The full-time faculty in each division shall elect two faculty members, and one faculty member will be elected at-large. Before the end of the spring semester, Human Resources shall send ballots to all eligible full-time faculty members to elect the member-at-large. No member of the committee may be an applicant for promotion. The committee will select a chair at its first meeting.

Qualifications: Each committee member must hold continuous status.

Length of service and transition: In order to maintain consistency, the two-year terms will be staggered. Three faculty members, one from each division, shall serve one-year terms only during the first year. The other four committee members, including the at-large member, shall serve two-year terms. With this significant change in structure, the committee shall begin anew with elections to be held in September 2002. Thereafter, elections shall be held before the end of each spring semester.

VIII. Promotion Packet
The applicant is responsible for ensuring that all required documents are included in the Promotion Packet.

The Faculty Promotion – Applicant Cover Sheet and the Checklist of Required and Optional Documents shall be the first pages of the promotion packet. Subsequent pages shall follow the format provided in this section of this document, with the intent that the information supports and documents the level of performance.

Within each category [A, B, C, D] below, applicants shall submit supporting evidence for the four major professional responsibilities, listed immediately below. Each responsibility is weighted as to its importance for evaluation. These percentages are guidelines to be used in the evaluation of the qualitative assessment of an applicant’s work. The candidate is not required actually to have expended these percentages of total work time in each indicated area.

Effective Teaching and Student Learning [65%]
College Service [20%]
Community Service [10%]
Educational Leadership [5%]

Note: For examples of evidence, applicants, evaluators, and committee members are referred to the Sample Indicators of Professional Performance for Full-Time Faculty.

Category A: Self-Assessment
Applicants shall submit copies of their professional development plans for the previous three years. They shall submit a separate narrative summary of their accomplishments, areas of improvement, evaluation of their professional growth, and their approach to effective teaching and student learning.

Category B: Student Assessment
Applicants shall submit evidence of student assessment relevant to effective teaching and student learning such as informal notes, student evaluation comments, or more formal letters of endorsement or appreciation. Students shall not be solicited to provide such documents for promotion purposes.

Category C: Administrative Assessment
The written assessment shall be submitted by the respective division dean, detailing observations and recommendations about the applicant’s performance in effective teaching and student learning. The dean’s letter shall include a clear statement of recommendation. In addition, the dean shall refer to classroom observations and evaluations by the dean, student evaluations, course syllabi, professional development plans and accomplishments, involvement in department, division, and college activities, and fulfillment of faculty obligations such as division, department, and faculty meetings, committee service, inservice activities, and commencement.

Category D: Peer and Colleague Assessment
Faculty peers and other institutional colleagues shall submit written support in review and endorsement of the applicants. Letters of support shall be submitted directly to Human Resources by a significant number of faculty members in the respective division (30%-40% suggested). Although no formal peer evaluation process currently exists at the college, applicants may request peers to observe their classes. Factors to be considered might include teamwork and willingness to provide professional support to peers and colleagues, knowledge of subject matter [for peers in the same or similar discipline], contributions to the department, division, and college, and observed classroom performance. Letters from committee members cannot be included.

ST. CHARLES COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Faculty Promotion – Applicant Cover Sheet

1. Name_______________________________________________________________________

2. Date of Initial Full-Time Appointment to SCC______________________________Month/Year

3. Disciplinary teaching areas______________________________________________________

4. Years in Rank at SCC:

Instructor ______________ [list specific years]

Assistant Professor _____________ [list specific years]
Associate Professor _____________ [list specific years]
Professor ______________ [list specific years]

5. Applicant Signature___________________________________________________________

6. Date_______________________________________________________________________

7. Receipt by Human Resources [Signature]_________________________________________

8. Date_______________________________________________________________________

ST. CHARLES COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Checklist of Required and Optional Documents

Applicant Name _______________________________________________________________

Verification by Human Resources of Eligibility to Apply for Promotion:

____________________________________________________________________________
Signature & Date

The Promotion Packet must include the following documents for the applicant to be considered:

1. Documents submitted by the applicant

1. Completed Faculty Promotion – Applicant Cover Sheet.
2. Completed Checklist of Required and Optional Documents and related documents.
3. Evidence of effective teaching and student learning, college service, community service, and educational leadership.
4. Narrative summary of accomplishments, areas of improvement, evaluation of professional growth, and approach to effective teaching and student learning.
5. Self-assessment completed for the previous three years.
6. Professional development plans for the previous three years.
7. Teaching schedule and reassigned time for the previous three years.
8. Course syllabi, one from each course taught up to a maximum of five.

2. Documents submitted to Human Resources by the respective dean:

1. Written assessment of the applicant’s performance in effective teaching and student learning
.

2. Summary printouts of all student course evaluations for the previous three years, except for years when these were not produced
.

3. Classroom observations and evaluations by the dean.

3. Documents submitted by Human Resources:

1. Copies of official transcripts of additional coursework/degrees earned since the previous promotion that are relevant to the current promotion application.
2. Peer and colleague letters of support (30%-40% suggested).

Optional documents submitted by the applicant:

1. Student letters and notes. Students shall not be solicited to provide such documents.
2. Samples of student work.
3. Additional documents that support the promotion application.
4. Peer evaluations.