Faculty compensation is a critical management tool for increasing faculty productivity, improving cost efficiency, and enhancing an institution's public image. Factors that determine faculty compensation include academic rank, faculty productivity, discipline market pay, ability to obtain external grants, seniority or length of service, service in…

This digest summarizes a report that addresses trends and issues in assessment in relation to the role of college faculty, including advances in assessment to make it more congenial to faculty, different ways in which institutions have approached assessment, and how assessment can be viewed as a faculty role. The report identifies such major…

Faced with scarce resources and environmental uncertainty in the past decade, colleges and universities have experimented with different modes of academic staffing, most of which are attempts to preserve or create more flexible policies and practices. In spite of tenure systems in operation at 94% of all four year colleges, institutions have at…

A discussion of the purposes and effectiveness of faculty evaluation is presented. Topics of discussion include the purposes of faculty evaluation, the importance of clarity of purpose, and whether or not faculty evaluation results in more productive faculty. Ten guidelines for faculty evaluation programs are listed as follows: make sure the…

This digest suggests post-tenure faculty development programs as a way to address pressures on the tenure system and calls for the elimination of tenure in higher education. The paper notes that tenure policies are being impacted by internal factors such as the uncapping of the mandatory retirement age and the aging of faculty, as well as by…

This digest discusses the use of teaching portfolios in higher education, in light of recent criticisms of faculty teaching productivity and the reward structure of universities. Teaching portfolios can be defined as vehicles for documenting teaching (with an emphasis on demonstrating excellence), empowering professors to gain dominion over their…

Factors that have led to post-tenure evaluation of faculty are considered, along with concerns that should be examined before designing a post-tenure review process. Post-tenure evaluation is not in opposition to the principle of tenure and to policy statements about tenure issued by the American Association of University Professors, provided that…

This digest explores the changing role of the academic department chair in the areas of leadership, influence, and faculty development. The paper uses research insights to explore the situation of an academic chair who is squeezed between the demands of upper administration and the expectations of faculty, staff, and students. Studies of the roles…

This digest summarizes a report of a study of the research literature on faculty publication productivity, with special emphasis on gender as a factor in publishing productivity. Major issues addressed by the report include: (1) the existence of significant gender and race differences in publishing productivity, with women and minorities…

This digest, based on a full report of the same title, provides an examination of the improvement of college teaching and argues for the central involvement of faculty themselves in collaborative peer review and looks at some central issues and challenges to implementation. Since summative evaluation involved in tenure and promotion decisions…

One of the main obstacles to effective faculty evaluation is the inability to reach consensus on the evaluation's intended purpose. On one hand, faculty evaluation has a formative purpose, supporting faculty development, growth, and self-improvement, while it also has a summative purpose in that it provides data to make personnel decisions on…

Despite a history of conflicting research on its reliability and validity, student evaluation of faculty (SEF) has typically not been viewed as an infringement on academic freedom; it has generally been taken for granted that SEF is appropriate and necessary. However, informal and reasoned analyses of the issue indicate that because SEF is used…