The productivity of faculty members often figures prominently in annual evaluations, post-tenure reviews, and decisions about tenure, promotion, merit pay, release time, awards, and other kinds of recognition. Yet the procedures and instruments that institutions use to assess productivity and merit vary, leaving little that unifies the evaluation…

Provides a case study of the use of departmental peer review at the University of Rhode Island, focusing on the differing attitudes toward the peer review process held by tenured and untenured faculty, the apprehension of women and minority faculty toward the process, and the "ratcheting up" of the research and publication requirements…

Argues that teaching portfolios are time consuming and have not been shown to improve college faculty teaching skills. Raises some unanswered questions concerning teaching portfolios and reviews what is known about effective teaching at the college level. Suggests that constructing the portfolio often becomes the focus instead of instructional…

Discusses the use of post-tenure review to help preserve the tenure system at colleges and universities, focusing on the use of such reviews to encourage faculty development and productivity, ensure faculty control over the review system, and help marginal faculty improve their performance. (MDM)

Presents recommendations of a faculty/administrator committee at Louisiana State University concerning faculty ranks and reviews, especially of nontenured full-time faculty who specialize in either teaching or research. It proposes rolling multiple-year contracts for instructors, new titles for non-teaching research scientists, university…

Results of a conference reviewing recommendations favoring post-tenure evaluation were that: current procedures for evaluating faculty are satisfactory; additional formal periodic evaluation would incur unacceptable costs and scant benefit; and results of any evaluation should not be used as grounds for dismissal. (MSE)

Discusses the need for post-tenure faculty review to root out "dead wood" faculty and increase faculty accountability, focusing on the time frame for such reviews, who gets reviewed, and the intensity and ramifications of the review. Also notes criticisms of post-tenure reviews and the need to build community through self-regulation.…

Argues that the use of teaching portfolios can improve college faculty teaching skills and provide evaluators with useful information in promotion/tenure decisions. Suggestions are offered for portfolio content, portfolio design, and ways to create an institutional climate of acceptance. (DB)

Most college and university administrators claim to care deeply about the quality of teaching at their institutions. But, too often, their actions belie their words. Consider, for example, the following questions. Which candidate for a faculty position is usually viewed as more attractive, the promising researcher or the promising teacher? Who…

The report, prepared by the American Association of University Professors' Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, outlines new proposed policy on posttenure review of faculty. It presents arguments for and against the practice, discusses its use for dismissal purposes, offers guidelines for establishment of a system for periodic evaluation of…

This article argues that higher education's current preoccupation with student evaluations of teachers encourages student passivity and disregards the importance of the contribution learners must make to learn; students who grade faculty for four years are being taught to blame someone else for their failures. (MSE)

A response to a previous article by Steven M. Cahn ("The Authority of a Teacher"), about the threat of student evaluations of teacher performance to faculty authority, expresses concern that professional rights and privileges rather than academic freedom are being protected. (MSE)

An evaluation of the University of Colorado's posttenure faculty peer review process found that, although the process was successful in identifying faculty whose efforts might be reinvigorated through faculty development, the resources to effect change had seldom been forthcoming. The most useful aspect of the review was the most neglected. (MSE)

Student evaluations of faculty members are worth reading, but some difficulties in their interpretation must be solved if they are not to subvert the teaching process. Problems include the perceived connection between lowered academic standards and student evaluations, the role of personalities, and their use for personnel decisions. (MSE)

A survey of 63 college provosts and academic vice presidents concerning evaluation of tenured faculty found that, although frequency and form of evaluation vary widely, the large majority of institutions do perform regular reviews of tenured faculty. Most respondents also felt that the tenure system works relatively well. (MSE)