The Oregon State System of Higher Education recently completed a 3-year study entitled Faculty Teaching: Models for Assessment of Quality. Over 400 teaching and administrative faculty selected on a random or stratified basis answered the following questions: (1) What factors are considered in the assessment of faculty performance? (2) What…

Because of the growing emphasis on tenure and faculty evaluation the Southern Regional Education Board conducted a survey of faculty evaluation procedures. Questionnaires received from 536 private and public institutions in a 14-state region illustrate the picture of who evaluates, how, and why. The survey showed that the department chairperson…

The basic documents on faculty status for librarians in colleges and universities are compiled. The first chapter contains a history and overview of university librarians' status and discussions of such topics as professionalism, the librarian's role, tenure, academic freedom, evaluation, titles and ranks, professional growth, research, and…

Five different metaphors of evaluation are discussed: judging, criticizing, assessing, appraising, rating; the faculty can be evaluated for appointment, tenure, promotion, salary, termination, improvement. Faculty can be evaluated for research, teaching, and service, and they can be evaluated by other faculty, administrators, students, and outside…

Social Judgment Analysis, a formal decision model, is used to develop a decision support system that provides documentation on faculty accomplishments to assist faculties in making personnel decisions that are systematic, explicit, consistent, and retraceable. (Author/MSE)

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…

Sweeney is the first higher education case in which a court overruled unanimous peer recommendation against promotion and tenure. The possible implications for the peer review or collegial model of making faculty promotion and tenure decisions are examined, and more thorough and objective decision methods are recommended. (MSE)

Two divergent views are contrasted: the multidimensional and the unidimensional views of faculty evaluation. The views of H. W. Marsh, the most outspoken advocate of the multidimensional view of evaluation based on factor scores, is summarized and a response to his concerns is presented. (Author/MLW)

A strategy for assisting candidates for promotion is outlined. Teaching, research, and service remain the key criteria for faculty evaluation. Untenured faculty must devote time to research and teaching: developing manuscripts for publication, writing proposals for extramural funding, conceptualizing a program of research, formulating new courses,…

The report of a study of 18 junior faculty in varying stages of tenure eligibility at a research university presents the experiences of two, a man and a woman, felt to be representative of faculty experiences and perceptions. Issues addressed include peer relationships, competition, publishing, performance feedback, social expectations, personal…

A survey of 104 highly selective liberal arts colleges gathered information on the faculty tenure review process, focusing on tenure candidate access to review documents or deliberations and the effects on the selectivity of the outcomes. A clear relationship between selectivity and confidentiality was not found. (MSE)

Raises questions about the evaluation process for composition faculty who use computer and Internet technologies in the classroom and for distance learning. Discusses the "panoptic" effect made possible by the accessibility of class Web pages to administrators. Concludes with a set of practical recommendations for faculty and their departments on…

Looks at the complexity of the "technorhetorician's" place within traditional academic institutions. Points out the shortcomings of current positionalities assigned to technorhetoricians. Argues that these scholars are a diverse and multilayered group whose members occupy many positions, emphasizing the shifting and sometimes contradictory nature…

Describes concerns within the academic community on the use of collegiality as a factor in decisions concerning faculty employment, promotion, tenure, and termination. Such concerns include discrimination and stifling of dissent. Discusses how courts have decided in favor of universities in almost every discrimination case in which collegiality…

This paper examines efforts by the Department of Psychology at Ursinus College (Pennsylvania) to realign its faculty evaluation, promotion, and tenure guidelines with the increasing emphasis placed on student-centered instruction at the college. It focuses on the need to link faculty rewards with student achievement and to give faculty more input…