Faculty Policies Handbook:

4. Policies and Procedures

4.7 Policy and procedures in Regard to Faculty/Course Evaluation
The College of Arts and Sciences is committed to maintaining excellence in the teaching, scholarship/creative activity, and collegial and professional service of all faculty members. The criteria outlined in 3.1.3 in this handbook are applicable in assessing the performance of all faculty members. The evaluation of teaching should draw upon the judgments of students, peers, and Department Chairs.

4.7.1 The College of Arts and Sciences affirms the importance of student course evaluations to both the development of teaching excellence and of evaluation of faculty performance in relation to tenure, promotion and merit reviews. Thus, conscious development of student-centered teaching evaluation instruments and conscientious attention to their administration and outcomes are essential.

Given these principles, each Department or Program, in consultation with the Dean, shall develop its own forms and procedures for assessing performance in all areas. These procedures shall be written and shall on an annual basis be drawn to the attention of all program faculty.

4.7.1.1 Forms
All such forms must conform to the following principles: all forms (1) must include a brief description of the purpose of the evaluations and of their use; (2) must provide an opportunity for written response to questions soliciting comments about successful aspects of the course and about aspects of the course that need improvement; (3) also, must allow questions tailored to the individual course, and if desired, to the departmental/program purposes; and (4) must ensure anonymity of respondents. All forms should place questions requesting written responses at the beginning of the evaluation instrument.

4.7.1.2 Procedures
Departmental/program procedures for administration of student evaluations of faculty and courses must conform to the following principles: (1) all faculty must provide for student evaluation of each course taught during the regular academic year; (2) sufficient time must be provided for thoughtful completion of the evaluation form (it is suggested that the form be administered at the beginning of a class period); (3) faculty must leave the room while students are completing in-class evaluation forms; and (4) forms must be submitted to the department chair or personnel specified by the program statement and not be available to the evaluated faculty member until after semester grades have been submitted and the chair or responsible person has reviewed the forms.

Department/program procedures for use of student evaluations of faculty and courses must conform to the following principles: (1) department/program chair or other designated individual(s) must review and summarize course evaluation responses; (2) summaries are to be submitted to the evaluated faculty member, submitted to the Dean with the annual Professional Activity Evaluation, and must be placed in the faculty member's permanent file; (3) when that faculty member is on tenure-track, the summary must be submitted to all faculty serving on the appropriate review committee during the annual review; and (4) the Chair or specified Personnel officer must discuss the evaluations and their implications for pedagogy (either change or maintenance of procedures) with the evaluated faculty member.

All departmental and program procedure statements should encourage: (1) appropriate explanations of evaluation procedures by the faculty member, (2) feedback to students about the impacts that evaluations have had on teaching; and (3) administration of "early-term" evaluation forms that will allow adjustment of course pedagogy and requirements during the evaluated term.