2017

ACADEMIC FACULTY ANNUAL EVALUATION INSTRUCTIONS GUIDE Updated: December 1, 2017

The Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE) requires all faculty members to be evaluated in writing at least once annually. At UNLV, all full-time academic faculty members (including faculty-in-residence and lecturers) are evaluated for the calendar year (January 1 through December 31) during the first three months of the following year. The content in this Instructions Guide is designed to assist faculty, evaluators, and administrative staff and ensure that evaluations are completed in a thorough and timely manner. The current evaluation process is electronic, and there is no longer any need to print, photocopy, or transmit hard copies of signed evaluations.

Table of Contents Academic Faculty Annual Evaluation Process ...................................................... 2 2017 Academic Faculty Annual Evaluation Timeline ............................................. 3 Academic Faculty Annual Evaluation Procedure ................................................... 3 Checklists ............................................................................................................... 5 Special Circumstances .......................................................................................... 5 Academic Faculty Serving in Administrative Roles ......................................... 5 Response/Rejoinder ........................................................................................ 5 Peer Review .................................................................................................... 5 Administrative Faculty ..................................................................................... 6 NSHE Code and UNLV Bylaws ............................................................................. 6 Contact ................................................................................................................... 6

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ACADEMIC FACULTY ANNUAL EVALUATION PROCESS All full-time academic faculty members are to be evaluated annually using the Faculty Annual Evaluation Report available for download from the annual evaluations website. The standard unit-level and university-level review processes, along with variations due to a request for peer review or submission of a written response/rejoinder, are delineated within the following flow chart:

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2017 ACADEMIC FACULTY ANNUAL EVALUATION TIMELINE All dates, except the date when materials are due to the Office of Faculty Affairs, are recommendations that are subject to change at the dean’s discretion. •

Jan. 1 – Feb. 1

•

Feb. 1 – Mar. 1

• • •

Feb. 15 – Mar. 1 Mar. 1 – Mar. 16 Mar. 16

Faculty member completes and submits the Faculty Annual Achievement Report to the department chair/supervisor Department chair/supervisor completes the Faculty Annual Evaluation Report and reviews with the faculty member Faculty member signs and returns the Evaluation Report Dean reviews and signs the Evaluation Report Dean’s office uploads signed Evaluation Report to X-Drive for further processing by the Office of Faculty Affairs

ACADEMIC ANNUAL EVALUATION PROCEDURES Faculty member completes and submits Faculty Annual Achievement Report

Academic faculty members are asked to submit a self-report of yearly activities, called the Faculty Annual Achievement Report, which is available in two formats: 1. Online, using the Digital Measures Faculty Activity Tracking tool 2. An interactive PDF form, available on the annual evaluations website at http://www.unlv.edu/provost/annual-evaluations Digital Measures is now the preferred method of faculty activity reporting at UNLV. There are a number of important reasons why the University is seeking to accelerate the institution-wide adoption of this digital system. Primary among them is an improved ability to quantify faculty activities in order to promote and support the wide range of scholarly work and expertise on campus. More information on Digital Measures is available at https://www.unlv.edu/provost/digital-measures. Please confer with your department chair and/or dean about which format to use.

Chair/Supervisor completes evaluation

Department chairs/supervisors can download the academic faculty annual evaluation form, called the Faculty Annual Evaluation Report, from the annual evaluations website at http://www.unlv.edu/provost/annual-evaluations. There is one form for all types of academic faculty. Evaluators must select the “Tenure Status” and “Present Rank” to display the correct evaluation criteria and scales. Because of the cumulative impact of academic work, especially in research and creative activities, supervisors need not restrict all comments to the achievements of the calendar year and are encouraged to address the yearly achievements in the appropriate context. Chairs/supervisors are advised to meet and discuss the annual evaluation with each faculty member, regardless of rank, to discuss the past year’s

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achievements and plans for the coming year. In the case of an unsatisfactory evaluation or an evaluation finding a need for significant improvement, a remediation plan must be entered into the form. If a faculty member is on the tenure-track but pre-tenured, the chair must meet with the tenured faculty of the department to discuss the faculty member’s progress toward tenure. The chair should initial the relevant section of the Evaluation Report to indicate that this step was completed and provide relevant comments. Chairs/supervisors should ask all tenured faculty members not yet promoted to full professor whether they want an evaluation of their progress toward promotion to be provided. If so, the chair must meet with the faculty of the department promotion committee to review the faculty member’s progress. The chair should initial the relevant section of the Evaluation Report to indicate that this step was completed and provide relevant comments. Once completed, the evaluation should be electronically signed by the chair or evaluator to prevent any changes and then sent to the faculty member to be reviewed and signed. Note: Academic faculty serving in an administrative role may choose to be evaluated using the academic faculty evaluation form (i.e., Faculty Annual Evaluation Report) by their supervisors. When using the academic faculty evaluation form, the appropriate “Tenure Status” and “Present Rank” will need to be selected and the form will update accordingly.

Faculty reviews and signs evaluation

After reviewing the evaluation, the faculty member signs the Evaluation Report and returns it to the department chair or evaluator. If the faculty member wishes to supply a response/rejoinder or request a peer review, this can be done by clicking the appropriate link on the evaluation form or from the links available on the annual evaluation webpage at http://www.unlv.edu/provost/annual-evaluations. Written responses/rejoinders must be submitted within 30 calendar days of notification and requests for peer review must be submitted within 15 calendar days of notification of the faculty member, which has been interpreted to be the date the Faculty Annual Evaluation Report is transmitted by the supervisor to the faculty member.

Chair/supervisor uploads evaluation for dean’s review

Once the faculty member has signed the evaluation and returned it to the evaluator (i.e., chair or supervisor), that evaluation should be saved in the department/unit folder on the X-Drive with the file name 2017-EVAL[DEPARTMENT ABBREVIATION]-[LAST NAME]-[FIRST NAME].pdf (e.g., 2017-EVAL-CHEM-SMITH-JANE.pdf) for the dean’s office to access. The X-Drive path for Windows users is X: > Groups > Annual Evaluations > Department/Unit Name > 2017 Evaluations.

Dean reviews and signs evaluation and uploads the

Once the dean has reviewed and signed an evaluation, it should be saved in the college/school folder on the X-Drive with the file name 2017-EVAL[DEPARTMENT ABBREVIATION]-[LAST NAME]-[FIRST NAME]-

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document for review by the Provost

[DEAN/REVIEWING OFFICIAL INITIALS].pdf (e.g., 2017-EVAL-CHEMSMITH-JANE-HR.pdf) for the Office of Faculty Affairs to access for further processing. The X-Drive path for Windows users is X: > Groups > Annual Evaluations > College/School Name > 2017 Evaluations. The deadline for deans’ offices to upload completed and signed annual evaluations of academic faculty members to the X-Drive is March 16, 2018.

CHECKLISTS A checklist of actions for faculty, chairs/supervisors, and deans is available at: http://publish.smartsheet.com/d9e343d8e53c47188401ed6ff7fa176d.

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES Academic Faculty Serving in Administrative Roles Academic faculty serving in administrative roles (i.e., those on A-contracts, such as department chairs and school directors) may be evaluated using either the academic or administrative faculty evaluation form. Dean evaluations of chairs and directors must be informed, as per NSHE code, by faculty comment on the chair/director’s performance.

Written Response/Rejoinder Faculty members who wish to comment on the evaluator's report may elect to add a written response/rejoinder to the written evaluation, which then becomes part of the annual evaluation as recorded in the faculty members' personnel file. This response/rejoinder must be provided in written form and submitted to the evaluator, as well as to the Office of Faculty Affairs, within 30 calendar days of receipt of the original evaluation. This can be done by using the link provided here or within the evaluation form.

Peer Review Faculty members who seek a peer review by a committee of colleagues may request that the dean empanel a peer review committee within 15 calendar days of receipt of the written evaluation from the supervisor. This can be done by using the link provided here or within the evaluation form. Any dean who receives a request for a peer review should follow university and college bylaws and empanel a peer review committee within 15 calendar days. Any faculty member who requests a peer review may also provide to the peer review committee a file of information and materials to consider. This “Peer Review File” should be submitted to the dean within 30 days of receipt of the original evaluation.

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Administrative Faculty The evaluation process for administrative faculty is largely overseen by the Office of Human Resources, with involvement from the Office of Faculty Affairs only in specific instances concerning individuals who work a unit ultimately reporting to the Executive Vice President and Provost. Satisfactory evaluations for administrative faculty should be forwarded directly from the relevant dean or vice provost to the Office of Human Resources, unless the administrative faculty member is a direct report to the dean or vice provost, in which case the Executive Vice President and Provost will be the reviewing official and final signatory. However, any and all unsatisfactory evaluations of administrative faculty should be forwarded to the Office of Faculty Affairs using the X-Drive (as in step five of the Academic Faculty Annual Evaluation Process).

NSHE CODE AND UNLV BYLAWS The UNLV annual evaluation process is governed by the NSHE Code (Title 2, Chapter 5.12-13) and the UNLV Bylaws (Chapter III, Section 8.1-8.5). According to these policies: •

•

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Tenure-track and untenured faculty are to be ranked using the four-point scale of “Excellent,” Commendable,” “Satisfactory,” and “Unsatisfactory.” Since 2007, the practice at UNLV has been for tenured faculty to be evaluated on a two-point scale of “Satisfactory” and “Unsatisfactory.” As part of the evaluation of all tenure-track faculty, the department chair/director is asked to initial that he or she has met with the tenured faculty and incorporated into the evaluation the sense of the tenured faculty on the progress of the candidate toward tenure and promotion. A chair/director who identifies unsatisfactory performance or finds significant need for improvement in the written evaluation of an academic faculty member must include a remediation plan for improvement.

CONTACT The academic faculty annual evaluation process is managed by the Office of Faculty Affairs. Questions regarding the evaluation process can be directed to [email protected] or to a member of the Office of Faculty Affairs staff. For questions on annual evaluation policies, please contact: Ngai Pindell, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs Phone: (702) 895-2417 Email: [email protected] For technical or procedural inquiries, please contact: Tondra De, Assistant Director of Faculty Affairs Phone: (702) 895-0730 Email: [email protected]

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