About
Faculty Annual Reviews
All active faculty members, both tenured and non-tenured, are evaluated annually based on their previous year in rank. The annual evaluation is conducted to provide guidance for continuing and meaningful faculty development, and is essential for Department Chairs to plan the workload for faculty in the following year. For more information on the College's workload policy, please see the CNS Workload Policy on our Policies and Guidelines sidebar.
Exceptions
Faculty with an approved personal circumstance flag for the review period should still be evaluated. Below is a list of exceptions for faculty who are not required to undergo the Faculty Annual Review.
- Faculty who hold certain titles, such as Specialists, Instructors, or any Adjunct faculty
- Professional Track faculty who are appointed less than 50% time for the year
- Faculty who are under modified service
- Faculty who are retired or are under phased retirement
- Faculty who are on approved, non-academic leave without pay for the entire academic year under review
- Faculty who are undergoing a promotion and/or tenure review
- Tenured faculty who are undergoing a six-year comprehensive review
- Faculty who are 100% in an administrative position
Process
Step 1: Faculty Submit Faculty Activity Reports and Certify Publications
Faculty activity report (FAR)
CNS Faculty Affairs will notify departments when the Faculty Activity Report (FAR) site is open for faculty submissions at the start of the Fall semester. The departments are responsible for notifying eligible faculty members and ensuring they submit their FARs and any supplemental materials by October 1st.
Please note, the College of Natural Sciences requires all faculty to submit a statement on their contributions to diversity and inclusion as part of their FAR. This should be submitted as part of the supplemental materials on the FAR site. For ideas on drafting a statement on diversity and inclusion, please see this resource.
Publications Database
In addition to submitting FARs, all tenure-track and tenured faculty are required to certify their publications, creative works, and other scholarly works by October 1st in the centrally maintained Publications Database.
Step 2: Establish the Evaluation Committee
Based on each department's governance policies, the Department Chair will form the committee that will conduct the reviews. Committees are typically established before the FAR site closes on October 1, 2021. For more information about this committee, please see the Evaluation Committee tab below.
Step 3: Evaluation Reports
Once the FAR site has closed, the evaluation committee is responsible for reviewing their faculty members' contributions to teaching, research (if applicable), and service. The evaluation committee will then meet with the Department Chair to determine the overall review rating of either exceeds, meets, does not meet, or unsatisfactory for each faculty member and propose faculty workloads for the following year. For more information on ratings, please refer to section 4 of the Guidelines for Annual Review of Faculty.
Step 4: Submittal
The Department Chair must record both the annual ratings as well as the proposed workloads for their faculty on their Faculty Annual Rating spreadsheet, which they will receive from CNS Faculty Affairs in November. Completed Faculty Annual Rating spreadsheets should be submitted by the Department Chair to CNS Faculty Affairs no later than December 15th.
Evaluation Committee
Evaluation Committee
The evaluation committee is overseen by the department's budget council, extended budget council, or executive committee. It is not necessary for the entire BC, EBC, or EC to do the reviews; in fact, it is recommended to have the subcommittee that determines merit raises to also conduct the annual reviews, since merit raises are linked to the review process.
Alternatively, the evaluation committee could comprise of the Faculty Workload Committee, or the two committees could work together to ensure that the expectations set by the Workload Committee are consistent when determining the ratings and merit raises.
Required Materials
Required Materials
- Faculty Activity Report (FAR)
- Publications Database (tenure-track and tenured only)
- Current CV
- CIS scores and student evaluations of teaching, including all written student comments
- Diversity and Inclusion Statement (uploaded as a supplemental material in the FAR site)
Supplemental Materials
Additional materials should be submitted as available, such as:
- Peer teaching observations (peer review should be annual for assistant professors, since those evaluations will be needed for promotion and tenure. It is not essential to have annual peer reviews of more senior faculty, but these should be done periodically.)
- Any documentation directly relevant to the record of teaching, scholarship, or service
- Any additional Information submitted by the faculty member
Timeline
Timeline for Faculty Annual Reviews
September 1, 2022 - OCTOber 1, 2022
CNS Faculty Affairs notifies departments that the FAR site and the Publications Database are open for submissions. Faculty submit their faculty activity reports, supplemental materials, and certify their publications as applicable.
OCTOber 1, 2022
Faculty upload information to the FAR site and publications database and, if applicable, submit supplemental materials to department chairs by October 1st.
OCTOber 2022 - DECEMBER 14, 2022
The evaluation committee assesses annual review materials, meeting with their Department Chair to determine the final rating and proposed workload for each faculty member. CNS Faculty Affairs sends departments their Faculty Annual Rating spreadsheets.
DECEMBER 15, 2022
The Faculty Annual Rating spreadsheet is due to CNS Faculty Affairs. The College may further review the materials and make a separate recommendation.
JANUARY 10 - 22, 2023:
The Department Chair communicates results to the faculty member in writing, stating the rating category and advising the faculty member of any areas that need improvement. The Department Chair rating shall be final in the event of a disagreement with the review committee. The communication to the faculty member shall clearly articulate the basis for disagreement with the committee evaluation, if applicable.
Please note the following:
- The faculty member may prepare a written response and submit it to the Department Chair within ten (10) working days of receiving the written evaluation results. The response will be included with the permanent record of evaluation. Faculty have the right to meet with the review committee to submit additional materials and invoke standard appeal procedures if necessary.
- If the rating is “does not meet expectations” or “unsatisfactory”, a written development plan is established within 30 days and forwarded to CNS Faculty Affairs. The department and the Dean’s Office will monitor the progress of the development plan during the following year.
Questions or concerns: Contact CNS Faculty Affairs
